The Real Reason Why These 90 Day Fiance Stars Broke Up

TLC's 90 Day Fiancé was an instant hit when it was first broadcast in 2014. The show chronicles the often-rocky romances between foreigners engaged to American citizens while visiting the U.S. on a 90-day K-1 visa for fiancés/fiancées from other nations. Within that three-month period, the only way the international lovers can avoid being sent back home is to get married, leading to an emotionally charged situation tailor-made for reality television. "They'll have to overcome language barriers, culture shock and skeptical friends and family — all with a clock that starts ticking the moment they step foot on U.S. soil," reads the show's synopsis. "The stakes are incredibly high as these couples are forced to make a life-altering decision: get married or send their international mate home."

Over the course of the series and its myriad spinoffs, viewers have seen several of the 90 Day Fiancé couples go on to tie the knot and start families. On the flip side, fans have also watched couples have rollercoaster relationships that flame out spectacularly, with every gruesome minute captured by cameras. From outrageous behavior to cheating accusations to the occasional arrest, these are the wild reasons why these 90 Day Fiancé couples split up.

Danielle Mullins and Mohamed Jbali appeared in the second season of 90 Day Fiancé and became one of the most memorable 90 Day Fiancé couples in the show's history. As viewers saw, the relationship between the Ohio woman and the Tunisian was rocky from the get-go. Yet despite numerous warning signs (including his reluctance to be intimate with her, which led to one of the most uncomfortable moments on 90 Day Fiancé) and their considerable age difference, Mullins and Jbali ultimately went through with their wedding. Big mistake. 

Shortly after the nuptials, Mullins snooped into his social media and discovered Jbali was allegedly having online relationships with multiple women. "I would even message the women to see what was going on," Mullins told In Touch. One of the women, she said, told her that she'd "been sending [him] money and she was trying to get him to come to Canada to go into business with him and stuff like that." 

Jbali left Mullins two months after receiving his green card, leaving her so furious she tried to use the evidence of infidelity she'd dug up to have the marriage annulled. "I want to get him deported," she said on an episode of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? (via Us Weekly), noting, "I'm finally going to get some payback." Their divorce was finalized in 2017.

Jason Hitch and his Brazilian bride, Cassia Tavares, were introduced in 90 Day Fiancé's second season, and their marriage was both brief and turbulent. Hitch began divorce proceedings in January 2018, but had an apparent change of heart before then filing for divorce a second time that September of that same year, as reported by Radar Online. While there are many reasons why the marriage failed, the biggest factor was likely when Hitch was arrested for alleged domestic battery in early 2017 (via Radar Online). 

"I tried everything last year to save whatever we thought we had," he told Starcasm of his efforts to save their marriage. "She flipped a switch and that was it. There was nothing I could do."

Tavares shared her side of the story with Starcasm, describing her ex as "a good man sometimes," but noting, "I found him to be violent with his words, a controller and (as many of you know) an abuser." She continued, "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)," adding, "I just want to move on and not be associated with him anymore."

First seen in Season 2 of 90 Day Fiancé – one of the worst shows on TLC, despite being wildly entertaining – Chelsea Macek met Yamir Castillo while she was volunteering in his native Nicaragua and caught a performance of his boy band, Myla Vox. After getting to know each other long-distance, Castillo moved to Illinois to live with Macek and her parents before getting married. By all appearances, the relationship seemed to be going well until they filed for divorce in late 2016.

While neither spelled out exactly what led to the breakup, the marriage apparently deteriorated after Castillo moved to Chicago without her in order to focus on his music career. Fellow 90 Day Fiancé alum Jason Hitch told Radar Online he didn't see the split coming. "We're all scratching our heads," Hitch said. "The guy was totally in love with her and she with him. There has to be something fishy."

Asked for comment about their divorce, the pair issued a joint statement to Radar Online: "I'm sorry, but we are not interested in giving details of our personal lives. We thank you so much for thinking of us."

Molly Hopkins and Luis Mendez met in his native Dominican Republic while she was on vacation, leading them to appear in Season 5 of 90 Day Fiancé and to go down as one of 90 Day Fiancé's worst couples. Despite a significant age gap, they quickly wed. Viewers watched their tumultuous relationship rapidly deteriorate as Hopkins became increasingly fed up with her husband's petulant behavior, culminating in a blowout battle over his refusal to turn down loud music. When she attempted to lower the music, he threatened to call the cops. As the argument escalated, Hopkins took her young daughter and left her own home. When she returned, the place was ransacked, and Mendez was gone.

