Deciding if you want to get married in just three months is dramatic enough, but the couples on 90 Day Fiancé seem to have a special talent for drumming up even more drama off-screen!
While the couples on 90 Day Fiancé are often filmed dealing with cultural differences, the K-9 visa process and the blending of skeptical friends and families, many of them have dealt with legal drama, internet rumors and straight-up bizarre turns of events when the cameras aren’t rolling.
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Keep scrolling to see which of your favorite TLC couples have more going on behind the scenes than you saw on their season!
Larissa Dos Santos Lima’s Domestic Violence arrest
90 Day Fiancé fans may only just be getting to know Larissa Dos Santos Lima and her fiancé Colt Johnson, but the two are already making waves off-screen.
In November 2018, Santos Lima was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery in their Las Vegas, Nevada home, as first reported by E! News, with bail being set at $1,000.
The arrest was accompanied by some seriously bizarre social media activity, as the Brazilian native changed her Instagram bio to “HELP ME …HE TURNED OFF HIDE MY PHONE HELP ME HE WANTS TO CALL THE POLICE HELP ME” and a phone number.
Johnson addressed the situation on Instagram as well, posting and deleting the following statement: “Larissa was arrested this afternoon. She suffers from high anxiety and several [sic] depression. She over reacted to problems that do not exist.”
He added that he “proceeded to deactivate her phone to try to defuse the situation” but the move only “escalated and matters became worse.”
“She felt this action was a threat towards her and tried to reach out for help,” Johnson continued. “Not long after her cry was posted, the police came and knocked down the front door. They drew their guns at me and handcuffed me. The police interviewed us but not long after they decided to arrest Larissa. No one was hurt and I did not press charges against my wife. However it is policy in the state of Nevada that since we are in a domestic partnership, someone had to be arrested.”
Luis Mendez’s new marriage
Luiz Mendez’s motives in marrying Molly Hopkins in season 5 of the TLC show were shown to be pretty questionable when he remarried just five months after their divorce was finalized.
Mendez, who came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic, married Hopkins in July 2017, but split in January and finalized their divorce in May. In October 2018, he confirmed to PEOPLE he had married once again, but declined to name his wife.
“Yes, I did get married. I love this girl so much. She is so amazing,” he stated. “The most amazing part was meeting her because she changed all life to happiness.”
Mendez told the outlet of his ex-wife that he had “no contact with her” since their divorce. “I just want to be happy,” he said. “I don’t want to know nothing about it. But if she wants to congratulate me, it’s okay.”
Hopkins took to social media herself to accuse Mendez of using her to get a green card soon after.
“For all of you who care, or who wanted to talk junk about me, I totally got used but it’s all good,” she said. “Luis got married to a Dominican lady in Jersey, best I can tell — I saw pictures. Yeah, he’s married to someone else. … So all the people who thought I was crazy — his situation was pretty lovely. I mean, we were together for two years so it’s all good. Oh God, it doesn’t hurt at all. I’m good. I’m so good.”
Angela Deem DUI Arrest
One of the more memorable 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days personalities, Angela Deem, was known for her outgoing personality and quick temper while pursuing her fiancé Michael Ilesanmi to Nigeria. But the reality star has faced her share of legal trouble since finding her way into the limelight.
In September 2018, Deem was arrested and charged with a DUI after being pulled over in Georgia for driving 60 mph in a 35 mph zone.
The arresting officer noted “a strong alcohol odor coming from inside the vehicle,” though Deem, 52, claimed that her backseat passenger “had been drinking and that they had just picked him up from Toombs Detention,” before being taken into custody, according to police reports obtained by InTouch Weekly.
Following her arrest, Deem accused the officer of being racist and of targeting him because his brother had once dated her daughter.
Angela Deem’s daughter’s arrest
Angela’s daughter Scottie Deem also found herself in trouble with the law after a brief appearance on the TLC show.
PEOPLE reported that in September 2017, Scottie had been arrested under suspicion of aggravated child molestation and aggravated sodomy, and in September 2018, court documents were filed to indict her for 13 charges of child molestation, one count of aggravated child molestation and one count of statutory rape of a boy under the age of 16.
