90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days star Amanda Wilhelm shared the very emotional story of how she lost her husband, Jason Wilhelm, to ampullary cancer less than two weeks after he was diagnosed.
Jason was only 45 years old when he died on March 19, 2022. He left behind two young children that he shared with Amanda, six-year-old daughter Aleena and three-year-old son, Jason Wilhelm, Jr.
Jason also had two daughters from a previous marriage who were 19 and 15 at the time of his passing.
On the show, Amanda was leaving for Romania to meet her online love interest, 26-year-old social media influencer and model, Razvan.
In a very emotional scene, Amanda said goodbye to her two young children at the Columbus, Ohio airport as they left with Amanda’s aunt, Teresa.
Amanda’s rather quick rebound, combined with the fact that she was leaving her young children for three weeks just months after their father had passed away, resulted in some critical comments from viewers.
Amanda’s sister, Amber, was also concerned about the timing. “I think this is really fast after the death of her husband,” she said during the Season Premiere.
She then expressed her concerns directly to Amanda. “I’m worried that you don’t genuinely care about him and you’re just trying to cover this void that you have with Jason.”
Amanda shared a lengthy statement in her Instagram stories after the episode aired in which she defended her decision.
“Being part of a TV show I realize I opened myself up to have everyone judge me and give their opinions about me and my life good or bad,” Amanda began. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion based on the little they’ve seen of me and will see on the show but just a few things I’d like to share…”
Here is the rest of Amanda’s post:
My late husband and I were together for 12 years, married 8. He passed away early 2022 – filming for the show took place end of 2022 early 2023. Also, my children knew Razvan as being my friend only — nothing more.
Regarding me leaving them to go to Romania, they were perfectly well taken care of and stayed in our home with family so that their regular routine was never interrupted. My children are my world and I would never do anything to cause them any trauma or pain.
I was never looking to replace their father or even gave them the impression I was romantically involved with someone.
Lastly, if my children wanted to carry their father’s ashes around with them for 5 years, I’d let them. ❤️
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
