’90 Day Fiance’: What to Know About Paul Staehle and Karine Martins’ Turbulent Relationship

The relationship between Paul Staehle and Karine Martins has never been without its difficulties, but things between the 90 Day Fiance couple has taken a darker turn as the Brazil native filed a restraining order last week alleging her husband had physically and emotionally abused her. As the police get involved with the drama between the two in real-time, their story is playing out on 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After?, where they are struggling to adapt to life together in the U.S. after moving from Brazil.

Staehle’s criminal record is making it difficult for him to get a job to support his wife and son, and Martins has admitted to being homesick and concerned about her husband’s ability to provide for his family. Keep scrolling to read more about how the 90 Day Fiance couple came to this.

First Meeting

Staehle first met Martins, who lived in a small Brazilian village, online, and eventually traveled from his home in Kentucky to meet her. The early days of their relationship were featured on 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days and 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way, and were far from drama-free. Martins was shocked to learn that her beau was a felon after being convicted in 2014 of arson committed in 2007. Staehle told the cameras he spent 18 months in prison after being accused of burning down his house after a relationship ended badly. Martins was skeptical at first about her boyfriend’s past, but eventually accepted what had happened and was willing to move forward. 

Marriage

The pair eventually got married on camera in November 2017, but the nuptials didn’t come without some doubts on Martins’ part. “I’m anxious and scared of the wedding. My big worry about the marriage is the arguments. I’m afraid it’ll never stop and that we’ll keep fighting over and over again,” she told the cameras before walking down the aisle. “Our relationship has been so up and down and I’m concerned we might be rushing this. My life will change forever. I feel very confused right now.”

Despite her anxiety about the future, Martins did decide to move forward with the marriage. “Even though I felt very nervous, I decided that I want to marry him. Paul promised me he’s going to change and I believe him. This made me change my mind,” she said in her confessional at the time. “Despite all of the fights, there’s always a bright side about being with him. I love him and I want to build a future with Paul in America. I feel happy. Paul is my Prince Charming — but he didn’t come on a horse, he came on an airplane. I hope that now we are married, it will solve some of our problems.”

Baby Make Three

After two devastating miscarriages, in March 2019, Staehle and Martins announced to Us Weekly that they had welcomed their first child, a son named Pierre. “I am fine, and happy, even with the hard time I have had. And I am recovering well, but I am still very weak. It was super hard, but now everything is fine because the baby is calm and he is breastfeeding well,” Martins told the outlet at the time. 

Staehle added of the pregnancy losses, one of which was documented on 90 Day Fiancé, “The first miscarriage was very early on. We weren’t really that attached. Right after that second miscarriage went through, we got pregnant again. It was like, boom, boom. That was the one everyone saw on TV.”

First Split

While the couple has gone back and forth with divorce threats on camera, things did look like they were over for the pair in November 2019, with Martins confirming to Us Weekly at the time, “Yes, I am looking for a lawyer now.” Speculation began when Staehle posted a cryptic Instagram Story post in Portuguese, alleging his wife “started divorce proceedings” in Manaus, Brazil.

He added in another post at the time, “I will probably go up the Amazon to try to convince her to live with Pierre in USA with or without me. I just want the best possible life for my son.” It’s unclear how the couple reconciled, but the two did not move forward with divorce proceedings. 

Police Get Involved

Things between the couple took a turn for the worse on July 30, when Martins allegedly called the police on her husband. Staehle live-streamed the entire encounter with officers and could be heard saying, “I have no idea why you guys were called. I don’t know what I’ve done.” He insisted he hadn’t hit his wife, but accused Martins of pushing him the day before when she got upset he saw her “talking to a Brazilian lawyer about child support and divorce.”

Staehle then told the officer about an alleged Child Protective Service investigation being conducted on his wife and accused her of drinking and going out with other men with their 16-month-old. During the Instagram Live, a friend of Martins’ told officers that she wanted to go to a shelter and get away from Staehle. 

Restraining Order

Saturday, Aug. 1, Staehle shared on social media a glimpse of a restraining order his wife had filed against him preventing him of being within 500 feet of Martins or his son. In court documents obtained by Us Weekly, she alleged Staehle had raped her, was preventing her from obtaining birth control, and was keeping her Green Card and documents.

Martins wrote she is “not allowed to leave the house,” and alleged that her husband threatened to take their son away “if I ever leave.” She continued that she no longer wants any contact with him. “I am terrified he will hurt me or hurt my son because I runned [sic] away from him and I am even afraid to go back to Brazil now because he can go to Brazil and hurt us,” she wrote.

Karine Speaks Out

Sunday, Aug. 2, Martins took to her Instagram Story with a lengthy statement, confirming she and Pierre are “doing well now” and refuting Staehle’s accusations that she had disappeared. “All this past days I had a lot going on,” the TLC star wrote at the time. “I had issues where the police was called because I feared for my life and my son’s life which led me to ask for help and ultimately be rescued from an environment that no longer was healthy for none of us involved in the situation.”

“I’m getting the best help I could ever get and I’m really thankful for all the people involved in this,” she continued, thanking people for their concern amid her relationship problems. “Relationships are hard and sometimes it just can’t be fixed anymore. I need this time to organize my thoughts, work on myself and care for my son after everything we have been through in the last year and a half.”