Are ’90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days’ Stars Ella Johnson and Johnny Chao Still Together?
Status update! Are 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days stars Ella Johnson and Johnny Chao still together? The couple made their debut on season 5 of the hit TLC series, but the coronavirus pandemic and their own personal insecurities and anxieties seem to get in the way of the couple finally meeting in person for the first time. Keep scrolling below to find out if they are still dating after the show stopped filming!
Ella is from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Johnny is a divorcé and father from Jinan, China. The couple met after Ella joined a dating site for white women seeking to meet Asian men. Ella became smitten with Johnny, whom she calls her “Asian prince,” but the coronavirus pandemic put a serious halt on their plans to meet each other for the first time in person amid the travel bans and flight restrictions.
When some of the travel restrictions lifted in the summer of 2021, they decided that it would be best for Johnny to travel to the United States for their first meeting. He planned to leave his job as an electric car manufacturer, his older parents and his son, Stoney, in China to move to America and start a life with Ella. However, the rise in global coronavirus cases due to the Delta strain made Johnny hesitant. He worried that if he traveled during a surge in cases and contracted COVID-19, he would be too sick to work and care for his family and Ella.
Ella had previously been in a long-distance relationship with an Indian man and their romance did not work out after meeting in person in Thailand, when he told her he did not want a “sexual relationship” with her. She felt that she did not want to wait any longer for her and Johnny to meet in case he would also change his mind about their romance.
The cosplayer then came up with a plan for her and Johnny to meet halfway in Dubai, where they would self-quarantine together for two weeks before traveling to the U.S. together. Johnny still did not feel comfortable flying amid the pandemic, but Ella gave him an ultimatum: either they meet in Dubai finally, or he would have to agree to have an open relationship so she could start seeing other, local men.
Although Johnny expressed that he wanted to keep their relationship monogamous, Ella dropped a huge bombshell on Johnny during a March 2022 episode. During a tense video call scene, after he told her he didn’t want to go to Dubai and postponed their trip until February, she admitted to cheating on Johnny and sleeping with a friend.
“I don’t think you understand how hard this has been on me. I need attention, I need physical attention and when you have been going back and forth with this, I called over a friend and talked with him and cuddled with him and we ended up having sex,” she told Johnny, who was visibly shocked. “I didn’t mean for that to happen, it just happened because I was so distraught and so upset.”
Johnny said it was “very hard” to hear about Ella’s cheating, but he said he wasn’t upset at Ella because their situation is “complicated.” He understood that she questioned his commitment to her because he kept her “waiting” for so long, and he vowed that when he arrives in February, he would work “very hard to fix” their relationship. He also asked Ella to send him her ring finger size so he could buy her a “diamond ring” to prove he is committed to her and she agreed that it would make her feel better.
Later that month, Johnny took to Instagram to open up more about Ella’s cheating scandal and hinted that despite the infidelity, they are still going strong today.
“I wanna say I still have confidence in you and love you,” Johnny captioned a side-by-side photo of him and Ella. “It was my wrong I keep delayed [sic]. I will take 90 percent responsibility for what happened.”
Ella and Johnny returned for a June 2022 episode of 90 Day Diaries and revealed they have yet to meet in person. While the pair originally planned for a February 2022 meet-up in Idaho, Johnny had to postpone his trip again due to his job.
Explaining that Johnny plans on resigning from his job, Ella detailed, “The resignation process in China is that he has to give them a letter, that you have to have approved. You can’t just quit, because you have to have this stamp.” If he doesn’t get the approval from his previous employer, the Idaho native added, “It’s pretty much going to be impossible for him to get another job in China.”
Clearly tired of waiting, Ella told producers, “I’m very frustrated and hurt and upset because I really love this man, and I really want to be able to wait and continue to support him. But at the same time, it’s kind of like, how long are you gonna, like, let this person let you down?”
Johnny ultimately postponed his trip and Ella admitted she can’t wait that much longer for Johnny to finally travel to the U.S. “I am willing to wait for him because he really is an amazing person and I love him,” she explained later in the episode. “But I mean, if he wants to wait until 2023, I have to be done.”
Are Ella and Johnny Still Together?
The TLC alum gave a heartbreaking update regarding her relationship with the China native in September 2022.
“We’re not together currently. He still says that he wants to come over here and I told him I more than support that,” she explained via Instagram on September 10. “But I’m not gonna sit here and wait anymore. I wish everyone and him the best in whatever he decides. I really do care about him and I really did care about our relationship.”
It’s clear there’s no bad blood between Ella and Johnny as her former flame was in the comment section showing his support.
“Congrats for your weight loss, you deserve better man, good luck and best wish,” he wrote. “Life is full of challenges and miracles, be the best of you and you will have the best relationship.”
In March 2023, she returned to the platform with another update while engaging in an Instagram Q&A with fans. “Have you gotten a chance to see your boyfriend in person already?” a viewer asked. She replied, “We have not met yet.”
In another slide, the 90 Day Fiancé alum defended why she hasn’t traveled to China to meet him.
“So the reason I didn’t go to China when it was COVID is because one, it was COVID,” she detailed in a video clip. “And two, China just opened their borders back up. So, I mean, what did you want me to do?”
While the pair were seemingly split, Ella revealed in June 2023 that Johnny officially had plans to come to visit her.
“Says he will be here around the fourth,” she told fans via her Instagram Story. “So I guess you will see. Beats me if it will happen or not.”
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