90 Day Fiancé couple Shekinah Garner, 43, and Sarper Güven, 44, are finally engaged and (presumably) headed down the aisle on Season 11 of the series. The engagment follows their ever-so-tumultuous courtship, which included the unfortunate time that Sarper ripped out Shekinah’s hair extension in an argument.

Still, the pair appear to be in good spirits as they say goodbye to Sarper’s family in Turkey (much to their dismay) and embark on the life-size Ken doll’s American adventure in Los Angeles.

“It’s been a big process for him, because it’s just so different than Turkey. Being here in the U.S. is something that he never dreamed of,” Sarper’s fiancée told Parade exclusively. “So it’s been hard for him, but I think he fits right in.”

Judging from the 90 Day promo clips showcasing Sarper running along the California beaches with his six-pack abs gleaming in the sunlight, we’d venture to say he’s acclimating quite well.

But that doesn’t mean that the dramatic duo’s time has all been fine and dandy. Now that Sarper is in the U.S. on a K-1 visa, he legally is not allowed to work for a period of time.

“I do feel like there is a lot of financial burden on me, which is something I didn’t experience when I was in Turkey. He foot the bill for everything,” Shekinah said. “And, you know, in his mind and his culture, he does feel like that is the man’s responsibility.”

Related: ’90 Day Fiancé’ Star Shares ‘Secret Reveal’ of Work She Had Done After Weight-Loss Transformation

Shekinah and Sarper typically have a pretty traditional relationship structure, so this shift has been jarring. “I feel like I kind of had to step into more of a masculine role with him being here in the U.S., because this is my world and he’s entering it,” she said.

Sarper is now stepping into his “bonus dad” role, but Shekinah is clear that he is not her daughter Sofie’s father. “My daughter has a great father, and I was never looking for a dad for her,” she explained. “And I don’t really think that Sarper was ever looking to be her stepdad.”

“He’s an adult male figure that’s there for her that loves her mom that’s showing her what a healthy relationship looks like,” the mom of one continued.

This comment may give fans of the TLC series pause, as Sarper and Shekinah’s relationship has been fraught with blow out fights and unkind comments about Shekinah’s body. And we mustn’t forget the time Sarper designed his bride-to-be’s new nose job.

In recent months, Shekinah has gone under the knife once again, removing her facial fillers (besides her lips) and generally tightening everything up. “What actually happened as a result of dissolving my facial fillers was I had a lot of loose skin and wrinkling and hollows, actually,” the esthetician explained. “My undereyes got super hollowed out, and I just felt like I needed this all filled in and tightened up.”

10 days prior to the 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days reunion taped, Shekinah had a fat transfer for her under eyes. Since it was so close to a big on-camera event, the surgeon opted to under-fill versus over-fill.

Related: ’90 Day Fiancé’ Star Loren Brovarnik Opens Up About Her Adult Braces (and 23 Oral Surgeries)

Shekinah wasn’t thrilled with the results there, so she opted to head back into surgery once again. “They repositioned my cheeks up to fill in these hollows. So it was a facelift, but it was mainly to treat the under-eye area,” the reality star detailed. “And I’m so glad that I did it, because now I’m filler free except for my lips, which I’ll keep, but I’m so over the filler fad.”

Although she intends to keep her lips looking nice and juicy, Shekinah plans to take a step back even in that regard. “I haven’t had filler put in my lips in over two and a half years, and when I was getting filler, I was getting it like every three months,” she said. “So I would go in for like a little half a syringe every three months because it slowly dissolves. So my lips were a lot bigger when I first started filming The Other Way.”

Now she and Sarper are targeting a more natural vibe. “Now I feel like they’re probably half the size of what they were when I started filming because I just stopped getting filler completely and I like it. I think it looks better.”

Plastic surgery isn’t the only area of input Sarper has had on Shekinah’s life over the years. He’s also been known to make comments about her weight.

“I’ve always loved working out, and it’s always been hard for me to gain weight. So when he was giving me little critiques about my weight, I was actually working with a bodybuilder trainer at the time who was having me bulk up and put on a lot of weight to build muscle,” she explained.

“And so I was the biggest I’d ever been,” she continued. “I was the heaviest, but I felt like my clothes fit the same. I just have a lot more muscles. So I stopped lifting so heavy, and I kept eating a high protein, low carb, no sugar diet.”

Shekinah believes Sarper’s heart was in the right place. “I think he was just asserting himself as the dominant person in my life who knows a lot about fitness,” she said of his comments.

“I feel like I’m a pretty confident person and I know that I look good,” Shekinah said. “I, of course, cared what he thought, but him thinking that I needed to lose weight? No, it didn’t hurt my feelings because I couldn’t care less.”