"This is not the person I met and I'm fed up with this [bleep]," she said on the show. She noted, "I 100 percent do not want to be married to this man anymore." She filed for divorce six months after the wedding, as reported by Radar Online.

Five months after the divorce was finalized, Mendez married another woman, according to In Touch. As for Hopkins, she told Newsweek in 2019, "I'm just trying to get my life back in order." 

Jonathan Rivera and Fernanda Flores were introduced in Season 6 of 90 Day Fiancé, with them marrying in May 2018. By the following January, they had separated. 

As E! News reported, Rivera took to Instagram Live to offer a vague explanation of what went wrong. "Every marriage has its problems. Every relationship has its issues," he said, admitting "all of this has happened really fast" and promising that he "gave 110 percent to my marriage."

Flores, however, had a different story to tell. According to E! News, she threw some serious shade at her ex in a 40-minute YouTube video, alleging she discovered another woman's underwear and "sex toys, pictures, movies and stuff." She also claimed Rivera "likes to drink way too much," "wasn't careful with money at all," and violently grabbed her by the neck when she confronted him about finding a contraceptive wrapper in his office. 

"These allegations are completely false and my attorney will now be handling the situation," Rivera responded. "Clearly, she will do whatever she has to in order to stay in this country."

Season 6 couple Ashley Martson and Jay Smith met while she vacationed in Jamaica, and their 11-year age gap (she was 31, he was 20) didn't prevent them from jumping into marriage. Things went south almost immediately. Days after their Las Vegas wedding, E! News reported that Martson discovered that Smith had created a profile on the Tinder dating app — and she busted him when she witnessed a woman trying to FaceTime him. As seen on 90 Day Fiancé, Smith insisted that the whole thing was "a misunderstanding," claiming he mistakenly thought Tinder's purpose was to "meet friends."

In January 2019, E! News reported Martson filed for divorce but withdrew the paperwork the following day. In April 2019, she filed a second time — and this time followed through.

In July 2019, People reported Smith was arrested and faced deportation after violating a Protection from Abuse Order, which prohibited him from commenting about Martson on social media. Shortly after, Martson told Celebuzz why things ended. "I filed for his green card and then I retracted it because he cheated on me again," she said. "Our relationship has been very toxic from the beginning ... There was a lot of abuse going on in our relationship."

However, despite their "toxic" romance, the two reportedly got back together by March 2020, according to E! News.

One 90 Day Fiancé couple from Season 6 whose marriage hit the skids was Colt Johnson and his Brazilian bride Larissa Dos Santos Lima, who quickly proved to be one of the most tempestuous couples the show has ever seen. This was plainly evident in Dos Santos Lima's arrest for domestic battery in November 2018 (via In Touch) — followed by similar arrests, including one in January 2019, when she took to Instagram to share a video of her bloodied face. However, as Us Weekly reported, a Las Vegas police officer determined that Dos Santos Lima had been "the aggressor in this case" and had left Johnson with "a swollen lip, and his gums and teeth were bloodied." 

They were officially uncoupled just a few months later. In May 2019, TMZ reported that the pair had amicably settled their divorce, with neither to receive spousal support. They were also ordered not to speak negatively of each other. 

"Larissa is very happy to close this chapter of her life and excited for what her future holds," her rep diplomatically said in a statement to People. 

Narkyia Lathan and Olulowo met on social media in "a group for plus-sized women," and the Nigerian native eventually joined Lathan in Pennsylvania. Even before beginning their 90 days, the relationship was on thin ice. As Lathan said during the show, "He told me he was a Nigerian prince," which was not true. She continued, "He also told me he was living in Alabama, he had a son and that his son's mother had passed away, and I started to feel a little suspicious." 

That was when she began investigating and discovered "some really big lies," leading her to find out Olulowo allegedly had "another social media profile" and to make the revelation that his son's mother was "very much alive and not dead." When she contacted the woman, she told Lathan that Olulowo was actually in Vietnam. "That was when I realized that I've been catfished," Lathan confessed.

Lathan broke off the relationship, but the pair later reconciled and appeared in Season 4 of 90 Day Fiancé. According to Cosmopolitan, as of April 2019, they remained a couple, and Olulowo shared a photo of the seemingly happy pair together that summer.