Shekinah Garner’s Life Before 90 Day Fiancé Revealed

• Shekinah Garner met Sarper Güven on a vacation and moved to Turkey after dating him, despite his playboy past and financial struggles.
• Shekinah grew up Amish in Tennessee, rebelled against her upbringing, and now has a glamorous lifestyle in Los Angeles.
• Shekinah has a 16-year-old daughter, Sophie, from a previous relationship with an older Italian man, Berto.

Shekinah Garner from 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way has shared surprising details about her past before she met Sarper Güven. Shekinah is a 41-year-old woman from Los Angeles, California. Sarper is a model and a personal trainer from Istanbul, Turkey. Shekinah described him as the most stunning man she had ever seen. Shekinah met Sarper while on a vacation. She’d flown back to the U.S. after two dates and was well aware that the 44-year-old Sarper was a playboy. Shekinah didn’t expect Sarper to change his ways for someone he met twice.

However, Shekinah and Sarper stayed in touch and the rest of history. Shekinah moved to Turkey after four months of talking to him. Shekinah had found out that Sarper had slept with almost 3000 women a month before she moved, but she was already too much in love with him. Sarper had also not told Shekinah that he wanted to have a child. Amid the baby drama, Shekinah made Sarper stop taking female clients for personal training, leading to him having financial difficulties. Meanwhile, Sarper has continued controlling the way Shekinah dresses, eats, wears makeup and looks.

Shekinah Grew Up Amish

Shekinah’s Parents Were Fascinated By The Amish Lifestyle

Shekinah has five sisters. They were raised in the Amish lifestyle. Shekinah grew up in Tennessee and she is the oldest of six girls. While her parents weren’t born Amish, they loved the Amish lifestyle and had a lot of Amish friends. They decided to raise their daughters as Amish. Shekinah and her sisters had long hair. They weren’t allowed to cut their hair. They weren’t allowed to wear makeup. Shekinah recalled all the times she would hide behind the couch and color her nails with markers. She put colored chalk on her cheeks.

Shekinah Moved To Los Angeles

Shekinah’s Life Changed For the Better

Shekinah Went To Beauty School

Shekinah Looks So Different In Her Throwback Photos

While Shekinah loves to attend parties where she brings along attractive people to be a part of the event and atmosphere, it is more of a side hustle for the single mom. Apart from making sure the “vibe is just right” at events, Shekinah is an aesthetician, and she has her own business. Shekinah has been licensed for over 20 years. In June 2024, Shekinah shared a video which was a compilation of throwback pictures from her at beauty school. She attended the Federico College of Hairstyling and looked unrecognizable in the photos.

Shekinah Began Dating Berto At 23

Shekinah & Berto Had An Age Gap Of 27 Years

Shekinah ended up in Los Angeles by change. She came to the city 13 years ago. However, the longer she lived in LA, the “more LA” Shekinah became. At heart, Shekinah still has the small-town girl mentality. She introduced her ex-boyfriend Berto to fans in 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way season 5 episode 9. Shekinah revealed she had her first “real relationship” when she was 23 years old. Berto was Italian. He was also 27 years older than Shekinah. The reality TV star and her ex-boyfriend dated for four years before they parted ways.

Shekinah Had A Daughter With Her Ex

Shekinah Has A 16-Year-Old Daughter Named Sophie

Shekinah and Berto have one daughter. Her name is Sophie. She’s 16 years old and Shekinah calls her the “light” of her life. Things between Berto and Shekinah didn’t work out for reasons unknown. They split up shortly after Sophie was born. Berto has been living in Costa Rica for about nine years because he opened a hotel there. He co-parents Sophie from a distance, but he does come to the U.S. once in a while to come back to see his daughter. Shekinah decided to send her daughter to boarding school. Berto believed Shekinah and Sarper’s relationship would fail.

Shekinah moving to Turkey meant she would keep coming back to America every couple of weeks, but she wasn’t able to send her daughter to a regular school. Shekinah herself went to boarding school for the last year and a half of her high school years and considered it a “turning point” in her life. She was homeschooled before that. Sophie’s school had everything to offer, such as sports activities like swimming. In the summer, Shekinah figured Sophie could come with her to Turkey or go stay with her dad, Berto. She didn’t want to compromise spending time with Sophie.

Shekinah Starred In Millionaire Matchmaker

Shekinah Ended Up Meeting Her Boyfriend On The Show

90 Day Fiancé isn’t Shekinah’s first-ever reality TV stint. Before romancing Sarper on camera, Shekinah was a contestant on The Millionaire Matchmaker season 6. According to Starcasm, in 2013, Shekinah appeared on episode 11 titled, “The Olympian and the Rock Star” with Adam Gaynor, the former rhythm guitarist for the band Matchbox Twenty. She was selected by Patti Stanger for the matchmaking show after learning that Shekinah was raised in the Amish community and saw her as a perfect fit for Adam (via Gossip Galaxy.) He also chose Shekinah as one of his dates after the dating mixer.

While Adam showed an interest in dating Shekinah, the relationship didn’t end up working out. The couple were dating exclusively and were excited to “make music together.” Adam was also looking forward to meeting Shekinah’s daughter. In July 2024, Shekinah confirmed they never dated, and Adam had just “picked her for the show.” However, Shekinah had started dating a man named Rick Silver who featured in the same episode and was supposed to be a match for Olympic speed skater, Allison Baver. As per a post by thewaywemet, Shekinah and Rick were still together three years later in June 2015.

Shekinah Loved How Sarper Wore Makeup On Their Date

Shekinah was single when she met Sarper, even though he wasn’t serious about her at first. Shekinah had a series of toxic relationships and was starting to think that she could maybe never find the right person for her until she met Sarper. Shekinah went to Turkey with a girlfriend two years ago and downloaded a dating app to see what Turkish men were like. She said that Sarper “had her at highlighter,” on their first date. She thought him wearing makeup was really cute. The 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way couple continues to build their connection in season 6.