90 Day Fiance: The Other Way star Nicole Sherbiny has certainly led an interesting life! After being born in a tiny town in Idaho, Nicole has since lived in multiple states, graduated with a degree in fashion design, and agreed to marry a man in Egypt after spending less than a day with him in person!
Now, the 38-year-old is back in Egypt for the upteenth time, but only the second time she’s moved there in hopes of staying permanently. Plus, she is currently starring in one of the most popular American cable reality shows ever!
So, who is Nicole Sherbiny? What’s her full story?
NICOLE SHERBINY BIO
Nicole Young was born in Idaho in either 1983 or 1984. Her parents are Harold “Hal” Young and Wanda Young.
“I’m from a small town in Idaho called Council,” Nicole says in her intro on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way. “I mean, I think I graduated high school with 22 other people, maybe.”
Council is indeed a small town! According to the 2020 Census, Council had a population of just 867 people.
“Living in Council was a little boring,” Nicole explains. “I knew there was a lot out there that I didn’t have access to. I just wanted more.”
According to social media posts made by Nicole’s family members over the years, she worked with a veterinarian for a while after graduating high school. She changed careers some time before 2010, at which point she was living in Washington and working at the front desk of a salon. Nicole had also started designing clothes at the time.
Nicole moved to California and enrolled at The Art Institute of California in Hollywood in 2010. She graduated with honors in 2014 with a BFA in fashion design.
“I just love her so much and so proud of her!” Nicole’s mom, Wanda, captioned a Facebook photo of Nicole in August of 2014. “I’m so excited for Nicole to graduate from college! It’s been a challenge for her but she’s hung in there! Ya never know someday she will have her own clothing line!”
In September of 2018, Nicole’s brother Charlie shared a couple photos of Nicole graduating. However, I’m not sure what graduation it’s from. Regardless, Nicole is ballin’ in her Valedictorian sash!
Nicole’s fashion design career included time as a design intern at Metal Noir, seamstress for visual artist Jonas Becker and collection designer for the L’Art De’La Mode fashion show in 2014.
Here are some samples of Nicole’s fashion designs:
NICOLE QUITS FASHION INDUSTRY
“I worked a few fashion design jobs and I hated it,” Nicole reveals in her intro on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way. “It was awful. I guess I just don’t, like, have the personality for it.”
At the time Nicole started filming, she tells the TLC cameras: “I currently work two jobs. I deliver food, and I resell clothes.”
To help fill the void created by leaving the fashion industry, Nicole “started studying meditation and spirituality.” Three years before she started filming with TLC, Nicole was on a “spiritual singles website” and saw an ad for a soul journey to Egypt.
Nicole went on the soul journey, and visited numerous spiritual locations in Egypt. “On the last day of my trip, I went shopping for fabric and I wandered into the fabric store,” Nicole recalls. “There was this, like, super cute boy with, like, these big, brown eyes and these big, sexy muscles. His name was Mahmoud, he was 26 years old, and he’s from Cairo.”
Soon after meeting, Mahmoud jokingly suggested Nicole should stay in Egypt and be his wife. The two spent most of the day together before Nicole’s flight left later that night.
Nicole returned to Los Angeles, and she and Mahmoud began talking regularly. Less than a week after Nicole got back, Mahmoud once again asked her to move to Egypt and marry him — but this time he was completely serious. “I said ‘Yes! Of course! Yes!'” Nicole reveals.
“Seven days after that, I was on a plane back to Egypt to marry him and be with him forever,” she adds.
NICOLE AND MAHMOUD GET MARRIED
Nicole wasn’t in Egypt long before making it official with Mahmoud. “I married him at the Justice Department,” she says. “Not long after that, we had, like, and actual wedding party. I told no one.”
Nicole may not have told anyone, but the same cannot be said for Mahmoud. On November 17, 2020, Mahmoud shared a photo of his hand and Nicole’s hand with their wedding rings.
“I was so madly in love with Mahmoud, and I was so excited about this new life that I was about to be living,” Nicole continues. “I thought the magic was going to be like that always living in Egypt. But, I was in for a rude awakening.”
The honeymoon phase lasted approximately one week before Nicole started having second thoughts. After a couple months, the situation was untenable. “I just needed to go, needed to get out of there — back to America.”
The couple decided that they would try another approach. Nicole would apply for a spousal visa for Mahmoud. While they waited for the visa to go through, Nicole would go back and forth between the United States and Egypt. Nicole says she went “back and forth to Egypt about 6 times, and things started to fall apart.”
A little shy of their one-year wedding anniversary, Nicole let Mahmoud know that she wanted a divorce. She canceled his visa application and (of course) blocked him on social media.
Despite the clean break, Nicole found herself still thinking about Mahmoud daily, even after six months. She decided to give their marriage another chance. She made living arrangements, signed up for a reality television show, and headed back to Egypt again — once again with the intention of staying there permanently.
To pick up on Nicole and Mahmoud’s story from this point, just watch 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Season 4!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
