90 Day Fiance: The Other Way newbie Shekinah Garner is finding out the hard way that being in the public eye isn’t always rainbows and butterflies.
This season on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way, viewers were introduced to Shekinah and her Turkish boyfriend, Sarper Guven.
The couple’s international love story is currently playing out in Season 5, and as we watched, Shekinah left her life in L.A. behind for a new life in Turkey with Sarper.
That meant that Shekinah left her teenage daughter, Sophia — whom she shares with her ex, Berto Matta — in the U.S., where she attends boarding school.
The fact that Shekinah is starting a new life in Turkey without her daughter didn’t sit well with one 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way viewer, and they let Shekinah know it.
The TLC star uploaded a screenshot in her Instagram Story, depicting a social media comment from a critic who called her a “terrible” and “disgusting” mother for moving to Turkey with Sarper and leaving Sophia behind.
Shekinah Garner fires back after critic deems her a ‘terrible’ mother
The critic wrote, “You are a terrible mother to your daughter. Choosing a man over her and moving across the country for him? … Disgusting.”
Shekinah fired back with a lengthy response, explaining that she gave Sophia adequate “time, attention, love,” and everything else a child needs and wants.
As she also wrote, Shekinah doesn’t see Sophia any less now than she did before because of Sophia’s school schedule.
Shekinah slams ‘judgmental and cruel’ 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way viewers
“Your accusations are so off base,” Shekinah told her hater. “I hope you think twice before you judge someone you don’t know.”
In captions above and below the screenshot, Shekinah added that she never realized how “judgmental and cruel” people could be until she and Sarper’s storyline aired on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way.
Shekinah called it “wild” that viewers are quick to assume they know everything about her life from just a “few edited moments on screen.”
“Best to not respond ofc, but sometimes you just have to,” Shekinah added.
Shekinah and Sarper are still holding strong despite backlash from haters
Both Shekinah and her Turkish lover, Sarper, have faced some harsh criticism since they debuted their love story on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way during Season 5.
Viewers quickly compared the couple to another 90 Day Fiance duo, Darcey and Stacey Silva, and they were called out for sharing spoilers about their storyline on social media.
Many 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way viewers have also been critical of the way Sarper treats Shekinah and his former bad-boy ways, having supposedly slept with more than 2,500 women.
Despite the backlash they’ve received, it looks like Shekinah and Sarper are still going strong, based on their Instagram activity, even if they’ve decided they have no desire ever to get married.
90 Day Fiance: The Other Way airs on Mondays at 8/7c on TLC.