For nine years, TLC’s “90 Day Fiancé” has led its audience on different journeys of love, fulfillment, deception, apprehension, loss, happily-ever-afters, and new beginnings as American cast members and their fiancés from foreign countries rush down to the altar to tie the knot before the expiry of the foreign significant others’ K-1 Visas. TLC has aired the show consistently for nine seasons since it premiered in January 2014, showing the fate of different couples as they work through hindrances such as language barrier, suspicion and skepticism from their loved ones, culture shock, and plan their weddings within three months.
The typical next stage after the engagement and wedding is expanding the family by having children. Fans who have followed each couple in the show often wonder which of the couples proceeded to have children after their marriage plans come to fruition. Keep reading/watching to learn which of your favorite couples from the show expanded their families by having children, and how they are coping with parenthood.
Emily and Kobe Blaise
Emily, an American from Kansas City, Missouri, met Kobe, an African from Cameroon, on a trip to China. Besotted with each other, the couple started dating immediately. Initially, their relationship was casual, but it quickly became serious when Emily fell pregnant. Determined to become a family and raise their child together, Emily and Kobe decided to marry and live together in the United States. They appeared in season nine of “90-Day Fiancé” sharing their journey, as they planned their wedding following Kobe’s move to the country.
The couple’s first child was born long before Kobe got his K-1 visa. Since Emily couldn’t travel at the time, due to the worldwide travel restrictions that were instituted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Kobe didn’t meet his son until he was 17 months old. The show captured the emotional moment when Emily and Kobe saw each other for the first time in two years, and Kobe laid his eyes on his son in person for the first time ever. A few episodes into the show, Emily and Kobe announced that they were expecting their second child, and they welcomed their second-born child, Scarlett, in August 2021, completing their happy family of four. Kobe, Emily, their son Koban and daughter Emily live with Emily’s parents, David and Lisa, and are welcome to continue living with them until they are ready to move out.
Matt Ryan and Alla Fedoruk
Matt and Alla were featured in the fourth season of “90 Day Fiance.” The couple quickly earned the adoration of fans who were drawn in by their divorce-to-love story, and celebrated the couple for finding love after their respective failed marriages. Matt and Alla met online and courted the idea of a romantic relationship for a while before they fell out of touch and married other people. Matt, an American had been divorced three times before appearing in the show – he reconnected with Alla, a Ukrainian, after his third divorce. Alla, who was divorced at the time, was open to courtship. The couple rekindled their romance and ended up on the show in a rush to tie the knot in under 90 days.
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Despite admiring the couple’s resolve to find love after divorce, fans were skeptical about their future, particularly due to Alla’s hesitance to declare her love for Matt, and his history of getting in and out of marriage. The couple laid the concerns over the future of their marriage to rest when Matt vowed to let Alla fall in love with him at her own pace after their wedding. They grew mutually in love, and decided to expand their family. In April 2020, Matt and Alla welcomed their first child together and named her Emmalynn. Two years later, they welcomed their second child, a boy they named Marcus. When Alla moved to the United States, she brought her son, Max, along. Today, the blended family comprising Matt, Alla, Max, Emmalynn, and Marcus lives happily as documented by Alla on her Instagram. Theirs is one of the happiest unscripted stories on the show, according to fans.
Lauren Goldstone and Alexei Brovarnik
Lauren and Alexei met in Israel in 2013. Loren had visited the country on a birthright trip, while Alexei, who is originally from Ukraine, was working in the country as a medic. Two years later, Alexei moved to the United States intending to marry Loren. The couple quickly became a fan favorite on the show, earning a spot in spin-offs such as “90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After,” “90 Day Diaries,“ and “90 Day Fiancé: Pillow Talk.”,
After their wedding in July 2016, the couple officially became Loren and Alexei Brovarnik. They welcomed their first child, a son, in 2020 and named him Shai Josef. The following year, they welcomed their second child, another son, and named him Asher. In May 2022, Loren shares the exciting news that she was expecting their third child, and had a girl they named Ariel, in September, but spent several weeks at the hospital since Ariel was born preterm. Earlier this year, the couple shared a video of the happy family, as Lauren and Alexei shared some lighthearted moments of the hectic time they are having raising three children under three years.
Happily Never After?
While most couples from “90 Day Fiancé” who had children are raising them happily together, some marriages disintegrated, and had the former partners locked in legal battles for the custody of their children. One couple, in particular, is locked in a bizarre custody battle after the court denied both parents any form of custody over their two children.
Paul and Karine Staehle
Paul and Karine met online before Paul flew to her country to meet her, and before long, the couple decided to tie the knot. When Paul and Karine appeared on the show, fans started to pick up on some troubling behavior from both of them. Some keen viewers noted that Karine, who is from Brazil, seemed disinterested in her fiancé Paul, who lives in Kentucky. Despite her lack of interest, the couple pushed forward with wedding plans and tied the knot in the show. They were also featured in two spin-offs, “Happily Ever After” and “The Other Way.”
The fans’ observations that something was off with the couple were confirmed when Paul and Karine announced their split. They got back together but split again, starting a cycle of breakups and reconciliations. In the middle of the splits and reconciliations, the couple had two children, Pierre and Ethan. In 2021, the two announced another split – this time, the announcement was accompanied by allegations by Paul that Karine was unfaithful, and he was not the father of their children. Karine, on the other hand, alleged that Paul was physically abusive despite video evidence showing her hitting him in front of their child. The resulting split seems permanent, since after 2021, Paul has posted pictures of himself with other women. Karine announced her intentions of remaining in Kentucky for her children.
#90DayFiance Watch 4 disturbing videos uploaded to Instagram on June 6 featuring Karine Staehle and her son Pierre. One clip shows a bite mark on Karine's arm allegedly caused by Paul, another appears to show Pierre crying while shut in a tiny room. https://t.co/QWWOdo6Hxp pic.twitter.com/AMfIPxqXyi
— Starcasm (@starcasm) July 4, 2022
Paul and Karine’s final split was violent, and ended with both parties taking out restraining orders against each other, and filing for full custody of their two children. At first, Paul was granted full custody of the children, however, the decision was revoked and the children were placed with a foster family. According to Karine’s last update, the children are still living with a foster family but she and Paul are allowed to see and spend time with them.
Ultimately, “90 Day Fiancé” and its spin-offs continue to live up to their promise of following Americans and their significant others from foreign countries in their journey to the altar before the expiry of the foreign partner’s K-1 visas. Emily and Kobe Blaise, Alli and Matt Ryan, and Lauren and Alexei Brovarnik are some of the couples who have gone on to have idyllic families after marrying and having children. However, the show has had its fair share of troubling relationships, such as the failed marriage between Paul and Karine, whose history of violence cost both partners custody of their two sons.
