Popular Beauty Influencer Recalls Surviving Being Set On Fire By Her Ex And How That Changed Her Life Forever

In an emotional and exclusive interview with The Blast, beauty influencer Tonya Renee Meisenbach opened up about the horrific domestic violence incident that left her with burns on 35% of her upper body and altered her life forever.

In December 2018, Tonya was the victim of a devastating flame burn attack at the hands of her then-partner. What began as a seemingly ordinary evening turned into a nightmare that left lasting physical and emotional scars.

WARNING: STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT

“I just remember we're sitting by the fire, and we were talking,” Tonya recalled of that day. “Now, in retrospect, apparently we've been arguing for, like, a few weeks, but we’d been sitting out there and drinking wine… I don’t remember the conversation, but I do remember the lighter fluid hitting my arm.”

The moments that followed were pure terror. Tonya described how she instinctively ran, and that’s when things escalated. “I blocked that part out. But now I can see it so clearly… he was squirting more lighter fluid and then throwing a lighter at me. And so then I just went up in flames.”

What came next was a desperate attempt at survival. “At that moment, everything becomes like self-preservation,” she said. “I just remember thinking, this is how I die, and I just started to pray."

For years, Tonya blamed herself for being unable to extinguish the flames, thinking the concrete ground hindered her ability to stop, drop, and roll.

“I never really knew [why] but [I found out] it's because you can't. It's very difficult to put yourself out with lighter fluid or any kind of accelerant on you," she explained. "You really need someone else. Water, someone to help you.”

Emergency responders arrived, and despite the immense trauma and pain, Tonya remembers walking herself to the ambulance. “We had a really steep driveway, and they couldn't even pull the ambulance all the way up it… A paramedic tapped me on the arm and said, we have to go now… So I actually walked to the ambulance.”

Looking back, Tonya says what she thought was a “normal” day in her past was anything but.

The Atlanta native spent the next two months in a coma as doctors performed around 30 skin graft surgeries to treat the severe burns that covered her face, chest, arms, and back. But when she finally awoke, it wasn’t relief that greeted her, it was confusion, and a chilling moment that remains etched in her memory.

“The only thing I remember waking up with was the feeling of him. The person that set me on fire, kissing my face, saying, 'I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry,'” she shared. “I couldn't see anything. My eyes were stitched shut, but I could hear and I could feel him doing that."

"And I could hear my daughter [in the room]. She hugged me and she said, 'Mum, you're the strongest person I know.’ I remember that.”

Still heavily medicated, Tonya struggled to piece together what had happened.

“[My ex] was telling me what happened, which now I understand… why would anybody do that? Well, they would do that to jog your memory, like, ‘I'm so sorry the accident was so bad.’ And he stayed with me every second. So my memories kind of became what I was told," she explained.

Eventually, it became painfully clear that Tonya’s now-ex-husband had intentionally set her on fire, despite the fabricated story he told her, the authorities, hospital staff, and anyone who would listen. It was then that she found the courage to flee the abusive relationship.

It wasn’t until several years later that Tonya found the courage to confront the truth and walk away for good.

“I wanted to leave immediately. And I didn’t remember until… mid to end of 2023,” she revealed. “Because I started doing these TikTok live streams and I would tell my story every day. And the more I told it… the more the picture in my mind didn’t match.”

As inconsistencies surfaced, Tonya turned to her therapist. “I was really uncomfortable, and I was like, 'Is this possible?' And she’s like, 'It’s more than possible.' She had met him. I think she already knew.”

From there, she began connecting the dots. "I contacted an attorney and I contacted the Partnership Against Domestic Violence," but practical concerns added a new layer of fear. “Can I make enough money to support myself?” she asked. “I’m 50% disabled, doing social media… it didn’t feel good to me.”

And there was nothing left financially. “He had a drug problem that I didn’t even know about," which led him to spend a majority of their money. "He had wasted it all because once I got burned, I wasn’t in control of it anymore.”

She also spoke out about another incident that escalated into a moment Tonya never expected, one that would ultimately set the wheels of justice in motion.

“So it got really dangerous in the house and there was a time we got into an argument, and I pushed him because he was in my face, and he recorded it,” Tonya recalled. “Because that’s what narcissists do.”

It was then that her ex called the cops and had her arrested.

Her then-husband filed for a restraining order, which Tonya says ended up being a turning point.

“It opened up the floor for me to answer and to file against him. And so I ended up getting alimony and a no contact order, and he left, and I was in the house alone,” she said.

But even with her abuser gone, she still faced immense challenges. “I was stuck there… the expenses were so high, even if he paid alimony.”

A breakthrough came when she was contacted by Ford International, who offered to help. “They offered me the reconstructive surgery and that’s where I was like, I’m just going to go for it," she said. "So it took like a whole year.”

Since the attack, Tonya has been on a mission to share her story and advocate for survivors of domestic violence. Her courage to speak out offers both a powerful reminder of resilience and a stark look at the hidden pain so many endure in silence.

Keep up with Tonya and her advocacy via her Instagram.