A BRITISH chef became one of the most hated men in America this week when his wife alleged that he’d ditched their two children and disappeared without a trace.
Having been “ghosted” by her husband Charles Withers for nine months, Ashley McGuire reached out to social media in the hope that someone knew his whereabouts.
Within 24 hours the son of a millionaire banker and internet entrepreneur had been tracked down, thanks to evidence that he was cooking for film and TV writer Taylor Sheridan.
Ashley, who has two kids with the cook, told a radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, that he had now made contact with her and agreed to meet.
She wanted to find out where he lived so that she could serve divorce papers on him and “get on with my life.”
But the interview with her friend Ashlee Feldman, who hosts the radio show on Jam’N 94.5, cast Charles in a very unpleasant light.
Ashlee alleged that he had never seen his youngest child and that Ashley had to drive herself to hospital to give birth.
Ashley said “I loved this man. If he doesn’t want to be with me, fine, but to dip on your kids is insane.
“I’m a single mum of four. For him to just poof, all of that responsibility comes down on me.
“For people saying I’m looking for money – if you can take these girls out on dates on Bumble you can send a box of diapers.”
The single parent mum has two children with Charles and two others that predated their time together.
She claimed that Charles had intended to adopt her 11-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
For people saying I’m looking for money – if you can take these girls out on dates on Bumble you can send a box of diapers
Ashley McGuire
Her anguish led to an outpouring of negative comments across the United States about the absent dad.
Charles, 29, had been making a name for himself in the culinary world, having worked for Michelin-starred chefs and appeared as a contestant on the cooking show Chopped in 2022.
Now he is a byword for women beware.
Charles is the latest man to seemingly get his comeuppance on the Facebook page Are We Dating the Same Guy?
Ashley, 32, posted her plea for help on the popular private group, where women share tales of dodgy dates and cheating men.
One woman told The Sun that she had been matched with Charles on the dating app Bumble and they had chatted for a couple of days.
But once she was made aware of Ashley’s search for her runaway husband, she decided not to go any further.
The woman claims: “He said he’s an experienced private chef and he could teach me things like that. You could tell he’s charming.
“There’s a Facebook group called Are We Dating the Same Guy and someone has screenshot that post.
“I thought oh my god, he looks familiar, so I went and checked and it was the same guy.”
It seems that Charles had other problems beyond a troubled marriage.
American Express sued him for debts of £44,000 last November and his restaurant in Falmouth, Massachusetts went under with customers complaining about not being able to get their gift card money back.
Records suggest that he has been moving all over the United States since leaving his wife.
Internet sleuths worked out that he is now in Dallas, Texas, which is a 30 hour drive away from his kids.
One person on TikTok spotted a video sent out by Taylor’s wife Nicole, in which Charles appeared.
It was quickly deleted and Taylor, who made the hit TV series Yellowstone starring Kevin Costner, has neither confirmed nor denied employing Ashley’s husband as a personal chef.
The furore online was enough to persuade Charles to break cover.
He has so far not commented on any of Ashley’s allegations.
Inquiries made by The Sun suggest that he could have the means to provide financial help to his kids.
He appears to come from a very wealthy family.
Charles, who was born in London, studied at private school in Britain and lived a jetset lifestyle.
He told a local newspaper in Boston about his upbringing: “My dad was in finance, and my mother works in the startup industry. She’s an amazing woman.
“She was actually one of the first women in the United Kingdom to get a gold card with British Airways because she flew so much with work. We always did a lot of travelling.”
The youngest of three brothers, he lived in glamorous Mauritius, Singapore and South Africa before going to study at college in the United States.
Charles got a taste for cooking and earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand award at the age of 25.
When the pandemic hit in 2020 he decided to move out to Falmouth, where his grandparents have a summer home.
He decided being a husband and a dad wasn’t the lifestyle he wanted anymore and he ghosted – like gone without a trace
Ashley McGuire
He took over the C Salt restaurant in the coastal town in Cape Cod, which is the US East Coast’s playground for the rich, in June 2021.
But staffing problems and other Covid related issues appear to have hit his restaurant, which is now closed for good.
When he appeared on the reality show Chopped he told audiences that there is “no ingredient I can’t handle.”
Ashley was won over by Charles, who she described as very “charming”, and they got married.
But according to her he left the family home over a year ago and then stopped making contact with her last summer.
Ashley says she tried all his various telephone numbers and reached out to his family, but couldn’t find out where Charles was.
In desperation on Sunday she posted on Facebook’s Are We Dating the Same Guy? that: “’Last year, when I was pregnant with our youngest baby, he decided being a husband and a dad wasn’t the lifestyle he wanted anymore and he ghosted – like gone without a trace.”
The message immediately went viral, being reposted on other platforms such as X and TikTok.
Ashley received hundreds of leads, some of which were wrong but many that proved to be correct.
They included women who claimed that her husband was on the dating app Bumble and was saying he had no kids.
On Monday she appeared on the radio station in Boston and revealed that Charles had just made contact with her.
She said: “I did not intentionally make him the most hated man out there by any means.
“I hope he’s good. For somebody to turn their life upside down, there’s obviously some internal struggles there, there’s a lot going on.
“But at the same time to just walk away from all responsibility, just walk away like it never happened is just, you can’t do that.”
The Are We Dating the Same Guy? Facebook page first sprung up in New York two years ago.
Since then it has been copied in cities and countries across the world, including Britain.
To just walk away from all responsibility, just walk away like it never happened is just, you can’t do that
Ashley McGuire
Women post photos of men they’ve dated or are thinking of dating on the social media site to see if anyone else knows them.
Sometimes they find out that the loverats are seeing more than one woman.
But the pages are proving to be controversial.
US businessman Stewart Lucas Murrey is suing more than 50 members of the Los Angeles Are We Dating the Same Guy? group for comments made about him.
He wants £1.7million for the damage he alleges the women caused to his reputation.
It started when one woman, Kelly Gibbons, posted on the private pages that she thought Stewart had been rude during a telephone conversation and then other users chipped in with their own thoughts.
The threat of legal action has led group moderators to be more cautious.
Women signing up to the London group are warned not to screenshot messages and to avoid posting anything defamatory about men.
It also says: “Be mentally prepared for the things you say here to get back to who you wrote about.”
But for the hundreds of thousands of members across the world, it remains a useful way to rate a date.
The page certainly worked out well for Ashley, who quickly achieved her aim – to speak to her long lost husband.
