Fans of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days were introduced last night to Stephanie Matto, a 29-year-old YouTuber from Yonkers, New York.
Stephanie is half of the show’s first-ever same-sex couple, but that’s not the only thing that makes her story unusual.
Stephanie was born in the Czech Republic and immigrated to the US at age 7 with her mother Magda. Stephanie and Magda are very close, and Magda even appeared on last night’s show.
Stephanie hid her sexuality
Although Stephanie and her mother are close, Stephanie still kept her bisexuality a secret. On last night’s episode, we saw her agonize over the decision to come out, fearing her mother’s disapproval.
Stephanie met her Australian girlfriend Erika Owens, 24, through Instagram. When Erika came across Stephanie’s YouTube channel and social media, she sent a DM, and things moved from there.
Although Stephanie had dated women before Erika, she hadn’t come out to her family because she thought that her mother was too old-school to accept a bisexual daughter.
Stephanie’s journey to come out will be documented throughout this season.
She has a rare disease
Last night, Stephanie discussed her aplastic anemia, the rare disease that affects her daily life. Aplastic anemia is a failure of the bone marrow to produce enough blood cells. This leads to fatigue and a weakened immune system.
It can develop at any age and for a variety of reasons, but in some cases, the cause is unknown.
Treatments for aplastic anemia can include blood transfusions, medication, or a bone marrow transplant. Bone marrow transplants come from living donors, often siblings of patients.
For patients like Stephanie, who don’t have full biological siblings, a match can be very hard to find.
Stephanie has put up this link on her social media to the bone marrow registry so that 90 Day Fans who want to help her or other aplastic anemia patients can find more information.
Stephanie used her YouTube channel to document her journey with the disease, which began with her diagnosis two years ago. Much of the channel’s focus is on her experiences as an aplastic anemia patient.
However, Stephanie also dabbles in more typical YouTube fare — she posts ASMR videos, fashion hauls, music, and content about being a Czech-American.
Stephanie’s other social media
Stephanie has an Instagram account where she posts mostly photos of herself, but also sometimes of her two adorable dogs. She’s also active on Twitter.
I even managed to track down Stephanie’s account on Backstage, a website for aspiring actors and performers. According to that page, Stephanie attended Cooperative School for the Arts, a performing arts high school in New Haven, CT.
Stephanie definitely won me over with her love ballad to pizza on last night’s episode, and fans can continue to watch her journey on this season of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days.
90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days airs on Sundays at 8/7c on TLC.