Husband of Late Influencer with ALS Sara Bennett Breaks Silence After She Announces Her Own Death at 39 (Exclusive)
- - Husband of Late Influencer with ALS Sara Bennett Breaks Silence After She Announces Her Own Death at 39 (Exclusive)
Zoey LyttleJanuary 20, 2026 at 3:24 AM
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The Ananda Pivot/Instagram
Rusty and Sara Bennett with their sons Lincoln and William in Nov. 2025. -
Content creator Sara Bennett died at 39 after living with ALS for nearly three years. The news of her death was announced on her Instagram page on Tuesday, Jan. 13
One week after the tragic news broke, her husband Rusty tells PEOPLE about the end of Sara's life, which they spent together with their two sons, Lincoln, 9, and William, 7
Per the late influencer's final wishes, the family has asked that any donations be sent to the kids' 529 college savings plans, as detailed on Sara's Instagram page, @TheAnandaPivot
One week after Sara Bennett's death, her husband is opening up about the life they built together in the years before and after her ALS diagnosis in 2023.
On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Sara announced her own death at 39 with a posthumous message posted to the Instagram page where she documented her ALS journey. The late content creator's pre-written caption accompanied a smiling photo of herself.
"I am not in pain, or tired. I can laugh, talk, and I can move. Reflecting in my last few months of my life, I am glad I didn’t go suddenly even WITH the suffering. I finished my list," she wrote. "Even if you don’t believe in any thing, I am feeding the earth, and my tree. I loved this life, and am grateful for the time."
The Ananda Pivot/Instagram
Rusty and Sara Bennett with their sons Lincoln and William in Oct. 2025.
In the six days since, Sara's 113,000 Instagram followers have shared heartfelt comments and posts mourning her absence. At home, her husband of over a decade, Rusty Bennett, and their two sons, Lincoln, 9, and William, 7, are surrounded by the support of their loved ones.
"We've both been blessed. I'm really close with my family, and [Sara] has a great family and tons of friends," Rusty tells PEOPLE. "Everybody's definitely reached out and [is] doing their best to help."
The end of Sara's life spanned over the course of months that neither she nor Rusty expected to have together. The former school teacher first started showing symptoms in the spring of 2022. By the time she received an official ALS diagnosis the following March, Rusty remembers how her team of experts determined she fit in a two- to five-year prognosis window.
Rusty took leave from his consulting job in March 2025 to be Sara's full-time caretaker, and they didn't expect she would live long into autumn. She made it to summer, a time when their family would usually start thinking about their favorite holiday, Halloween. Instead of planning out a group costume, Sara and Rusty prepared their kids for the grave reality of her situation.
"We just had to be honest. Then we could say, 'Hey, we're not buying mom a Halloween costume because she's not going to be here.' And it helped them," he recalls. "It was [the] worst conversation I've had to have my entire life, and they handled it way better than us."
Then Sara surprised her family, friends and medical team by making it through Thanksgiving. "I kept calling it bonus time," Rusty says. They were lucky enough to have Sara around during the holiday season, which included Rusty's 43rd birthday on Dec. 31.
The Ananda Pivot/Instagram
Rusty and Sara Bennett with their sons Lincoln and William in June 2025.
"It was awesome. We got to watch the ball drop. We all did it. We let the kids stay up until midnight this year, so they were thrilled. [Sara] was in our primary bedroom; she wasn't really able to go anywhere for the last couple months, but we just partied right there in the bedroom," he shares.
"It was unexpected and quite wonderful to even have her there," Rusty adds. "The kids went to bed, and we had to do our nighttime routine to get her to bed, and it was just like, 'Wow. It's 2026. You made it.'"
As a mom, wife and ALS advocate, Sara touched hundreds of thousands of hearts long before she reached her "bonus time." She originally started sharing online in 2020 to promote her professional organization business, the Ananda Edit. After her diagnosis, however, she changed the username to @TheAnandaPivot to open up further conversations about the neurodegenerative disease.
Rusty cheered her on from the sidelines, stepping into the role of "supportive husband" when it came to Sara's content creation. He admits to PEOPLE that he might not have had the "mental strength" to speak out online if the roles were reversed, and he admired his wife's ability to share so openly with her community.
The Ananda Pivot/Instagram
Rusty and Sara Bennett with their sons Lincoln and William in April 2025.
"She just felt really strongly that she wanted to show people what the daily looks like — that it's hard and that it's tough on you and it's tough on the people around you, but also, here's where you find joy and here's how you do that," Rusty says.
"Social media is what it is. It can be a wonderful place. It can get a really bad rap, and it can be a dark place. And in a world where sometimes maybe you see some of the parts of what you don't like, it is so lovely to go out that way: connection," he explains. "Sara being able to connect, not only for herself to learn and to gain knowledge, but for her to spread it out ... It's nice to get all of that stuff out there in the hopes that somebody can see it and use it."
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Before Sara died, she and Rusty decided that they would ask anyone looking to give to their sons' 529 college savings accounts. They always wanted Lincoln and William to have the same educational opportunities as their parents, both of whom are college-educated. They set up the kids' 529 plans when they were babies, and it remained at the top of Rusty and Sara's priorities even after her terminal diagnosis.
"As she got sicker, we were just like, 'Yeah, let's kick that out there,'" he remembers of their decision to share a direct link for people to contribute to the two boys' 529 savings plans. Donors can access their individual accounts by entering UGift codes L4R-R63 for Lincoln and T46-E6P for William, as explained in a post shared to Sara's page in the days after her death.
"I don't need 60 bouquets of flowers. Help the kids," Rusty says. "That's what's the most important part at this point, just doing the best we can for them."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
