Among the various new faces on the Season 6 premiere of 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days, one belonged to Amanda Wilhelm.
She never expected to become a widow and a single mom, let alone at such a young age.
Now, Amanda believes that she has found new love with Razvan Ciocoi, only months after her husband’s sudden death.
Her sister believes that she’s trying to fill avoid. A lot of fans are rooting for Amanda … but not necessarily for this relationship.
Our first glance of Amanda Wilhelm and her children, Aleena and Jr., told us three key things.
First, it tells us about the Louisiana native’s cultural background. Two, it tells us that some viewers will instantly vibe with her and others will not.
And third, it seems likely that everything in this opening scene — her family’s Christian beliefs, her children, and how her late husband remains involved in bedtime — is informing her choices about Razvan.
Amanda is a widow at 31 years old. On top of that, she is now a single mom, caring for two kids.
Her son, the younger of the two, did not initially understand what it meant for someone to be dead. Not even when Amanda framed this as his father being “in heaven,” the Christian afterlife.
Amanda’s late husband is still “in the picture” in a literal sense. His chremation urn is a polished wooden box with his photo. Her children kiss it goodnight.
After they prayed and then kissed their father’s urn, Amanda tucked her kids in with a blanket containing Christian writing in a large font.
As we noted, some viewers instantly saw some of their own backgrounds in Amanda’s. To other viewers, their way of life is more foreign than that of many non-Americans who’ve appeared on the show.
Of course, Amanda isn’t at home during these opening scenes. She and her kids were visiting her sister, Amber.
Amanda wasn’t planning on making a permanent move to Ohio, however.
Instead, she was there to prepare for an international flight.
Her kids would stay with her aunt … while she jetted off to Romania.
First, she explained the backstory. It looks like her late husband was a decade or so older than she was — but certainly not at an age where she expected him to die.
Despite doctors immediately missing it on tests, he eventually received a Stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis. It of course came too late. The cancer had metastasized to the rest of his body.
He was dying. And then Amanda was there to see the life leave his eyes. Before he died, however, he urged her to find love again one day.
But Amanda never expected to find someone so soon. She didn’t sign up for a dating app. Instead, she was just using social media for escapism.
There she found a cute, entertaining guy: Razvan Ciocoi. The Romanian hottie does funny dances and shows a lot of skin.
After she gifted him a “rose” on TikTok (a small paid gift), he wrote her back. Things took off from there.
Razvan is an actor and a model. A lot of his job involves being active on social media and building up a fan base.
(A lot of actors will do this — their diehard fans will automatically tune in to new projects and create more visibility for them online)
However, Razvan also teases his fans — at times, doing stripteases. And yes, this is going to be an issue for Amanda and her jealousy issues.
Amanda’s sister, Amber, is spotting a lot of red flags that Amanda doesn’t want to see.
It’s less about Amanda’s concerns — him being flirty with other women when he didn’t know that she was online. Instead, to Amber, it’s more about Amanda’s state of mind.
Obviously, Amanda just lost her husband. She seems to be rushing to fill a “void.” That’s not really the foundation of a healthy relationship.
Amanda has spent more or less her entire adult life as a wife. Amber would love to see her rediscover herself before jumping into a new relationship.
But a tearful Amanda told Amber that she wants a “commitment” and thinks that it’s a good thing. (That could be her specific worldview telling her that she needs to take certain steps in order to find companionship)
It looks like Amanda will have to figure things out for herself. Sometimes, the only way to learn is to make mistakes.
Amanda also believed that moving on would be good for her kids.
It’s true that Razvan dresses up to entertain her kids over video chat, and even “plays” with them in videos.
But Amanda isn’t sure that he’s up for being a stepfather to Aleena and Jr. He is even younger than she is, and seemingly has no childcare experience.
Another issue — one that even Amanda acknowledged — was jealousy.
Razvan’s job involves flirting with fans and showing a lot of skin. Not to mention some steamy on-screen action.
While anyone who has acted can attest that kissing on camera is seldom as sexy as it looks, it’s clearly hard for Amanda to watch.
That’s a problem, because it looks like people hire Razvan for the lines of his abs rather than for his line-delivery.
Is this going to be a long-term problem for Amanda? We’ve seen this tear couples apart on this franchise.
Because that could add to a list of reasons that Amanda might be seriously jumping the gun with this three-week trip.
Before leaving for Romania, Amanda gave Aleena and Jr. little gifts.
She also promised to video chat with them every day while she determines whether Razvan is what she hopes that he is.
This will be her first time away from the kids since their dad died. No part of this is easy.
Amber of course just hoped that Amanda would have a wakeup call in Romania.
Even if Razvan is everything that Amanda hopes that he is, Amber feels that she owes it to herself to spend some time being an adult woman without being a wife.
By the way, Amanda’s kids seem to have a better idea of what’s going on than she had realized.
When Jr. asked “are you going to sleep in Razvan’s bed?” Amber and Amanda’s eyes got so big.
Amber replied that she would just be sleeping on the couch, most likely.
Previews for the rest of this season seem to indicate otherwise.
And she’s off, leaving both kids with aunt Theresa.
A lot of fans feel sorry for her. And, like we said, they’re rooting for Amanda.
But supporting her does not always mean supporting her relationship. Maybe Amber has the right idea.
Amanda Wilhelm: Young Widow, Single Mom Earns Sympathy from 90 Day Fiance Before The 90 … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.