’90 Day Fiancé’: Kenneth Breaks Down In Sobs With His Daughter and Reveals That Armando Is Semi-Closeted to His Family On ‘The Other Way’ Early Premiere
Kenneth Niedermeier, a 57-year-old dad of four from St. Petersburg, FL, and Armando, a 31-year-old dad from Mexico, will make 90 Day Fiancé history as the first gay male couple to appear on the popular TLC franchise.
The second season of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way—which features Americans who have fallen in love with someone from a different country and are moving overseas to get married—premieres on Jun. 8, but the early premiere episode, “Home is Where the Heart Is,” came out on TLC GO on May 31. Kenneth’s impending move to Mexico for Armando will be featured on the 90 Day Fiancé spinoff.
On the early premiere, Kenneth raved about Armando as the love of his life, whom he’d met in an online support group for gay dads. Still, he admitted that the move wouldn’t be at all easy for him—in part because of his fears about homophobia in Armando’s region, as well as from his own family.
Kenneth’s real estate agent urged him to have an ‘exit plan’ due to homophobia
During the early premiere episode of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way, Kenneth sat down with Sabine, his real estate agent. Sabine helped Kenneth sell his home in order to move to Mexico and support himself and his new family for the first few months.
Sabine warned Kenneth that he might not find his new environment to be quite as welcoming of his relationship as St. Petersburg might be. “In Mexico, they’re not as progressive down there with the LGBTQ+ community down there,” she advised him.
Kenneth admitted that he, too, was concerned. “I can see a struggle happening that’s gonna be a little frustrating for me,” the 90 Day Fiancé star agreed.
The Florida real estate agent warned her client that he should take care of his physical safety, first and foremost, and be ready to leave if need be. “Moving to someplace that doesn’t accept as easily as we accept here, that’s something to be thinking about. It truly is,” she said. “Be sure you’ve got an exit plan.”
Sabine pointed out to TLC producers that Kenneth and Armando might even have to be careful about showing physical affection to each other in public settings. “How is he going to show love in public? Will he be able to?” she wondered. “Because if there are those haters, I don’t know what they would do.”
Still, Kenneth was confident in his decision—and in his choice to take a risk for love. “I’m going into it with my heart, and I’m going into it head-on, and I’m going into it for life,” he declared. “It’s a done deal, and I’m confident.”
The ’90 Day Fiancé’ star admitted that Armando’s family didn’t know about his relationship
Despite his fierce love for Armando, Kenneth was devastated that he would have to leave his family behind—especially his 23-year-old daughter, Madison, and her three-year-old son, Cooper, both of whom had always lived with him.
“The hardest part about leaving is leaving my daughter Madison and my grandson Cooper,” Kenneth told 90 Day Fiancé producers sadly. “I’ve helped raise him. He has my heart. I’ve never lived apart from them all of their lives.”
As Kenneth sat down with Madison to discuss the big move, it was clear that both of them were heartbroken to have to be away from one another. “I’m probably as ready as I’m gonna be, but it’s time,” Kenneth told his daughter nervously.
Like Sabine, Madison warned her dad that he should be careful about displaying public affection with Armando in his new surroundings. “It’s definitely worrisome for me, because you get up every day and go out, and no one cares that you’re gay here,” she pointed out. “So I can’t imagine how it would be there, just walking down the street with Armando, you know?”
That’s when Kenneth revealed that Armando’s family wasn’t accepting of his sexuality—and didn’t even know that he was with Kenneth, or that Kenneth was moving to Mexico to be with him.
“Armando has a lot to deal with there, too, to come to terms with all that,” the 90 Day Fiancé star told his daughter. “Armando’s really worried, because his parents, they’re not accepting of him. So the last four years, they’ve hardly even talked about him being gay. They’ve never talked face to face about me.”
“So they don’t know that you’re coming at all?” Madison wondered incredulously.
“No, because he hasn’t talked to them yet,” Kenneth confessed. “They have no idea he’s even moving, let alone in a relationship with a guy.”
And while Kenneth hoped his new in-laws would support their relationship, he knew he had to be prepared for anything.
“I have no clue at all how his parents will react,” the 90 Day Fiancé star admitted. “I’m hoping he gets a positive outcome out of it, but it’s a roll of the dice. Hopefully, they’ll have open hearts and will accept us. All you can do is hope.”
Kenneth and his daughter cried together about his upcoming departure
Kenneth and his daughter also had a heartfelt, frank discussion about their mixed emotions about the upcoming move.
“You’re literally leaving everything. Your entire family,” Madison said with tears in her eyes.
To 90 Day Fiancé producers, Madison added that her dad had always been her rock—and now he suddenly wouldn’t be around anymore. “The hardest part about my dad going to Mexico, it’s kind of like I’m losing my entire support system, because he’s always been there for me and Cooper,” she said sadly.
Madison admitted that she sometimes felt “abandoned” or betrayed by her father’s decision to uproot himself for Armando. “I just don’t want you to leave,” she cried. “I feel like you’re, like, abandoning me and Cooper. You’ve always been here.”
Kenneth got choked up, too, and began to weep as he admitted he had guilt about his decision.
“Being away from my family, that’s going to be very difficult for me, because I love them very much,” the dad of four told TLC producers. “We’re very close. I’ve never moved and left them behind.”
“I’m really glad that he makes you happy,” Madison told her dad as they hugged and cried together. “I just wish that it wasn’t so far away.”
The 90 Day Fiancé star promised his daughter that he would always be there for her—no matter what. “Well, no matter what, I’m always there,” Kenneth assured her. “I’m never, ever going to leave you, up there or in here,” he promised, gesturing towards his head and his heart.
