“90 Day Fiancé” star Jenny Slatten has announced that she has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The TLC star told PEOPLE on Tuesday that she was diagnosed in December 2025, a year after she started experiencing scary symptoms, including choking “severely” when drinking water.
The 68-year-old also began having difficulty swallowing pills and experiencing migraines.
In an interview with the media outlet, she said that as her symptoms persisted, she and her husband Sumit Singh thought she had “some kind of infection”.
After initially taking medication that slightly improved her health, Slatten noticed that her speech began to slow and she avoided conversation.
“That’s when we knew something was wrong,” Slatten told the outlet.
Shortly before receiving her diagnosis, she traveled from India to New York City for a “90 Day Fiancé” holiday party, where her speech slowed significantly.
After watching her interview, some fans of the show were worried about her health, but Shin, 38, apparently thought his wife was just tired from lack of sleep.
However, after one commenter suggested that Slatten might have ALS, Singh told the outlet that she decided to investigate the disease.
“And we found out that these were the symptoms she had.”
They were even more frightened when they remembered that Slatten’s father died of ALS more than a decade ago.
Upon returning to India, she and Singh met with several neurologists. At first, doctors thought she only had a “small blood clot” in her brain. However, a second opinion revealed that Slatten had ALS.
“We cried and hugged each other,” she recalled of the moment she learned of her diagnosis, adding that they both felt “terrified” about what their future would hold.
According to the Mayo Clinic, ALS is a fatal, progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. This condition leads to muscle weakness, as well as loss of mobility and speech.
Doctors told the couple that Slatten’s ALS was progressing “slowly.” For now, they are exploring possible treatments for this disease, but there is currently no cure.
“Right now I’m just looking and looking,” she said. Slatten hopes that by making her diagnosis public, “maybe someone will come forward and do something that can help her.”
“I don’t want any more special treatment,” Slatten insisted. “Let’s live our lives as normal as we can.”
Slatten and Singh, who first appeared on 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way in 2019, have continued to lean on each other for support since learning of their heartbreaking diagnosis.
“Honestly, I’ve never felt so much love. And I can love others so much,” Shin said. “I used to…live for myself. But over the years, I’ve learned that doing things for the people I love makes me happy. I think that’s what love is. So we do things for each other, and it makes us both happy.”
“And we’re happy to be together,” Slatten added.
After overcoming the age difference and long-distance relationship issues that played out on the reality show, the two secretly married in August 2021.
Their intimate wedding was then aired on the season 3 finale of “90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way” in November of the same year.
They will appear on Season 3 of 90 Day: The Last Resort, which premieres June 1 at 8pm ET on TLC.
