90 Day Fiancé’s Michael Ilesanmi is opening up about what happened to him after going missing earlier this year. Michael disappeared from his estranged wife Angela Deem’s home in February, just months after moving to the United States to start their lives together.
During Sunday’s episode of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?, it was revealed that just four days after Angela, 58, and Michael, 37, returned to Georgia after filming the five-part season 8 tell-all in New York City, he disappeared.
In a video recording of Michael, the Nigeria native said he wanted to share his side of the story, telling viewers that their relationship reached a breaking point after the pair returned to their shared home in Georgia.
“I want to share my side of the story with you. After the Tell-All, you know, we went back home and as usual, my wife Angie, you know, she got angry. She started giving me attitude and saying all sorts of things to me. So it got to a point — I just had to leave,” Michael recalled.
Michael said he walked for over five hours to get away from his estranged wife before a friend eventually helped him get to a bus station.
While Michael did not disclose his current location, he did share that it took him “about 18 hours” to get there, before assuring viewers this his intentions with Angela were always genuine.
“I’m here for the right reason, of course, yes, from the bottom of my heart, I’m here for the right reason, you know,” he said, referring to Angela’s repeated accusations that he used her to get a U.S. visa and leave Nigeria. “But unfortunately, what I was expecting wasn’t what I met, you know.”
He concluded his video by admitting, “I just want to move on with my life. Enough is enough. I mean, no one deserves to be treated this way. And I mean, I want the best for us, for myself, but it’s just so unfortunate. I can’t just take it anymore.
Angela, meanwhile, sent a pointed message to Michael in a confessional, telling her estranged husband, “I’ll see you soon Michael. In a plane or a courtroom.”
Fans of the series know that is not been an easy road for Michael and Angela, with Angela traveling back and forth to Nigeria for years since their franchise debut on season 2 of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days in 2018, in an attempt to make their relationship and eventual marriage, work.
After a seven-year-long visa journey, the Georgia native revealed Michael moved to the United States in December 2023 and his arrival was documented during season 8 of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? And though both Angela and Michael both appeared on the season’s tell-all, tensions — which were always present between the pair when they were apart — only continued to rise while they lived together, apparently prompting Michael to flee their marital home, and subsequently his marriage to Angela.
“Michael left everything here. I know that there’s people probably think, ‘Oh, maybe he just left.’ But like, nothing, not any ID, nothing to show his name on it, no clothing, not a toothbrush,” Angela told her followers in a February 26 TikTok. “Zero point zero zero. No wallet, nothing. Clothes on his back is what he left with on Friday.”
That same day, Michael was later located by authorities and claimed he left her home because he was in “fear for his life.”
Michael and Angela seemingly never reconciled their relationship following his disappearance. In court docs obtained by InTouch, Angela filed to annul her marriage in a Georgia court on June 20, citing in her petition that she was “fraudulently induced” into the union “for the purpose of gaining legal permanent resident status in the United States.”
She also accused Michael of “engaging in a conspiracy with other Nigerian men to induce U.S. citizens into marriage for the purpose of gaining legal permanent resident status.”
As for Michael, he’s since started a GoFundMe fundraiser in hopes of raising funds for his legal fees, and after surpassing his $25,000 goal, he responded to Angela’s annulment filing denying her claims of fraud.
In fact, he came at his ex with some accusations of his own, including “cruel treatment” and “physical and mental abuse” during their marriage. He also said that the treatment was one of the reasons for their divorce.
Michael claimed that the abuse occurred both in private and during the filming of the 90 Day Fiancé franchise. He also requested a fair division of their assets, as well as both temporary and permanent spousal support.
90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? airs Sundays on TLC.
