Content Warning: This article references both domestic violence and sexual assault. Please take care while reading.
Paul Staehle and Karine Martins, from the 90 Day Fiancé spin-off series Before The 90 Days, initially appeared to be a couple that couldn’t possibly last, but the international couple’s tempestuous relationship spanned multiple seasons of the reality TV franchise, including 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way and 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?
Paul and Karine last appeared on TV screens around four years ago, and a lot has happened since. The more recent, often tragic events offer some new perspective of the couples’ on-screen relationship, particularly in the then-controversial treatment of Karine by her American partner.
Paul and Karine’s 90 Day Fiancé journey, explained
Paul and Karine, like most 90 Day Couples, met online, with Kentucky resident Paul visiting Karine’s native Brazil for their first meeting. Things did not get off to a great start, as Paul was reluctant to reveal his criminal past of felony arson against an ex-partner, and relying on a translation app to communicate with Karine, whose first language is Portuguese. In one awkward early scene between the two, Paul runs away from Karine while confessing about his past.
Paul wasn’t exactly a viewer favorite, as he frequently accused Karine of being unfaithful towards him, asking her to take multiple pregnancy or STD tests, as well as driving a wedge between Karine and her family and continuing to be shady and uncommunicative about his past, particularly when it came to gaining employment as an ex-convict. Still, the couple wed and Paul relocated to Brazil, where they welcomed their first child together, as shown in spin-off 90 Day: The Other Way.
However, marriage and children didn’t ease their relationship, and Paul struggled to provide financially for his growing family, and his often neurotic, and always downright xenophobic concerns about Karine secretly being unclean and diseased due to secret relations with other men didn’t help either. Their latest TV appearance on Happily Ever After showed the couple relocating to Paul’s home state of Kentucky in an attempt to improve these martial strains.
Are Paul and Karine still together?
Shortly after Happily Ever After, rumors of a split began circulating online, which seemed to be quickly proven in July 2020, when a physical altercation between the Paul and Karine was streamed on Instagram Live, resulting in Karine’s removal from their home in Louisville, Kentucky, followed by both parties filing restraining orders.
Shortly after, both protective orders were scrapped, and the couple briefly moved back to Karine’s native Brazil, where their second child was born shortly afterward. In 2021, surveillance footage surfaced online of Karine seemingly physically assaulting Paul, which appeared to be the end for the former couple, as both parties were removed from their past — and future — social media posts. Both Paul and Karine shared new respective partners on their platforms, showing that their split was seemingly a permanent one.
Going into 2022, it was reported that Karine’s restraining order against Paul had been upheld, in light of rape accusations against her estranged husband, made around the time of the leaked surveillance video of Karine’s altercation with her then-husband. The documents allege that Paul had coerced her “to have sexual intercourse without her consent multiple times,” and had used violence and intimidation to threaten his then-wife with deportation or forced prostitution, according to information obtained by Ashley’s Reality TV Roundup.
That same year, one of Karine and Paul eldest child was reported missing in Paul’s native Louisville, where he was meant to have custody of his two children. Although their son was thankfully found quickly, Child Protective Services removed custody rights to both of their children from both Paul and Karine — which is said to extend to Karine due to threats against her life made by Paul. This arrangement is said to still be upheld in 2024, with the children being cared for by a relative of Paul’s.
More recently, Karine has accused her estranged husband of hacking into her Facebook account to spread false information and message her boyfriend, in order to create false pregnancy and engagement rumors — a claim that Paul has denied. As of May 2024, Karine and Paul appear to be separated, but not divorced in the legal sense.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1.800.799.SAFE (7233), or text “START” to 88788 for safe, confidential support.