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90 Day Fiancé star Paul Staehle confirmed his relationship status with his estranged wife, Karine Staehle, after it was thought he'd gone missing in Brazil.
Staehle, 40, spoke to Newsweek after sparking concern for his safety when Karine posted he had disappeared in her native country on August 31.
"We're just trying to make sure we have a good relationship so that in the future, we can have a good co-parenting relationship," Staehle said while in Brazil.
The couple appeared on TLC's reality show, 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days in 2017, and married in November in the same year, but have endured a rocky relationship ever since.
The on-again, off-again couple aired their dirty laundry on social media, accusing each other of lying and in December 2021 they split after a video of them having an altercation in the Kentucky home appeared online.
Their two sons, Pierre, 4, and Ethan, 2, were removed from the couple's custody in June 2022 by Child Protective Services (CPS) and placed into foster care following the altercation.
One of Staehle's cousins filed a motion this year to take custody of the children, but Staehle claimed both he and Karine had been diligent in attending court dates regarding their kids. They are also both close to completing court appointed courses known as the Kentucky Parenting Skills Class.
"The children were taken because we had a lot of verbal altercations, which in Kentucky they take very seriously," he told Newsweek.
Staehle vowed other than the arguments they always cared well for their children, but "because we're public figures, everything was blown out of proportion."
He also spoke about when CPS thought Pierre had been taken by Staehle after they were first put into foster care. Staehle eventually returned the child, but explained the ordeal had been tough on him.
"It was very stressful and if you have an agency saying 'you have to turn your child over to us,' any good parent is not going to be too thrilled about dropping them off and never seeing them again," Staehle explained that Pierre is "very attached to me."
As for the courses, Staehle has done "all that I can complete online" and will fly back from Brazil next month to complete the remainder in person. He has also attended any court dates via Zoom when he was not in Kentucky, according to the reality star.
In fact, it was the stress of not seeing his children and the ongoing custody battle that led him to taking the ill-fated boat trip that sparked concerns for his whereabouts.
Staehle had sent a series of a panicked messages to his mom saying he "f***** up," and "I need help," when a boat he was traveling on in the Rio Negro (Black River) lost power and began floating aimlessly.
"We went out there and there was a little hiccup in between getting to where we started at the beach at Manaus to the floating area we were going to see near the jungle," he said, explaining a fan had invited him on the boat to see the old 'Floating City.' The city was a community on water near the north-western city of Manaus in the state of Amazonas.
Without power to charge his phone and very little signal, Staehle's family and fans grew more concerned because they had not heard from him. His mom even contacted the U.S. Embassy in Brazil for help.
When he finally reconnected with the world, Staehle was surprised to find his "disappearance" had become a headline and fodder on social media.
"I had no idea, it was crazy. Just utterly, utterly insane," he said.
Staehle admitted the pressure of getting their kids back has taken a toll on Karine too and while they were on better terms, were not back together in a romantic sense.
"Karine is under a lot of psychological pressure with everything going on. I know she's gone to therapy and counseling. We have other things we have dealing we've been dealing with and so she has a lot of strain on her," he said.
"We want the best possible life for our children where they don't have to deal with the toxicity and the arguments and the fighting because we did fight really bad. We acknowledge that and we realize that sometimes we just don't get along."
Staehle added: "Karine's changed her life, she's not the same young girl she used to be, she's really developed and she's not the same person by any means."
Newsweek has contacted Karine via Instagram for comment.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more