90 Day Fiance couple Stephanie Matto and Erika Owens have appeared to be completely done on Season 4 of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days, so is that true or did the couple get back together? Is the 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days couple still together now?
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[90 Day Fiance Spoilers Warning: This report contains spoilers revealing if Stephanie and Erika are still together or whether the 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days couple broke up for good].
Stephanie, a 29-year-old from Yonkers, NY, and Erika, a 24 year-old from Port Augusta, Australia, are the 90 Day Fiance franchise's first-ever same-sex couple.RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? (PHOTOS)
Stephanie, who's originally from Czech Republic and moved to America when she was seven years old with her mother, revealed she's been hurt many times before but fell for a woman online, Erika, whom Stephanie called quirky, fun, and gorgeous.
Stephanie said she and Erika are both bisexual and began talking about a year before the 90 Day Fiance season began filming.
Stephanie said she couldn't wait to meet Erika in person, but she wasn't ready to come out to her mother yet.
Stephanie therefore decided to travel to Australia and get to know Erika in person before taking the next huge step in her life of coming out as bisexual to friends and family.
"Erika doesn't deserve to be a secret," Stephanie acknowledged.
"But I just know for a fact my mom is not going to be thrilled I'm flying to Australia to meet a woman... I don't want anything to come between me and my mom. I just want her to accept my life the way that it is."
Erika, a photographer and self-declared "colorful weirdo," noted there weren't many bisexual women in her small town in "The Outback," and so she was lucky to have met Stephanie online.
Erika explained her parents just assumed she was gay but she had never officially come out to them.
While they had known each other for a year, Erika told her friends she had only been romantic with Stephanie for four months.
RELATED LINK: 'MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO BROKE UP? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
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But Stephanie wasn't ruling out the idea of getting engaged by the end of her trip to Australia. Stephanie said she and Erika had a love unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
But Stephanie knew she and Erika would have to overcome some hurdles.
First of all, Erika appeared to live a much more thrilling and adventurous life with wild parties and lots of friends. Stephanie, on the other hand, said she stays home a lot with her dogs and watches TV since she has aplastic anemia, a complete failure of the bone marrow.
Certain bacteria can be very dangerous for Stephanie -- even the common cold could kill her.
Stephanie also chose to be celibate until her next serious relationship, saying she was tired of getting hurt and screwed over. Stephanie wanted to be in love, and feel loved in return, before having sex again. She was optimistic, however, that could happen with Erika.
After three flights, 30 hours of traveling, and a lot of medications and precautions, Stephanie made it to Australia and the pair had a joyous meeting at the airport.
"She is the most beautiful, best smelling, best dressed, most amazing human being. I probably like her way more than she likes me right now, but it's okay, we'll work on it," Stephanie told the cameras.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: BEFORE THE 90 DAYS' COUPLES NOW: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? (PHOTOS)
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But two days into her trip, tension started to build when Stephanie found herself uncomfortable on a date Erika had planned for them in which the girls took their shirts off and made colorful molds of their breasts.
Stephanie thought the activity was "really strange" and "a little too much" for their stage of dating, but Stephanie thought that perspective was ironic since Stephanie was already anticipating she would move to America.
"You're telling me that you want to have this next big relationship [and have me move] and whatever, and then on the other hand, you're essentially telling me you're not ready to be intimate, and that's really confusing," Erika confessed to Stephanie.
The pair had another disagreement during a dinner date that night when Stephanie asked Erika to uninstall a dating app that had been on her phone.
Stephanie asked Erika if she would delete the app, and Erika snapped about Stephanie not trusting her in their relationship.
Stephanie didn't think it was a big deal and that deleting the app would be a sign of respect, so she cried about how Erika had shown her "true colors." But Erika complained about Stephanie's jealousy and control issues and stormed off.
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And the arguing didn't stop there. Stephanie's struggle with jealousy and insecurity became increasingly more apparent when she met Erika's friends at a subsequent social gathering.
Erika had hooked up with some of her friends before, including a man named Adam, and so Stephanie put him on the spot and asked if he had lingering feelings for Erika.
Erika was angry at Stephanie for bringing up their problems in front of her friends when they were supposed to be having fun, but Stephanie argued she had every right to ask a couple of questions.
Erika accused Stephanie of yelling at her, and then she said, "I'm done," before storming off.
"This is ridiculous," Erika complained.
