Summary
90 Day Fiancé: Love In Paradiseseason 4 features couples with a wide range of age gaps. The age differences between partners range from 3 years to 36 years. While age doesn’t determine a successful relationship, it can affect the personality traits that threaten compatibility.
90 Day Fiancé: Love In Paradisefocuses on four Americans who have found love abroad. Formerly calledLove In Paradise: The Caribbean,90 Day Fiancé: Love In Paradiseseason 4expands its geographical reach to couples in Italy, Malta, Colombia, and Brazil. The couples struggle with more than just cultural understanding, as their phases of life also play a crucial role in the partner’s ability to connect.
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Alex And Adriano: 3-Year Age Difference
Alex’s Age May Be Driving Her Desire To Make The Relationship Work
Alex Roshon, 30, and Adriano Cardinale, 33, have the smallest age gap of the90 Day Fiancé: Love In Paradiseseason 4 couples.Their differences are also the most surface-level. Adriano is preoccupied with threesomes andhe does not share Alex’s devotion to religion. Alex struggles to decide whether she can see a future with someone who has opposing values.
Values may be more of a hindrance for Alex and Adriano than age.
Alex admitted that turning 30 changed her perspective on relationships. She had thought she would be married and have children by that age. This likely caused her to place additional pressure on her relationship with Adriano. Although they have conflicting sexual and spiritual beliefs, Alex may be forcing herself to stay in a relationship with Adriano because she does not want her plans to start a family to be delayed even further.
Anika And Kyle: 7-Year Age Difference
Kyle Lacks The Maturity To Sustain A Healthy Relationship
Kyle Gordy, 32, and Anika “Ani” Philipp, 39, havebutted heads over Kyle’s sperm donation habit.Ani sought Kyle’s servicesbecause she wanted another child, and their relationship evolved into a romance. The pressure Ani felt to complete her family wasn’t shared by Kyle, who has fathered at least 71 children through his sperm donation.
Ani has expressed discomfort with Kyle’s hobby, but he doesn’t understand the impact his donations have on building a relationship. Kyle, who’s at a different stage in his life than Ani, lacks the maturity to understand why he cannot continue to impregnate other women if he wants to pursue a serious relationship with Ani.Kyle’s childishness makes him believe he can have both options, while Ani tries to help him understand why that’s not possible.
Madelein And Luke: 11-Year Age Difference
Madelein May Not Understand Luke’s Financial Position
Luke Berry, 30, and Madelein Perez, 19, have adynamic that’s based largely on money. Luke funded Madelein’s lifestyle in Colombia, paying for her apartment and business. When he lost his job, he couldn’t afford these luxuries anymore, which impacted his relationship with Madelein. This shows how much of a role the power structure between the couple plays, as Luke doesn’t know his place in the relationship if he’s not the sole provider and decision-maker.
Luke admitted Madelein’s age made it hard to discuss financeswith her. When she continued to plan an expensive weddingdespite Luke having no moneyto fund it, he blamed her age and the fact that she didn’t understand how finances work. He also noted her immaturity makes her more emotional and irrational when she doesn’t get what she wants. It’s difficult to see how Luke, a grown adult, can get on the same page with Madelein, who’s still basically a teenager.
Alliya And Shawn: 36-Year Age Difference
Shawn Needs To Let Go Of His Power Imbalance
Shawn Finch, 61, and Alliya Batista, 25, havestruggled to cope with the change intheir relationship due to Alliya’s gender transition. Shawn was mourning the loss of the person he fell in love with. Alliya, meanwhile, felt empowered by living her true self. Shawn noted Alliya had changed more than her body, and the person he fell in love with was timid and scared, while Alliya was “strong and powerful.” Alliya was insulted and wondered why Shawn would prefer a partner who wasn’t confident and happy.
Shawn came off as controlling, but he wants to change that.
Shawn was attached to the couple’s former dynamic, where he had the power due to his age and Alliya’s lack of confidence before her transition. However, he had a breakthrough when Alliya gathered her friends to celebrate her transition and spoke about how happy she was. Shawn realizes he doesn’t “want to be the person that ever dims her light.”Despite their large age gap, the power division between them is more equal as Shawn learns to support Alliya’s growthand allow her to claim ownership of herself.
While age differences can play a role in the compatibility of the90 Day Fiancé: Love In Paradisecouples, other dynamics have an even bigger impact on the potential for a lasting relationship. For Alex and Adriano and Kyle and Ani, their ages determine the personality traits that threaten their happiness. Luke and Madelein, as well as Alliya and Shawn, must overcome the imbalance of power that threatens to derail their intimacy. If these challenges are addressed and resolved, the couples can have a stable future together regardless of their age.
90 Day Fiancé: Love In Paradiseairs Mondays at 8 p.m. EDT on TLC.
