90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days star Stephanie Matto is dishing on why she chose to come out as bisexual on national television and admits she's not surprised some people may be skeptical since she's a social-media influencer.
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RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY KNOW? (PHOTOS)
Stephanie revealed on Sunday night's episode of the series she is bisexual, but she had yet to come out to most of her family and friends at the time her storyline began filming.
"I'm super excited. This is crazy. It feels so surreal. This is a huge moment coming out for me, because I've just recently come out," Stephanie told Entertainment Tonight in a video interview.
Stephanie got so close to revealing her sexuality to her mother over dinner in the latest episode, but she got nervous and ended up saying she was just traveling to Australia to meet a good "friend." Stephanie said it simply wasn't the right time to be so open.
"We're just going to hang out," Stephanie told her family in Sunday's episode. "This is the right time to go and I really want to meet Erika... If she checks out, then maybe afterwards she can come here."
Given Stephanie feared her romance with a woman might hurt -- or even ruin -- her close relationship with her mother, Stephanie acknowledged it was "really scary" to come out on the show and be so vulnerable. She said it was like "ripping off a Band-Aid."
Being bisexual was apparently a part of Stephanie's life she had kept private and now she's "just putting it all out there."
"I think people will definitely be skeptical, you know, I'm a social media influencer, I'm a YouTuber, so people already just question, 'Okay, well, why is this girl doing this? Is it all just for attention or whatever?' But honestly, this is how I've always been," Stephanie shared.
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"I've always aired my life out on YouTube. I'm a storyteller and I like being open and honest and vulnerable because I want to make other people feel less alone. I want other people to feel understood because, for such a long time, I felt really misunderstood."
For a while, Stephanie said she felt like no one else understood what it was like to be in the closet.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW"I really felt no one knew who I was and what I was really going through. There's a lot of stigma in the LGBTQ community but there's also a lot of stigma for bisexuals," Stephanie explained.
"For a lot of people, it's not taken seriously -- even within the LGBTQ community, it's like, 'Oh, why can't you just choose? Why don't you just decide? Are you into men or are you into women?' There's lots of issues tackled this season, so everyone will have to stay tuned."
Stephanie said she had decided against coming out to her loved ones privately so there would be no going back or second-guessing her decision.
"I felt like this was a way of doing it that was so gutsy and just so crazy that there would be no possible way for me to go back because I've had one foot out the closet and one foot in the closet for so many years," Stephanie revealed to ET.
"I almost came out so many times. And this was just like, 'Okay, I'm just going to go all in. I'm literally going to dive in head first into the deep end of the pool -- no going back and now everyone is going to know. It's officially starting a new chapter of my life."
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: BEFORE THE 90 DAYS' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
Stephanie teased that announcing to her family she's bisexual and their reaction will "definitely" be "a major part" of her story on 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days this season.
"The big takeaway from it is that nobody's coming-out journey is ever going to be the same. It's never going to be cut and dry and as simple as telling your parents, shaking their hands and leaving," Stephanie said.
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Now that the world knows about Stephanie and Erika's relationship, Stephanie admitted she feels "a lot of pressure" being the 90 Day Fiance franchise's first same-sex couple.
"I feel like there's a lot of pressure. You don't want to let anybody down. You don't want to let down the LGBTQ community and a part of me wants to be like, great representation for this community," Stephanie told ET.
"But also, I think we all just need to realize we're just like any other couple. We're going to have just similar problems to all the other couples on the show. And I hope that people come into this with an open mind and give us a chance to share our story."
Stephanie confirmed that despite her similarities to Erika, they'll have quite a few differences to sort out as well.
RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER?' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)
"I'm really proud and happy that we are going to be the first couple that's unveiling all these issues and showing the world what it's really like... This was the most vulnerable I've ever been with an audience," said Stephanie, who sends certain subscribers of her content nude photos and videos.
On a more light-hearted note, Stephanie gushed about having been a huge fan of the 90 Day Fiance franchise before she appeared on the show.
In Sunday night's episode of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days, Stephanie confessed of Erika, "[She] doesn't deserve to be a secret."
"But I just know for a fact my mom is not going to be thrilled I'm flying to Australia to meet a woman... I don't want anything to come between me and my mom. I just want her to accept my life the way that it is."
Stephanie's family apparently thought she was filming a TV show about her illness. Stephanie explained she had been diagnosed with a severe disorder called aplastic anemia, which is a complete failure of the bone marrow, a couple of years ago.
Stephanie needed blood transfusions every other day for months in order to stay alive, and she said she'd never be 100 percent healthy again.
Certain bacteria could be very dangerous for Stephanie, and she said the common cold -- which isn't a big deal for most people -- could kill her and she's always at risk of infection.
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RELATED LINK: '90 DAY FIANCE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY KNOW? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
