The Real Reason 90 Day Fiance's Usman And Lisa Split Up
Opposites attract, and it's hard to find two people less alike than 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days' Lisa and Usman. Lisa Hamme, a native of Pennsylvania, fell in love with Usman Umar, a Nigerian rapper who goes by the stage name SojaBoy, nearly 20 years her junior. Lisa and Usman communicated via text and Facebook for two years before Lisa finally traveled to Nigeria to meet her love in person, as shown on Before the 90 Days.
The couple had a lot to overcome before making it down the aisle, including cultural differences, Lisa's use of racial slurs, and objections from Usman's mother. But eventually, they tied the knot in a Muslim ceremony in Nigeria. When the season wrapped, it looked like things were all well and good until the couple appeared on TLC's reunion "Tell-All" show. According to Entertainment Tonight, the couple was not in a good place. Things deteriorated to the point that they were frequently blocking and unblocking each other on social media. Lisa accused Usman of flirting with other women, and Usman accused Lisa of throwing temper tantrums and saying things he'd "never say to his worst enemy."
In an unsurprising turn of events, Usman and Lisa are no longer together. Here's everything we know about their tumultuous split.
Lisa didn't trust Usman
Trust between 90 Day Fiancé's Lisa Hamme and Usman Umar was an issue from day one, and the problems often centered around Umar's alleged flirtations with other women. One issue came to light during the show when Lisa caught Usman telling another woman that he loved her in a message. Entertainment Tonight detailed how Usman told Lisa to "be patient" with the cultural differences between the United States and Nigeria, and that, to him, telling a girl he loved her didn't mean anything. Lisa said the betrayal was like a "knife in [her] heart."
In Touch Weekly reported that Lisa claimed things were more complicated than some flirtatious messages though. The reality star opened up about her messy breakup in a since-deleted Instagram live. "He married me just to be on a TV show that people would recognize his name to sell his music," she reportedly said. Lisa claimed Usman is a scammer and that he was never romantically interested in her at all. "I tried to work with him, his brothers tried to work with him. He thinks it's just him, he thinks he's going to do what he wants and he's never going to apologize for anything he's ever said bad about me," the rapper's former muse said. "He's posing as what you call a romance scam, which is very illegal in Nigeria. It puts that stigma back onto Nigeria again and that's what I didn't want to do."
Usman thought Lisa was unstable
For his part, Usman Umar says he is not a scammer, but it is true that he never loved Lisa Hamme. Usman appeared on Angela Yee's podcast "Lip Service" to tell his side of the story, as reported by In Touch Weekly. He said that he only told Lisa he loved her because she said she loved him and that she became distraught whenever he tried to honestly discuss his feelings with her, even threatening suicide. "We spent about one year, you telling me that you love me, you love me," Usman recalled. "And I was saying 'I love you, I love you.' But deeply, I know it's not love. I don't love you for real honestly."
Whatever the truth, Usman claimed her emotional outbursts made it impossible for him to sever ties and that's how they ended up engaged and on reality TV. "It's better that I tolerate that then she live life than for me to say, 'I don't love you' and for her to go and kill herself because of me. So that is how it happened," he explained.
According to In Touch Weekly, Usman's claims led to the couple's inevitable split, with Lisa calling the claims "garbage" and a "big f–k up" in a since-deleted Instagram live. Long story short, don't hold your breath for a reunion any time soon.