90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days star Rebecca Parrott defended her boyfriend, Zied Hakimi, on Instagram on Oct. 9 after fans accused Hakimi of being abusive toward her. In the series’ Oct. 6 episode, TLC showed what happened when Hakimi, 26, discovered Parrott, 47, had old photos of an ex still on her phone. Some fans thought Hakimi was showing some abusive behavior in his reactions, but Parrott insisted he would “never be abusive.”
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Parrott said she understood that what Hakimi did “looked abusive” and “questionable” because of TLC’s editing in the preview, but she said Hakimi was “very calm” and was pulling her close to him. “I’m the one that was still angry and pulled away from him, ” Parott said.
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“At no time has Zied ever been abusive or would be abusive,” Parrot said. “On top of the fact that TLC and Sharp Entertainment would not have allowed it, but they damn sure would not have aired it. So let’s all stop talking about Zied being abusive. It’s not OK. As an abuse survivor myself, I would never excuse that, especially being on this wide of a platform because that’s dangerous. So let’s stop this now.”
Parrott included a long caption in which she made many of the same points.
“As there are women watching in actually dangerous relationships that think if I’m staying with this man, it’s okay for them to. It is never okay to be in any relationship that is even slightly abusive. Reality tv likes to create drama, and did that with the preview. The scene in its entirety, clearly shows Zied was not being abusive in ANY way. Be responsible with your accusations.”
At the end of her caption, Parrott included the hashtag “domestic abuse is not okay.”
90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 3 followed Parrott from Georgia to Tunisia, where she met Hakimi for the first time in person. In last weekend’s episode, Hakimi and Parrott got into a fight over the photos of her ex. After he cooled off a bit, Hakimi went off to find Parrott to apologize for losing his temper. At one point, it looked like she put his hand around her neck to pull her closer. That’s what sparked fans’ concerns of potentially abusive behavior.
Some of the comments from Parrott’s new post were supportive, with one fan even telling her to ignore the haters.
“I could totally tell when I watched the scene that it was exactly what you said. He was trying to show some love and you were pissed off and pulled away. It’s a shame that the preview portrayed it as something it wasn’t,” one person wrote. “Love you guys and screw the haters!”
“I am so sorry to hear how people judge you,” another wrote.
New episodes of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days air on TLC Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
Photo credit: YouTube/TLC
