‘Forbidden Love’: Meet Laurie and Eli, Whose Love Was Put to the Test by Religious Differences (Exclusive)

Can love truly conquer all? Four couples are about to put their relationships to the test on TLC’s new show, Forbidden Love, seeing if they can come to terms with each other’s religious differences in the name of love. Ahead of the Sunday, July 21 premiere of Forbidden Love, couple Laurie and Eli opened up to PopCulture.com about the journey ahead.

Eli, 32, and Laurie, 36, first met in recovery, striking up a friendship in Alcoholics Anonymous that eventually turned romantic. But while they had their sobriety journey in common, their religious roots made it difficult to be together, as Eli is an Orthodox Jew and Laurie was raised Catholic. 

“I was really Catholic growing up, and it wasn’t until my father passed away that I kind of just abandoned it and was like, ‘I don’t know whether I believe in Jesus or not,’” Laurie told PopCulture. “But it wasn’t until I got sober that I really started believing that there is a God and that there is something bigger there. And I started going to church a lot. … I don’t know if I went back to Catholicism like that, but it was like I believed in something. I just didn’t know what.”

Eli admitted he didn’t bring up his faith when he first met Laurie, because he “didn’t know how Jewish [he] was until [he] started dating her.” It wasn’t until it came time to meet Eli’s mom that Laurie learned the depth of his religious beliefs – and how they could impact their relationship. “It wasn’t until his mom. I was like, ‘Why haven’t I met her?’” Laurie recalled. “And it was like, ‘Because you know, you are not Jewish.’ And it was kind of like it became conflict right after that.”

As Laurie and Eli got closer, the two also struggled in the kitchen, as Eli keeps kosher and Laurie is a passionate Italian cook. “That would hurt my feelings because I’m a cook,” she shared. “And I’d be like, ‘Why don’t you want to break bread with me?’ It’s important. I’m Italian.” Eli chimed in, “So I took her out eat. I took her out eat a lot.”

Eventually, the differences became too much, and the couple briefly split, only to reconcile shortly after. Giving their relationship a serious chance, however, meant Laurie would have to convert – a process that would have her giving up her clothes, changing her hair, taking classes, studying for tests, and preparing to completely change her lifestyle. 

“It was a struggle,” Laurie told PopCulture of the journey viewers will see her undergo on Forbidden Love. “You’ll see our ups, you’ll see our downs. … It was not easy. It was painful for me. And whether or not we do convert, or we don’t convert, you’ll see all of that.”

Laurie continued that she and Eli want to “inspire people that you can do anything if you put your mind to it,” even if it’s something that takes a lot of work. “If you love someone, going over the bounds of love just to be with them is important,” she continued. Eli agreed, “I think a lot of couples give up either on their religion or on their love. … They’re just like, ‘Yeah, it’s not going to work out. See you later.’ And then they’re 45 and single.”

Eli hopes his and Laurie’s story will “inspire people to go out and do your research, and see how you could actually make it work,” emphasizing, “You don’t just got to run away from it and be like, ‘It’s not going to work out.’ There’s always a solution. And if there’s not a solution, then there was never a problem to begin with.”

Watch Laurie and Eli’s story when Forbidden Love premieres on Sunday, July 21 at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.