'90 Day Fiance' season 7 couple Juliana and Michael are here for his ex-wife, Sarah, as she battles breast cancer.
90 Day Fiance season 7 couple Juliana and Michael are here for his ex-wife, Sarah, as she battles breast cancer.
ET spoke with the pair on Wednesday via video chat, and they gave an update on Sarah's health after she revealed on social media last month that she's been diagnosed with breast cancer. Michael says that Sarah actually got diagnosed in early February and underwent surgery, though it was still unknown at the time what the extent of her cancer was. After she underwent more testing, she found out the cancer was becoming more invasive, so she underwent a second surgery three weeks ago.
"Thankfully, the prognosis is very positive," Michael says. "We're hoping no chemotherapy but with radiation therapy, she should be OK. And with the craziness of what's going on, she's maintaining good perspective. She's doing OK."
With Sarah's health issues and her and Michael's young kids, Max and CeCe, now at home all day thanks to their schools being shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sarah and her new husband, Sean, are actually quarantining with Juliana and Michael at his home. Juliana has no issue with the unconventional situation and talked about supporting Sarah during a difficult time.
"I'm scared but I try to not show that to her and say, 'Everything is gonna be OK and this is nothing,'" Juliana says. "I'm the kind of person that's not like, 'Oh my god, I feel sorry for you,' you know? I like to give more strength."
"You're very honest about it," Michael adds, referring to Juliana. "You don't just say something for the sake of false comfort."
Juliana agrees with her husband about her approach.
"Yeah, it's not about comfort, it's about, 'Wake up. You're gonna get through it, you know?'" she explains.
Juliana and Sarah's close relationship has been praised by 90 Day Fiance viewers, as their season showed the two women forming an unlikely and special bond. Juliana called Sarah her "best friend," and Sarah also officiated her and Michael's fairy-tale wedding in Connecticut. The 23-year-old Brazilian model shares that she still has no issues with Sarah even while spending much more time together under quarantine, and even spends alone time with her when she's feeling annoyed with 42-year-old Michael.
"Yeah, we are very close, even more now," Juliana says of her and Sarah. "I mean, we have fun sometimes and when she's upset with Sean and I'm upset with Michael, we just go out together in the woods to escape."
"[They get] the girl time," Michael adds with a laugh. "And then Sean and I get the guy time."
Though on a more serious note, Juliana and Michael say they don't sweat critics of their relationship, and talk about setting an example as a blended family. Juliana says she can't judge anyone because she too has been judgmental in the past about her girlfriends dating older men, though she ended up marrying a man almost 20 years older.
"Let people feel what they want to," Michael says. "We're lucky though that for every negative comment, there's 10, 20 or 30 wonderful people we've gotten to know ... where they've loved the story, loved the story with Sarah and Sean and the kids and the whole thing. We spend more time thinking about that than somebody that wants to say, 'Oh, she's a gold digger,' or, I'm a creepy old dude or something."
Michael and Juliana will be featured on the upcoming TLC spinoff, 90 Day Fiancé: Self-Quarantined, which debuts on Monday, April 20 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on TLC. They're two of the more than 40 cast members from the show's six-year history who will be giving updates on their lives amid the coronavirus pandemic. Michael says he wants viewers to see what his and Juliana's everyday life is like.
"We have nothing to hide, and we have no agenda," he says. "And guess what, if there's some way we can add some kind of positive spark or some kind of distraction and entertainment during these crazy times, we're lucky we can do that."
Meanwhile, for more on the current season of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days, which airs Sundays on TLC, watch the video below:
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