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On Friday, Oct. 31, Shay Martin revealed her costume with 4-month-old daughter AmyLou for the widow’s first Halloween as a mom and first without her late husband, TannerThe content creator reflected on her grief in a “get ready with me” video filmed while she applied her costume makeupThe couple built a following on social media by documenting their lives together after Tanner was diagnosed with colon cancer five years before his death in June 2025
Shay Martin is spending Halloween with loved ones, but she’s also taking a moment to reflect on her feelings, her future and her grief four months after the death of her husband, Tanner.
On Friday, Oct. 31, the influencer filmed a “get ready with me” video for her online community, which she and Tanner built as they documented their lives together after he was diagnosed with colon cancer. This past June, he announced his own death at age 30 in a prerecorded video posted weeks after the birth of their daughter, AmyLou.
In the video, Shay, 29, spoke to her 595,000 Instagram followers about her current state of mind as she applied makeup for her costume as Daphne from Scooby-Doo. (AmyLou, who was born in May 2025, complemented her mom in a Velma costume, as shown in photos from the infant’s first Halloween.)
Shay Martin and Tanner Martin.
Shay Martin/Instagram
“Sometimes people expect you to stay the same and not change at all, but when you lose your best friend in the whole world, your partner, your spouse, your lover, how can you stay the same and not change?” Shay reflected in her Halloween vlog. “So I call this my transformation widow era.”
She explained how she spent a significant amount of her life “living through some hellish times” and “some of the best times” with Tanner during their seven-year marriage and after his diagnosis five years before his death.
“When I’m moving forward, it’s not a reset,” said Shay. “When I am moving into this next chapter, I never leaving behind my story, or Tanner, or my love for him. That’s gonna continue out through my whole life.”
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After being Tanner’s caregiving for years, she said she’s now entering a “new space” that brings many mixed feelings.
“I feel sadness. I feel lonely. I really miss Tanner. I miss his companionship, his friendship,” Shay noted. “Also still feel some curiosity about my future, some anticipation. I’m curious about how I’m gonna grow and how things might change.”
In addition to her video, Shay shared a photo of her in full costume to her Instagram Stories and wrote, “Halloween party with my widow friends.”
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