Jovi And Yara Preview A New Season Of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? - Exclusive Interview
Fans of "90 Day Fiancé" will remember Jovi Dufren and Yara Zaya from Season 8 of the show. At first, they seemed like an unlikely pair. Zaya is from Ukraine, and Dufren lives in Louisiana, but after meeting online, the pair hit it off. Like other couples on the show, they had a limited time to get married before Zaya's visa ran out. Throughout the series, they had many disagreements, including Zaya's distaste for her fiance's party lifestyle, but after Zaya became pregnant, they got married.
Now, Zaya is adjusting to life in the U.S. as a new wife and mother. Viewers can continue to follow the couple's journey as they learn to be a family on "90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?" In the series, you can watch the same couples you know and love from past seasons of "90 Day Fiancé" adjusting to married life and facing the many obstacles that come up along the way. During an exclusive interview with The List, Dufrren and Zaya shared what some of their biggest challenges have been and what's kept them together so far.
Adjusting to parenting
What have been the biggest changes for you two adjusting to married life together?
Jovi Dufren: The biggest change for adjusting to married life is raising a child. That brought most of the conflict towards us — who takes what responsibilities. That's been a tough thing to get through over the last few months or year or however long.
Yara Zaya: I don't know. For me, everything is a big change. I moved to [a] new country, and having a husband, having a child, living in Louisiana — for me, everything is a big change.
Do you feel like parenting together has affected your relationship?
Yara: I don't think it's affecting our relationship. [On] some points, [it] brings us closer together, but [on] some point[s], maybe [it] affect[s our] sexual life or something. When you have a kid, you cannot just do the same thing which you did before. You can't—
Jovi: Or the kid's sleeping in your bed every night.
Yara: Yeah. You're going to struggle. At the same time, it's [brought us] more together, but small things have changed.
Yara's adjustment to American culture
As you said, Yara, you moved to a new country. What was it like for you to adjust? Do you feel like you have adjusted to the U.S. yet, or is it still all new?
Yara: I don't know If I can adjust. Maybe if I move to a different state where there are more people from other countries, then maybe I will adjust more. Now, I feel like I'm more adjusted, and now I understand that not everybody who says that they love me actually do[es] love me. It was the biggest adjustment to understand the people, that here, [not] everybody is [honest]. In my country, people can be mean to you at first and then so nice to you when they get to know you. Here, everybody's so nice to you all the time, but they can hate you, and I never notice this. I'm like, "Oh, they love me so much."
Jovi: Basically, you're saying everybody's fake here.
Yara: I don't want to be that [straightforward]. People don't like when I do that. Everything [was] different for me over here, but I feel like I am already more adjusted. I feel like I can understand more people now and everything else.
What has it been like for you to be separate from your family while you're raising your daughter?
Yara: It was hard for me to be far away from my family when I raised my daughter because I always want my family to see my daughter and [want her to] be in contact with them, [and I want her to know] my culture and all that stuff. It's hard. I didn't plan that, but it happened.
Biggest struggles living together
You two had a pretty short engagement. Do you feel like you knew each other well enough before you got married, or are you learning a lot about each other now that you are married?
Jovi: We knew each other pretty well before we got married. The hardest part for a lot of people is when you move in together, you're living together for the first time. Then, we throw a child into the mix. That was pretty hard.
Do you feel like there were any big adjustments once you moved in together? What do you feel was the biggest thing?
Jovi: The biggest thing after we moved in together [was] I had my way of living, [and] Yara had her own way of living. She's really OCD, and everything needs to be in its own little spots. I started living like I've been living my whole life, and then she didn't like that. We had a lot of arguments about different ways of doing things and where stuff goes in the house. It's a lot of small things that add up to conflict.
Are you on the neater side, and you want everything a certain way, Yara?
Yara: When Jovi goes to work, I live my own life here. When he comes home, he needs to follow my rules. I am a little bit OCD. I am OCD, and I need stuff to be in the place where I put it and then to go back [where it's supposed to]. I am a little bit [neater]. [I] get stressed sometimes about it.
Jovi: I hate it. I go to work for a few weeks, I come back home, and I'm like, "Where's this? Where's that? Why did you move all my stuff?"
Yara: It's family stuff, family problems.
Dealing with having their relationship on TV
Then, you two have had a lot of your relationship broadcast on TV. Do you feel like that's difficult, or are you used to being filmed at this point?
Yara: I love to be in film and all that stuff. I'm attention hungry. ... I love to do it. When we've been filming and all that stuff, [I love] everybody who comes. I was lonely in this country, [but the crew] gets to be like my family, and I was happy to see them all the time. [They] always can talk and communicate. I don't like to watch myself on TV, but I like to film for TV.
Jovi: I don't think it's affected our relationship too much. I feel like everything's pretty much gone as normal, and we'd had the same problems with or without filming.
Do you watch the show when it comes out, or do you prefer not to?
Jovi: I watched a lot in the beginning, and then after a while, I was like, "Oh my God, I don't like my voice. I look stupid here." After a time, I slowly stopped, but eventually, I catch up to it. After a while, I'll watch it all together to see what's going on.
Do you get excited when this new season's coming out, or do you have any anxiety around that?
Jovi: Actually, for this season, I'm really excited. In the past, I can't say I felt the same way. As time goes on, you feel more comfortable with what's going to happen. In the beginning, it was really stressful, with a lot of anxiety. Now, I feel a lot better about it. I'm excited to see how our story unfolds.
Yara: I probably said something so stupid already, and people will judge me for it, but I'm here for it.
What is it like for you when people watch it and have their responses or say things on social media about it?
Yara: I usually, if I know that I said something stupid, in that week, don't go to my Instagram. I see the preview that I say something stupid, then I don't check my Instagram because people [will] tell me mean stuff, so I don't want to read it.
Jovi: In the beginning, that was really hard to deal with. Now, we both have a good understanding of how to handle that and not let it affect this.
What's kept them together?
In the past, on the show, you've talked about getting a divorce or [thinking] maybe this wouldn't work out. What do you feel like has been the biggest thing that's kept you together and kept your relationship going?
Jovi: 100%, I will say that Mylah is what's kept us together. Having a child and raising a child together really pulled us together. We've both been pretty good parents. Although we have some disagreements in our relationship, Mylah is really the main factor holding us together. Do you feel the same way?
Yara: I was thinking of saying the thing which holds us together is "because you're such a good wife, I love you so much. We love each other." Okay, good to know, Jovi.
A new season of "'90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?" premieres Sunday, August 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on TLC and discovery+.
This interview has been edited for clarity.