‘90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way’ Star Debbie Is the Real-Life Tanya McQuoid From ‘The White Lotus’
Eccentric and zany, new 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 4 star, Debbie, is just like Jennifer Coolidge’s character, Tanya McQuoid, from the HBO Max series The White Lotus. Here are all of the similarities between the two women, their taste in men, and their complicated relationships with their mothers.
[Warning: Spoilers ahead for The White Lotus Season 2]
Debbie and Tanya are both older wealthy white women with style
Tanya, an eccentric heiress who lives in her own world, is often led by her impulsive whims. She has a love for travel, art, and spirituality. She often uses the wealth inherited from her father to buy the affection of people around her to feel less lonely.
Meanwhile, 67-year-old Debbie from Sugar Hill, Georgia, describes herself as “perhaps a little eccentric” with a “somewhat quirky personality.” Aside from the blonde hair and flashy style, Debbie’s over-the-top personality reminds fans of Tanya in many ways.
Debbie makes and sells semi-precious gemstone jewelry. Her home is filled with antiques and art, and she loves to be “surrounded by beauty.” Debbie is a painter and has been painting since she was a child. “Painting is my friend. It never lets me down,” she said.
Debbie and Tanya both have terrible taste in men
As The White Lotus fans know, Tanya’s bad choice of men led to her untimely death. Greg Hunt, another guest at the hotel, was there for her when she needed someone. Tanya was guarded because of her past hurts, but Greg made her trust him.
In The White Lotus Season 2, Greg reappears as Tanya’s husband at the Sicilian resort. And unlike the patient man in season 1, Greg is now an annoyed and emotionally abusive husband who constantly belittles Tanya and uses her for her money. She rightfully becomes suspicious of his intentions when she catches him sneaking around and taking phone calls.
Like Tanya, Debbie has been married two times because she was too trusting. She left her first husband because he was a “womanizer” who would drink too much.
She was married to her second husband for 23 years, but that went south too. “He started traveling more than normal for work, so I started to get suspicious,” she said.
In true Tanya style, Debbie even hired a private detective to spy on him while he was out of town. Similar to Tanya, Debbie found secrets about her husband that she didn’t expect.
The private investigator had shown her photos of her husband cheating on her with a woman in another country.
But she believes that she found something special when meeting artist and poet Oussama from Morocco. The only problem is the 43-year age gap between her and her 24-year-old Morrocan lover, who is currently unemployed. She insists that he isn’t using her for money.
Tanya and Debbie had complicated relationships with their mothers
The first season of the HBO hit series The White Lotus follows Tanya who is grieving her mother’s death and travels to the Hawaiian island with her ashes to spread them.
Tanya opened up about her complicated relationship with her mother as she spread her ashes on the boat. And as it turns out, Debbie also has a similarly complex relationship with her late mom.
“Growing up, my mother had some significant mental health issues. I never knew any kind of normalcy or structure. And as I got older, I never knew what a healthy relationship should look like,” Debbie explained on 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 4.
“As a child, I always wished I could be that bird to go away, fly away, and not come back,” she admitted while painting a red-winged blackbird.
On The White Lotus Tanya’s style drew the attention of Quentin (played by Tom Hollander), who, alongside her husband, plotted to murder her for her wealth. And 90 Day Fiancé fans hope the ending is different in Debbie’s story.
However, her relationship with Oussama doesn’t look promising. In the 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 4 trailer, she calls him “creepy” and accuses him of lying, using her, and “urinating” on her trust.
