Brandon's mom, Betty, may be the queen of contradictions on 90 Day Fiancé. In advance of Sunday's episode, a preview clip uploaded to 90 Day Fiancé's YouTube account shows the mother insisting that her son and his fiancé, Julia, bathe naked in their hot tub if they choose to use it.
According to Betty, there's nothing sexual about backyard nudity. It all has to do with the water quality, she argues in the video. But the mom-endorsed nudity has already shocked fans—especially after Betty insisted that Brendan and Julia sleep in separate rooms while they're engaged.
Twenty-six-year-old Julia just moved to Brandon's family farm from Russia. She met 27-year-old Brandon in her home country, while she was working as a go-go dancer. Now that they're engaged, she's been forced into daily farm life—that means caring for animals and living quite a distance from any nearby grocer. And because Brandon's parents are serious about keeping the couple in separate rooms, some fans are complaining Julia is too busy working on the farm and not working enough on her relationship with Brandon.
So, Betty's firm statement that the hot tub must be used in the nude comes as a shock. "You know that we have rules in the hot tub," she tells the young couple in the video, after accusing them of breaking the all-nude mandate. "We were really not happy."
Betty then asks Brandon to look into the tub and take notice of the water. "It's a little cloudy," she says. "Cloudy's not good. Did you guys wear clothes in the hot tub?" Brandon responds with a denial.
In an interview filmed later, Betty claims that residue from dryer sheets and soap on clothing contaminates the water and messes with the tub's pH levels. She says that because of this, she has to then drain the water out of the hot tub, and she's not interested in having to do that over and over.
When Julia points out the contradiction of forcing them to strip down but not letting them sleep in the same bed, Betty explains, "We use this for therapy, not entertainment." The young couple laughs at that, but Betty doesn't find it funny. She just insists again that they be naked when they're in the hot tub—but she also makes it clear that they shouldn't be having sex in the tub, either.
Throughout the season so far, Betty has been viewed by fans as a villain, for driving a maternal wedge between Brandon and Julia. Brandon has also been criticized pretty harshly online, for not sticking up for Julia and his right to have an adult relationship with his fiancé. For many viewers, it's not only about them not being able to have sex under his parents' roof—it's about a lack of respect for Julia's new life in America, and an assumption that she'll assimilate directly into the family's overprotective routine.
Comments on the YouTube video, which was uploaded on Thursday and has been viewed over 115,000 times as of this article's publication, slam Betty for her parenting style. "Why is she SOOO freakishly over focused on her son's sexuality??? GROSS!" one person wrote.
This latest clip comes after Betty also scheduled a gynecology appointment for Julia and insisted that she be put on birth control. Julia didn't agree to the medication or the appointment.
90 Day Fiancé and all of Brandon and Julia's adventures will continue at 8 p.m. ET Sunday on TLC.
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