New TLC Show From Creator of ’90 Day Fiancé’ Features Couples With Big Religious Differences
Your newest TLC obsession is here. Forbidden Love spotlights couples who come from dramatically different religious backgrounds. The show comes from the team at Sharp Entertainment, the creators of 90 Day Fiancé.
What is ‘Forbidden Love’ about?
Forbidden Love will feature four couples navigating major religious differences. The cast includes an Orthodox Jew partnered with a woman who was raised Catholic and a man who has found love outside of the Amish community in which he was raised.
In each relationship, one person is either converting or has decided to relinquish their family of origin and culture. But will the pressures that come with converting strengthen their relationship or cause their love to falter?
Forbidden Love premieres Sunday, July 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on TLC.
Meet the ‘Forbidden Love’ cast
Laurie and Eli: Eli, 32, is an Orthodox Jew. Laurie, 36, was raised as a devout Catholic. When they met, Laurie had already abandoned her religion following her father’s untimely death. But if she wants to be with Eli, she will need to become a Jew herself.
“The only way the relationship works is if Laurie converts,” Eli explains in a teaser for Forbidden Love.
But adopting Eli’s religion is no simple task. Laurie will need to completely change her lifestyle if she wants her relationship with Eli to last. As she alters her hair and clothes and studies for tests, she wonders if she’s giving up too much to be with the love of her life.
Lindsey and Elmer: Elmer, 23, was raised in an Amish community and left his past behind to marry Lindsey, 34. But he finds it difficult to adatop to the “English” world and is struggling with being disowned by his family.
Lindsey is nearly a decade older than Elmer, and when the two got involved she assumed he would be wholesome and not have a wandering eye. But being with someone who was raised Amish is “quite different” than she expected.
“Maybe I took on more than I can handle,” she says.
To complicate matters, Lindsey is pregnant. The stakes for the couple are high, but their chemistry and sense of humor might just see them through the rough patches.
Ashley and Mohammad: Ashley, 31, was raised in a conservative Catholic family. She’s married to Mohammad, 31, who is Muslim. There relationship has already caused strife within their families, with Mohammad’s twin objecting to his brother’s decision to marry a non-Muslim woman and Ashley’s community stunned by her choice of husband.
“I’m from Jefferson City, Mo. It’s white, conservative, and Catholic,” she explains. “So you can imagine the shock when I announced that I married a Muslim.”
Now, Ashley and Mohammad shared a three-year-old daughter. Mohammad wants his wife to convert so that their child will have a Muslim mother. But Ashley isn’t sure that’s what she wants, and her family is telling her she shouldn’t have to change for her husband.
Lensa and Kris: Kris, 37, is the son of a Pentecostal preacher. He’s fallen in love with Lensa, 32, who is Muslim. Unfortunately, the couple doesn’t see eye-to-eye on issues of faith. Lensa, who has already been in two arranged marriages, wants Kris to convert. But he thinks she should adopt his faith. The dilemma leaves them, and their families, at odds.
“I’m a Muslim woman, and he’s the son of a pastor,” Lensa says in the trailer. “Something has to give.”
Will Lensa or Kris convert to the other’s religion, even if that means cutting ties with their family? Or will the relationship crack under the pressure?
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