A Netflix reality TV star married a stranger in prison after he popped the question in just six weeks – unfazed by trolls who insist he’s just using her.
Real estate agent Laura Gehrke met her future husband Joshua Stewart on social networking site WriteAPrisoner.com after feeling lonely in December last year.
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The 27-year-old, who starred in Netflix show Too Hot To Handle Germanywas unable to travel home for Christmas due to a problem with her visa, so was forced to spend the festive period alone in Dubai.
After scrolling through TikTok, Laura came across a video about how to write to a prisoner online and decided to wish a prisoner a Merry Christmas.
A specific profile caught Laura’s attention, and she began exchanging messages with 21-year-old Joshua Stewart.
The two were soon talking on the phone up to 11 hours a day and it wasn’t long before Joshua popped the question after six weeks of getting to know each other.
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Laura flew to Washington to marry her criminal boyfriend in June during a 90-minute prison ceremony.
Despite having a conviction for murder with a controlled substance, Laura said she never judged her husband for the reason for his incarceration.
Laura said: “I was sitting here alone at home feeling really sad because I couldn’t be with my family [due to the visa issue] and then I scrolled through TikTok and saw a video about WriteAPrisoner.com.
“I thought I could just text one of them and say ‘Merry Christmas.’
“I went to the website and saw my husband’s account. He was the second person I clicked on and I saw on his profile that he said he liked poetry and I was interested in that.”
After exchanging messages about their poetry, Laura and Joshua began talking on the phone up to 11 hours a day.
Laura said: “We really hit it off. He was open about everything from the beginning. He was telling me so many stories about his life. I thought he was very emotionally intelligent.
“I didn’t immediately ask about the crime because I didn’t want to judge him based on that alone. I was hearing a lot of stories about him growing up before I knew all the details about why he was incarcerated. I see everything a little differently.
“Because I knew the back story, it didn’t change my opinion from him.”
In February, Joshua popped the question to Laura during a phone call and the couple married four months later in a prison ceremony.
Despite not being able to spend their wedding night together, the two hope to be approved for conjugal visits later this year.
Laura said: “I flew in and we saw each other 12 times and the 13th time I saw him was at our wedding.
“It was a prison wedding – one of the other prisoners was his best man. We were all in white and had our own color theme.
“It felt really right. Our families were very supportive. Obviously, my mom had doubts, but she was very supportive.”
But the unconventional relationship has received some backlash online, with trolls insisting Joshua is “just using” his wife.
One TikTok user said: “Brother just secured his financial future after leaving.”
Another added: “You definitely got all your priorities mixed up.”
A third said: “He will disappear after release.”
Laura said: “People just look at things with a single mind – they can’t believe we married for love. They just think I’m using him or he’s using me.
“They can’t believe it’s true love. We have a lot of support, but we also have a lot of enemies.”
Laura hopes to live with her husband in the United States when he is released from house arrest in December 2025.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
