90 Day Fiancé’s Nikki Exotica recalls coming out as trans to partner Justin

90 Day Fiancé latest season has been full of drama, from family fallouts and a hurricane threatening one wedding ceremony to the turbulent relationship between Nikki Exotica and partner Justin.

For those who aren’t in the know, 90 Day Fiancé is a USreality TV show that follows long-distance couples who have either applied for or received a K-1 visa and, as such, have 90 days to get married.

The series has been running since 2014 and has enjoyed 10 seasons and over twenty spin-offs, including 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days and 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way.

Is 90 Day Fiancé’s Nikki trans?

One bride-to-be, Nikki Exotica, hasn’t just been on a journey down the aisle: she’s also been on a journey with her gender identity, having shared her experiences of being a trans woman on 90 Day Fiancé.

Nikki first met her fiancé Justin over 17 years ago, and in one episode of season 10, she recounted her experiences of coming out to him after living her life in “stealth” mode.

However, it wasn’t smooth sailing from the get-go – unfortunately, it took some time for him to accept Nikki’s trans identity.

“Yeah, well I have a secret to tell you, I used to be a man,” she revealed to Justin during an argument, after which the pair broke up and spent some time apart.

“I traumatised him. And he went home and he was depressed for a really long time. And I felt bad about that. Justin and I kept in touch throughout the years. He had to go through things on his own and I had to go through things on my own,” she added.

In her 20s, Nikki underwent gender-affirming surgeries including on her “nose, lips, jaw, chin, cheek implants, eye colour change and breasts,” she detailed in one episode, joking that “you can’t expect a woman to have all these curves naturally.”

She’s previously described the procedures she had done as “innovative,” noting that in 1995 she became “probably one of the first people to do calf implants” in an interview with This Morning.

“My first nose job was so painful and I said I’ll never get another surgery procedure again, and after that, I just kept on going and I couldn’t stop.”

Has the show had other LGBTQ+ contestants?

This isn’t the first LGBTQ+ representation 90 Day Fiancé has had on the show. The first same-sex couple were cast in 2019 for the fourth edition of the spin-off series 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days, which follows contestants whilst they are still long-distance before they begin the visa process.

Stephanie and Erika were welcomed into the 90 Day Fiancé family, with TLC President Howard Lee remarking that the network had “actively [been] searching for a same-sex couple since the series began, but for various reasons — from visa delays to scheduling conflicts, to cold feet — it just hadn’t worked out yet, until now.”

Elsewhere, in December 2023, 23-year-old 90 Day Fiancé contestant Sophie Sierra came out as bisexual to her 32-year-old husband-to-be Rob Warne.

“Don’t worry… It’s nothing about being disloyal. I’m still loyal, nothing has changed,” she said through nervous tears. “I just want to tell you something. You might not care… I’m bi.”

However, viewers were left shocked by his response as he told her that he felt this was “something you probably should have told me before.”

“I will never be okay with that,” he argued. “Even you saying it is disgusting.”