Prosecutors accused Scottie of various forms of abuse including sodomy, oral sex and performing “an indecent act in the presence of” five underage children. Her lawyers, at the time, said she would be pleading not guilty.
Jorge Nava’s Drug Arrest
This is one 90 Day Fiancé star who won’t be returning for a new season anytime soon! Joge Nava, who married Anfisa Arkhipchenko during season 4 of the reality show, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in September 2018 after being arrested with almost 300 lbs. of marijuana in his car.
The reality personality, involved in the legal medical marijuana business in California, was arrested in February 2018 when he was pulled over at a traffic stop in Arizona and found with 293 pounds of marijuana. He had previously been convicted of felony drug trafficking before his time on the show.
“I feel like it’s really harsh of a penalty for the crime being… just because it’s marijuana-related and right now it’s going legal in a lot of states, it’s actually medically legal in Arizona,” Nava told TMZ prior to his sentencing.
Jason Hitch’s Domestic Violence Allegations
When season 2 couple Jason Hitch and Cassia Tavares filed for divorce in January 2018, fans finally got Tavares’ side of the story when it came to her ex’s previous domestic battery arrest.
“For the time I was with Jason he was a good man sometimes, but I found him to be violent with his words, a controller and (as many of you know) an abuser,” Tavares said in a February statement to Starcasm. “I never got an apology for his arrest, until today he blames me for calling the police and he does not take responsibility for his violent act (which was not the first). I dropped the charges because I felt sorry for him and it was hurtful to see him being arrested, I didn’t want him in jail, but I didn’t know that in Florida they need to arrest people committing DV. Plus, I depended on him for everything.”
Despite the charges against Hitch being dropped soon after his arrest, Tavares said she could no longer stay in the relationship “because all I see now is a mean man. He has destroyed everything I felt for him.”
Hitch, meanwhile claimed that he was the only one “trying” in their marriage, saying, “[Cassia] flipped a switch and that was it. There was nothing I could do.”
Karine Martins’ revenge porn scandal
After Paul Staehle and Karine Martins made their debut on season 2 of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, the couple became involved in an odd internet scandal after Staehle posted provocative photos of his wife with another woman and claimed they were part of a revenge porn scheme against Martins by an ex.
“This man is posting revenge porn of Karine,” Staehle captioned the photos. “Please help Karine criminally prosecute him. Report him and send any info to help Karine to give to the police. She can prosecute him and he will be charged regardless of where he is.”
The following day, a person claiming to be the man in the photo clapped back, calling the photos edited and not anything having to do with revenge porn.
“Me standing with a woman in my arms is not porn! You dummy… this other picture I have never seen, you need to talk to your wife about that,” the person wrote on Twitter. “Yea [sic] I know Karine, I have nothing against her and I don’t even watch your show. Everyone is laughing at you, not with you. You’re clueless.”
“I have sooo [sic] much I could say, u [you] have no idea Paul. I’m not going to embarrass Karine more than you already have. Not everyone is for marriage! Some people are just fun to hook up with for a good time. It doesn’t make them bad people but that’s why u [sic] don’t go into situations blind,” he continued. “What’s funny about this is she has sent me lots of videos. Of her by herself doing all type of wild s—. I’ve never even showed [sic] anyone [Paul], so it’s u bringing this to light right now. I’m sure I’m not the only one she sent those videos to. U [sic] just happen to have a pic of me with her.”
Rachel Bear’s paternity rumors
On season 2 of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, Rachel Bear and Jon Walters won over the hearts of viewers as Bear crossed the Atlantic Ocean with her infant daughter Lucy to meet the man she met on a karaoke app for the first time in his native England.
But some fans grew suspicious that the couple was really meeting for the first time after a rumor circulated that the duo had met before the show and that Lucy was Walters’ biological daughter, pointing at Bear’s unwillingness to name the father of her second child. Other viewers pointed out that Walters looks just like his new stepdaughter.
Both halves of the now-married couple have denied this theory, however, with Bear writing on Instagram, “Good grief… Has this conspiracy not been put to rest yet? She’s got big brown eyes like me… Jesus Christ… Let it go.”
