The return of 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Season 2 is nearly upon us.
That will mean a lot, including diving back into Brittany Banks and her contentious relationship with Yazan Abo Horira and his family.
Fans continue to have a lot of questions.
Why would she go to a country that (fans seem to believe) outlaws all of her favorite things?
Why didn’t she just get a divorce years ago and spare herself this headache now?
Why all of the lies? Why didn’t she expect Yazan to act like he has and issue the ultimatums that he has?
Brittany is answering all of that and more:
Brittany and Yazan have their share of issues
Brittany is speaking up to correct people who think that she just blindly moved to another country. But before we get to her series of comments, here is a brief recap of her struggles with Yazan and his family in the first half of Season 2 of 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way.
Things aren’t quite what people assume
Contrary to what a sizable number of 90 Day Fiance fans have decided to believe, alcohol is legal in Jordan. There are bars in cities. Some restaurants serve it. Public intoxication is discouraged but that’s about it. And yes, as you can see in this photo, Brittany and Yazan can have fun in Jordan while wearing very little. There are Instagram influencers in Jordan, too — which is how Yazan’s conservative parents know about them.
But …
At times, Brittany has been straight-up not having a good time. Some fans have mocked her suffering, saying that she “should have known” before moving there. Some viewers have spouted straight-up ignorance about Jordan, Islam, and more in an almost gleeful game of “gotcha.”
But if it’s not Brittany or Jordan at fault …?
That first night showed us who the cause of Brittany’s repeated frustration, tears, and misery in Jordan was. Yazan yelled at her, screamed obscenities at her, and straight up told her that he did not respect her. Why? She brought a bottle of liquor, which is legal, into the country, and she hugged a producer.
This moment was unforgettable
Yazan repeatedly trying to shush Brittany, saying “hallas, hallas, hallas” (meaning “enough” in Arabic), lives in our minds rent-free. Any amount of yelling or obscenities should probably be a dealbreaker for a relationship, but certainly this should. Many of us cannot imagine showing anyone who did this the time of day.
Even the next day
Yazan had the audacity to say “you were crazy” to Brittany, who had done nothing but arrive and then cry as she was being YELLED at by the man she planned to marry.
It got worse when she met his parents
Brittany was told to “cancel” her current life and delete her social media by Yazan’s deeply conservative parents.
It got worse
She didn’t understand all that was being said about her — all that was being YELLED at and about her — but it was enough to cause her to burst into tears and leave.
She was a mess
Brittany realized that, with Yazan having deceived her and not standing up to his parents, she felt totally alone in Jordan. This was not what she expected.
She wept
Very few people enjoy being yelled at (and frankly yelling should be illegal, but I’ll spare you my fantasies of a perfect society), and it was more than understandable why Brittany broke down sobbing in the car.
She STILL tried to make it work
Even wearing a hijab (I think that this is what she was wearing — tighter than a shayla but smaller than a hijab amira) to please Yazan, she agreed to give his faith a fair shake.
She went above and beyond
Learning about another’s faith is a great things for friends and vital for partners. Learning about the culture in which you are now immersed can be vital. But, as Yazan’s uncle pointed out to Yazan’s father, Brittany must decide for herself to convert if that’s what she’s going to do. It doesn’t sound likely.
But it made Yazan happy
His parents are unlikely (an understatement) to give their blessing if Brittany doesn’t convert to Islam. To some couples, that would just be a problem, but Yazan seems unwilling or unable to act against his parents’ wishes (well … in any way that they know about).
That was not the end of the drama
Yazan’s father eventually agreed to give Brittany and Yazan some time (thanks to his uncle’s intervention), but Brittany hadn’t told him everything — namely, that she was not yet legally divorced. But that’s not the only issue.
Yazan’s family raised hell over a photo of her
They claimed that they had seen a “nude” photo of her, prompting a massive fight between Yazan and Brittany.
Here is the “scandalous” pic
Remember, people in Jordan also wear (gasp!) swimwear, including bikinis. Yazan’s family happens to be supremely conservative, and confirm every viewer’s biases about the Middle East. Honestly, it’s like if someone had preconceived notions about Arkansas and their only exposure to Arkansas were the Duggar family.
They want her off of Instagram
But Brittany has repeatedly affirmed that she refuses to be bullied into deleting her social media.
There’s one more big issue
Brittany managed to put on a straight face and tell the camera that “Yazan is a virgin” … noting that if his family learned that he had had sex, they might kill him. (Honor killings are relatively rare in Jordan and almost always directed against women — to be honest, there are probably more murders matching that description in the US than in Jordan) This is one area where it’s not just about Yazan’s family being uber conservative, because non-marital sex is illegal in Jordan. Foreign tourists can simply claim to be married and usually avoid problems at hotels, but locals get much more scrutiny. That’s a huge issue for an unmarried couple.
THEN
Brittany received an email out of the blue saying that she had a hearing coming up for her divorce. So she has to fly home to Chicago.
Of course, she didn’t tell Yazan that
She told her that her sister gave birth and she’s going to see the baby. True, but not the whole truth. That is where we left her at the midseason finale of The Other Way Season 2.
Now, Brittany is telling her side
Replying to some questions on Instagram this week, Brittany shares that Yazan “made it seem like he was Westernized until I got there.” Naturally, he wanted to put his best foot forward for this lady love. He ALSO wanted to put his best foot forward when it comes to his parents.
The FACTS
Brittany more or less echoes what we have been reporting for the entire season. She says that she arrived in Jordan with the impression that Yazan had given her, then he switched it up. She had also done her research on things permitted in Jordan, but his family has an issue. He gives her ultimatums to try to get her to be the person he described to his parents, because we can clearly see him on camera playing both sides, trying to keep everyone happy.
Amazingly, she doesn’t blame him
Brittany says that she is willing to bend over backwards to give him second, third, and more chances. He’s in love with her. As she notes, if he really wanted a girl from his culture, that’s who he would be with. He’s in an impossible place, and while some of that is his doing, it’s ultimately his parents who have put him there.
About her divorce
It had been four years since she’d been with her ex. The marriage was only on paper. Divorce is a painful, expensive process. Some people never even bother to go through with it.
Okay!
Clearly, some fans needed to hear this. We can’t claim to understand why Brittany would be willing to show an overabundance of patience with someone who yelled at her on the night that she arrived, but the rest of what she’s saying makes a world of sense.