’90 Day Fiance’ Stars Paul and Karine Staehle Skipped Season 5 Tell-All Amid Legal Issues
Missing in action. 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? couple Paul Staehle and Karine Staehle (née Martins) were the only couple who did not participate in the season 5 tell-all. Host Shaun Robinson addressed their absence in a statement at the beginning of the Sunday, September 27 episode.
“Unfortunately, Paul and Karine are not able to join us but we do wish them the best and hope they’re doing well,” Shaun, 58, said.
While Shaun didn’t provide any additional details at the time about the reason Paul, 37, and Karine, 24, were missing from the tell-all, she confirmed the estranged couple’s recent, real-life drama may have had something to do with why they couldn’t participate.
“Yeah, you know the situation between Paul and Karine is a very complicated and sensitive one, so when we were about to do the tell-all, their situation was very fresh, and so we wanted to give them the space to really work through that,” she told Entertainment Tonight on October 2.
As In Touch previously reported, the Louisville, Kentucky native and his Brazilian wife are currently estranged after a blowout fight between the couple was documented online in July. In a since-deleted Instagram Live, Paul claimed the argument started after he looked over at Karine’s phone and saw she was communicating with a Brazilian lawyer about “child support and divorce.” The altercation got so heated that police were called to the couple’s marital home twice in the same day. After the visits from the cops, Karine and Paul filed restraining orders against each other.
Following the incident, Karine left with the couple’s 18-month-old son, Pierre. Paul took to social media to reveal his wife went missing, but Karine later denied she was missing in a statement shared via Instagram.
“I want you all to know that me and Pierre are doing well now. All this past days [sic] I had a lot going on,” her message read. “As the media showed, I had issues where the police was called because I feared for my life and my son’s life which led me to ask for help and ultimately be rescued from an environment that no longer was healthy for none of us involved in the situation.”
In Touch confirmed Paul and Karine were granted restraining orders against each other at their first court hearing on August 11. The couple’s son, Pierre, is protected under both orders. Both parents were granted temporary custody of their son but he is currently residing with Karine as Paul is restrained from having contact with Pierre. A judge will determine which parent will have permanent legal and physical custody at their next hearing which is in December.
Two weeks after their first court hearing Paul traveled to Karine’s home country and has been spending time with her family amid their estrangement. He responded to fans who accused him of “chasing” his wife to Brazil amid their marital issues.
“For everyone thinking I am chasing Karine in Brazil: Karine is in Indiana [in the United States]. I came here alone to clean and organize our Brazil home,” Paul wrote via Instagram Stories. “It needs to be sanitary and baby-safe. I have been keeping busy since she left. I finished cleaning and organizing [our] USA house, so now I am doing the same thing in Brazil.”
90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? airs on TLC Sundays at 8 p.m. on TLC.
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