“90 Day Fiancé” star Catie Norse recently blamed her tendency to makeout with her friends (while drunk) on having Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and her explanation is not going over well with fans.
Catie is starring on Season 12 of “90 Day Fiancé” with her British fiancé, Josh Atkins, with the two tackling their new joint-lives in Portland, Oregon, after meeting in Europe. (The two connected when Catie was drunk on a Tinder date with one of Josh’s friends, during which she made out with two people and attempted to makeout with two more– one of whom was Josh. Josh offered to walk her home, they made out, and then Catie ran off without him; they later reconnected, started dating and are now engaged.)
Catie has quite the habit of making out with her friends– and strangers– while drunk. Despite being in a relationship with Josh, Catie admits that when she starts drinking, she feels the need to make out with people, but not for the reason you might think.
“I have intrusive thoughts as part of OCD,” she explained in a confessional. “When I get drunk, I really want to makeout with everyone I know, especially when I’m in a happy mood or in a really insecure, bad mood.
“I just get really into the moment and I think, ‘Wow, I think making out with this person is a great idea!’” Catie continued. “That isn’t always exciting for Josh, especially since it’s been a little bit more frequent lately.”
Catie explained to her friend that her actions stem from wanting “to feel wanted” and that even though she wants to stop her behavior, “when [she] drinks, [her] brain has another plan for [her].” Josh has explained to Catie that he cannot see himself marrying her if this behavior continues, but Catie thinks it will be a hard habit to break.
Evidently, Catie has not given up her frisky fun and Josh is putting his foot down– maybe. Last week, fans watched as the couple celebrated Catie’s birthday with her friends at (you guessed it) a bar. Josh and Catie agreed that there would be no making out with friends this evening, but things didn’t go according to plan.
Catie’s friend Ryan traveled to attend her birthday party, despite the two not seeing each other since Josh told Ryan to get out of his life following an “inappropriate” night out. Meanwhile, Catie maintained her friendship with Ryan. Josh asked Catie how she would feel if he hung around girls that he’d hooked up or made out with and Catie admitted that she’d be “hurt and jealous,” though she failed to see how that related to her friendship with Ryan.
After a brief confrontation, Josh confirmed that he still had no interest in a friendship with Ryan, but agreed to be cordial with him for Catie’s sake. Josh also vowed that there would be no funny business during Catie’s birthday and Catie (finally) admitted that she “might be the problem here.”
Mere moments later, Catie asked Josh if she could “kiss everyone,” to which he denied. She then went to the bar to get a drink before leaning on one of her visibly uncomfortable male friends and asking for a kiss. Catie then went to lean on Ryan as she went into self-proclaimed “crazy mode” and tried to kiss him too– all while standing just feet away from her fiancé. She continued to get very close to Ryan’s face as they sat down and he continued to disregard all of her advances.
The night came to a close as Catie attempted to kiss yet another one of her male friends, Mark, with the birthday girl persisting to the point that Mark had to put his hand in Catie’s face to stop her. Mark reminded Catie that she was in a “committed relationship,” but that didn’t stop her from…fully making out with his hand.
When Josh approached Catie so that they could go home for the night, she questioned what she was “doing wrong,” before being led out to the car.
This week’s episode showed the hungover aftermath of Catie’s birthday, with Josh attempting to reason with his make-out-happy fiancée.
“Last night was just one piece of s**t after another,” he said in a confessional. “She let herself down, she let me down, it’s just embarrassing. I don’t want a relationship where ultimatums feel like the only thing left, but on the other hand, how much worse is it supposed to get before the real hard questions are the ones that you need to ask … .”
Catie blamed the amount of drinking she did that night on the fact that it was her birthday and because it “was a high-stress environment” with Ryan visiting.
“I don’t remember what happened,” she claimed.
While Catie apologized for her behavior, Josh told her that apologies begin to lose their meaning after they’re heard over and over again.
“What is going through your head when you’ve got a partner who loves you and who you love, and then you have a few drinks and you want to makeout with someone else?” Josh asked, to which Catie responded, “I think I can love you but also want to kiss everyone else.”
When Josh brought up that most of the people Catie wants to kiss don’t want to kiss her, she insisted that she didn’t want to cross their “boundaries.”
“But you’re crossing my boundaries,” Josh replied– a remark that Catie glossed over, while continuing to fixate on whether or not her friends will leave her.
“I’ve definitely lost friends ‘cause of things I’ve done when I’m drinking,” she explained. “I’m really ashamed about it and it’s hard to talk about … I will be sad if anyone abandons me. I am worried all the time that I’ll lose Josh and I’m worried I’ll push him away by my actions.”
“I want to feel cared about and loved,” Josh explained to Catie. “Stuff like last night, even [though] it’s not even the first time, and, in fact, it was a lot worse than some other times … that doesn’t feel good. That doesn’t sit right with me. What I want to see is some serious thought from you about what you want, ‘cause we’re getting married, right?
“I want to see that you really know what that means and that you’re seeing the commitment I’m making to you. I want to feel it in return, and it’s kind of up to you to figure out how to do that.”
Josh insisted that even though he loves Catie, he could not have the conversation again, as it’s not behavior that he can continue to tolerate.
Fans are criticizing Catie’s disrespectful and pushy behavior, with some even calling for Josh to leave her. (Josh was so inundated with these comments that he posted a now-deleted video to Instagram telling fans to stop commenting “run” on his posts.)
“So she cares about other people’s boundaries but not his… for his sake I hope this is fake,” one commenter wrote, with another on Reddit sharing their concerns about consent and safety during Catie’s birthday party scene.
“I get they want people who will create drama but Catie’s behavior is becoming borderline sexual assault and it’s not cool. […] Catie was basically assaulting these men who were clearly uncomfortable and repeatedly saying no to her. If her kissing problem was truly OCD, she wouldn’t just be trying to kiss people who aren’t her fiancé, despite being told no. If a man was doing that in a bar to a bunch of women, the police would have been called. Catie is just a predator.”
The Mirror US interviewed Madeleine Thompson Smith, a licensed professional counselor, to speak on OCD and although she stressed that everyone’s OCD symptoms present differently, she noted that Catie’s makeout sessions are not a typical side effect of the disorder.
“Wanting to kiss strangers while drinking because you’re feeling happy would not be considered a typical symptom of OCD,” she said. “OCD isn’t a disorder that makes people lose control or act on random impulses. It’s a disorder centered on intrusive thoughts, uncertainty, and anxiety.”
She also expressed her concerns about how Catie’s representation of OCD on the show could give fans the wrong impression of how OCD affects people and could reinforce untrue stereotypes.
New episodes of “90 Day Fiancé” air Sundays on TLC.
(Photos: TLC)
4 Responses
This is desperate, cringetastic behavior.
She needs to get help for her obvious alcoholism. If your drunken behavior often lands in ended friendships, you have a problem.
She is just a hoe, don’t blame the OCD. And if she really wanted to change she could just stop drinking, but she wont.
I hope some man sues her for harassment/sexual assault.
I struggle to feel sorry for Josh, though. She have been honest with who she is from the very start. She even behaved like a degenerate slut when they met. And he still got involved with her. Grow a backbone and leave!
This girl is a drunken slut. She needs extensive mental therapy and should not be on a tv show glamorizing her craziness.
She is full of it and is using it as an excuse. If as she says it is her OCD causing her to do it “when she drinks” then stop drinking. Couldn’t be simpler.