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"I came here thinking Erika was the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with, that she would be the person that would understand my illness and make me feel more comfortable coming out to my family," Stephanie said in a confessional.
"Now, after all of this, I'm kind of realizing how much I still don't know about her. And I don't see how we're going to make any sort of commitment by the end of this three weeks. I'm not even sure if I want this relationship any more."
After spending the night apart, Stephanie apologized and said she had never intended to cause drama and was "a screwed up person" who's not perfect.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER?' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
Erika admitted it was hard for her not to be affectionate and to be questioned all the time, but Stephanie assured her that she loved her. Erika therefore suggested they start fresh, and the pair bonded over activities such as swimming with great white sharks.
"I'm ready to come out to my parents and introduce [Steph] as my girlfriend," Erika said. "I just hope that one day soon, Steph will do the same, because I don't want to live the rest of my life hiding my relationship."
Erika then did just that and came out to her parents, who were completely supportive, encouraging, and kind to both girls.
Stephanie then revealed Erika might possibly move to New York to be with her, and Erika's parents even appeared okay with that because they said they just wanted their daughter to be happy and independent.
Stephanie said it was an "amazing" night and she wanted to prove to Erika she was equally invested in their romance, so she planned to introduce Erika to her mom Magda as her girlfriend.
Stephanie admittedly felt "very nervous" about coming out to her "conservative" and "traditional" mother, so she ended up backing out when FaceTiming with Magda.
"I can't. I can't do it right now," Stephanie said. "It just doesn't feel right to do this through a computer screen. My mom means a lot to me. I owe her to do it in person."
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After Erika and Stephanie bonded at Erika's friend's house, Erika decided to be upfront with Stephanie about her concerns of being hidden -- but Stephanie was blown away because this was the first time she was hearing about Erika's previous 10-year romance.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY KNOW? (PHOTOS)
Stephanie flipped out, feeling lied to and betrayed. She threw a bowl that broke on the floor and both women broke down into tears. Erika said she felt "awful" that Stephanie yelled at her when she was just trying to be open, honest and vulnerable.
Once she calmed down, Stephanie later came back into the hotel and apologized for acting "manic," but trust was broken and Stephanie said their relationship had gone back to "square one."
"You are saying to me, 'My mom is definitely not going to be okay with this.' What do you want me to think?!... Why don't you just live with her and not bother pursuing relationships that you know she's not going to be okay with?" Erika asked Stephanie.
"Why are you playing with my heart just because you can't figure your own out?"
Stephanie said there was a level of understanding between them that would never be resolved, and then she noted, "That's it. We're done."
Stephanie said it broke her heart to call things off but her romance with Erika just wasn't working out. Stephanie didn't think either of them could say anything to fix the situation.
"But I'll always love her," Stephanie told the cameras in tears.
In the latest episode, the pair reunited to talk and smooth things over before Stephanie had to return to the United States.
Erika said she wished Stephanie had been upfront with her earlier on about her issues and concerns.
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And Stephanie said she had to go home and keep all of this bottled up inside because she couldn't talk to anyone about her relationship with a woman.
Once Stephanie and Erika parted ways, Erika was feeling hurt and confused and so she sat down with her mother to talk about things.
"I feel like she was just playing with my feelings the whole time," Erika told her mother, before adding, "I think I'm done. I feel like it's always me giving so much of myself."
Erika said she had seen so many red flags with Stephanie and Stephanie clearly had things to work on in order to be truly ready for a relationship. Erika admitted she's a people-pleaser and kept giving Stephanie second-chances but she couldn't continue down that path anymore.
The silver lining for Erika was that she could be 100 percent herself with everyone in her life going forward, especially her parents.
So is Stephanie and Erika's relationship really over? Did the 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days couple break up for good or are they still together now?
90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days' Season 4 cast Tell-All reunion had reportedly been set to film at a studio in New York City in March similar to past seasons, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, those plans ended up being postponed.Instead, the show ended up filming a reunion remotely, with everyone participating via videoconference, during the first weekend of May.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER?' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
The @FraudedByTLC Instagram account, which is run by a woman named Katrina, also has a podcast called The Fraudcast, which she co-hosts with Hanekawa Dravon, the ex-wife of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 3 star Benjamin Taylor.
During a recent episode of The Fraudcast, Katrina revealed details about what went down on the reunion, including the latest on Erika and Stephanie's romance.
