90 Day Fiance’s Tiffany and Ronald Try Virtual Marriage Counseling: Split ‘Was Nothing About Infidelity’
Working through their issues. 90 Day Fiancé couple Tiffany Franco and Ronald Smith returned to the franchise for TLC’s limited series, 90 Day Fiancé: Self-Quarantined. They shared an update on their relationship after their brief split in January and gave fans a peek into one of their online marriage counseling sessions.
The Frederick, Maryland native explained she and Ronald, 30, are currently in a long-distance marriage. They originally planned for Tiffany, 28, to relocate from the United States to Ronald’s native country of South Africa with her 10-year-old son, Daniel, as documented on season 1 of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way. Shortly after their wedding, Tiffany learned she was pregnant with the couple’s first child. She realized moving to South Africa would limit opportunities for Daniel and their daughter, Carley, so they changed their plans. Instead, the couple filed for Ronald’s spousal visa which would allow him to relocate to the United States so they can live together as a family.
“The last time we were all together as a family was over six months ago,” Tiffany explained in her confessional. “During that time, Ronald and I could not stop fighting and every single time the cause of the fight was when we started talking about Ronald’s visa to come to the U.S. Thank God we got past that and are able to talk about it without bumping heads.”
She revealed they only applied for Ronald’s spousal visa in January. The spousal visa can take up to two years to be completed, but the coronavirus pandemic have caused delays in the process.
Aside from the visa issues, the couple also struggles with other marital problems. Ronald’s gambling addiction has a negative impact on their relationship and Tiffany revealed Ronald had a relapse a few months ago. The coronavirus pandemic also put a strain on their union. Ronald plays video games to pass the time while quarantining in South Africa, and Tiffany complained because she feels Ronald focuses too much on the video games and doesn’t pay enough attention to her or their family during their phone calls and video chats.
“I’m not feeling heard by my husband and in a time when I literally can’t turn to anyone else … and the only person I can count on and lean on their shoulder is my husband. On top of the distance and this craziness going on right now, there are some trust issues in my relationship with Ronald due to lying because of the gambling addiction. We’re trying to get past it, but all of this, at the same time, is too much,” Tiffany said in her confessional. She decided to set up a three-way video chat with a marriage counselor so they can work through their issues.
During their session, Ronald admitted he “lost” Tiffany’s trust after he lied to her about his whereabouts while he was gambling. “It was nothing about infidelity or anything like that,” Tiffany added. “It was a gambling issue. He’s recovering. He’s working on himself. And he’s doing really really well. The reason he lied to me was because of this issue that he had. A lot of times certain things trigger me to feel like we’re right back there. I want to be able to trust him. And trust is earned. Every time there’s an argument, I feel like I’m forcing him to apologize.”
It seems like their session helped them come to a solution to their issues. “The thing is we have to work on our connection basically because … it’s just hard sometimes,” Ronald said. “When she bids for connection, I’ll try from my side to put out the helping hand even though it’s hard.”
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