Falling in love often requires a leap of faith. For Laurie Palermo, the leap of faith took the form of a religious conversion. Palermo, 38, and her partner, Eli Hayempour, 34, are one of four couples featured in the TLC series “Forbidden Love.
” Each grapples with challenges posed by having different religious faiths and upbringings. The couple met while attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, they share in the first episode. After their initial friendship turned romantic, a religious divide loomed large.
Palermo was raised Catholic but is no longer practicing; Hayempour is a practicing Orthodox Jew. Speaking to TODAY.com, Palermo explains she heard about the show from her sister, who sent her the listing.
“I’ve watched reality TV before but I’d never seen anything that dabbled in religion. I thought it was very unique. And I was like, ‘There’s never time that we’re going to do this again, and we can inspire other couples to kind of want to do it as well,’” she says.
The couple agrees it was a “very cool experience,” but it required a bit of nudging on Palermo’s part, at first. “I talked him into doing it. I thought, ‘Maybe we’ll grow closer and you can share our story, and it’ll just be something that people will watch and learn from,” she says.
What came next, Palermo says, was “very hard.” “Forbidden Love” follows Palermo’s efforts to convert to Judaism at Hayempour’s request. On the show, Hayempour explains that a meeting with his parents, who doubted the relationship's long-term potential, led to a breakthrough: “The only way the relationship is going to work is if Laurie converts,” he says.
Speaking to TODAY.com, Hayempour explains the reasoning behind his request. “I want to raise my kids Jewish,” he adds.
“There’s nothing wrong with the interfaith couple if you want to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah, but I don’t want to raise my kids confused because I was raised Jewish, and I was still confused.” The series shows Laurie's ambivalence about converting, and what changed her mind. She's a "rule breaker" converting to "one of the strictest religions," as she puts it.
“When Eli asked me to convert, at first, I said, ‘Absolutely not,’” Palermo says, adding that she couldn’t understand why her partner couldn’t accept her for who she was. Palermo had struggled with religion before. She turned away from the church after her father died.
“It was really a struggle for me,” she says in the show. Ultimately, Palermo decided to take stock of her relationship. “And I was like, OK, what do I want for my future?’ I envision so much with Eli.
I want to have a life with Eli. I want to have kids with Eli. And so I decided to convert because I want to marry him,” she says.
Below, they share an update as to where they are now. Palermo says she is “still in the process” of converting, but can’t say how far she’s gotten (spoilers!). “It’s not an easy process.
It’s not overnight you become Jewish. It’s a long process,” she says. While she’s still technically converting to Orthodox Judaism, Palermo has already started to change her daily practices.
She dresses more modestly, practices Jewish dietary laws, has technology-free Shabbats and is learning Hebrew. “I have never been a straight-A student or anything like that. So, you know, I have to learn, and I have to be hands-on,” she explains.
“I’ve had to (practice) everything that I’m learning.” Converting has also been a process that has also impacted her family dynamics. “It’s been very weird with my family as well, because they still are Catholic, and I’m converting to this other religion, and it’s kind of been difficult for them as well.
” While the two confirmed that they were “together and happy,” they skirted questions about whether they were still engaged, saying audiences would have to watch and see. What they do share, however, is their happiness over participating in the show. “This is an interesting thing we’ll always share and can look back on and laugh about,” she says.
Alex Portée is a senior trending reporter at TODAY Digital and is based in Los Angeles..