"I do have some Tell-All tea about Stephanie and Erika," Katrina said. "They are barely on speaking terms in real life and on the Tell-All!"
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Katrina later appeared on Katie Joy's "Without A Crystal Ball" YouTube channel and revealed additional information about the demise of Stephanie and Erika's partnership.
Katie acknowledged rumors are swirling that Erika already has a new girlfriend, and then Katrina dished, "I think the Stephanie that Erika got in Australia is not the Stephanie that she had been engaging with for the last nine months prior to that."
"They are pretty volatile with each other on the Tell-All," Katrina added. "And I don't know that Erika gets any actual closure or answers."
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: BEFORE THE 90 DAYS' COUPLES NOW: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? (PHOTOS)
Katrina said Erika will be shown raising her concerns and issues and then Stephanie starts "crying her crocodile tears."
Katrina said Stephanie made it "all about her" at the reunion taping, which prevented Erika from "being heard and getting her point across."
About 10 hours of the Tell-All's raw videoconference footage have subsequently leaked out online.
In the leaked footage, Stephanie and Erika are shown talking with host Shaun Robinson over video conference and admitting they couldn't really see themselves becoming friends down the road.
"I think because there's so much hurt and emotion still that's, like, kind of raw and that we're dealing with, at the very best case scenario, we can be friends from afar," Stephanie reasoned.
"So support each other from a distance and that's it, and that's the most I can hope for."
And Erika agreed, explaining, "It's really hard to say what might come in the future because we've kind of become friends again and then fought again many, many times. I don't want any hatred and I don't want any drama."
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Erika said what hurt and disappointed her the most was having to tell her parents she and Stephanie broke up after she had just introduced Stephanie to them as her girlfriend.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY KNOW? (PHOTOS)
"It really sucked, but I understand that these things happen. It's not something I'm going to move forward with hatred about. It's just been really, really hard," Erika told Shaun.
"If I would've known the next day things would spiral the way that they did and we'd break up, I would've never gone to her parents' home, but they were lovely people. And seeing her come out to her parents was a pretty incredible moment," Stephanie said.
Stephanie explained Erika's experience inspired her to come out to her mother, which turned out to be a "complicated" situation and not so easy for her.
However, both girls insisted they didn't regret coming out to their parents, and Stephanie wished she had been honest with her mother from the get-go about why she was traveling to Australia.
Katie noted on her YouTube channel Stephanie, on the surface, seems like a good person and maybe she and Erika just weren't a good match.
"My own personal opinion is that I think Stephanie doesn't know how to be real Stephanie," Katrina explained, adding that Stephanie is much more conservative offline.
"She is so her online persona, and I don't fault her at all [for that]. But I don't know if Stephanie knows who she is outside of her online persona."
After the 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days episode aired in which Stephanie dumped Erika during her final days in Australia, Stephanie received a lot of hate and backlash.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER?' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
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"I reacted TERRIBLY, but I was under a ton of pressure. It was literally a pressure cooker of emotions. Again, I am seeking help for the way I handle things," Stephanie continued.
"Stop trying to diagnose me. There are actual doctors who can do that. You watched a highly edited clip on a reality TV show. You don't have a PhD. Again, you know NOTHING about the actual situation, and in the end, my gut led me in the right direction."
The Instagram and YouTube personality concluded, "I understand you have your ideas of who I am, but I don't think it is necessary for you to voice that on my page. Thanks for watching tonight, hopefully people can watch, judge, and respectfully carry on. I apologized to Erika, my mother, and everyone involved."
Meanwhile, Erika also took to Instagram and posted a statement of her own.
"I've been searching for ways to heal myself, and I've found that kindness is the best way," Erika wrote on Instagram Stories, citing a Lady Gaga quote.
"Remember tonight and every night, that no matter what, it's so important to be kind. Remember we are all people. We are all human and all have emotions. I thank you all so much for the love and support from the bottom of my heart but that doesn't need to be validated with hatefulness towards anyone. Love and light always. X."
And in mid-May, Stephanie took to her Instagram Stories to blast critics claiming she had signed up to do the show for fame, money, and to boost her career as a social media influencer.
Stephanie denied all the above and also expressed how it's ridiculous for some people to think she pretended to be bisexual just to star on 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: BEFORE THE 90 DAYS' COUPLES NOW: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski