‘Too Hot To Handle’ star marries prisoner who proposed after just 6 weeks together
He’s got a different kind of life sentence now.
A Netflix star redefined the expression “ball and chain” after marrying a prisoner who proposed to her after they’d been dating for just six weeks.
“I thought he was really emotionally intelligent,” real estate agent Laura Gehrke, 27, told Kennedy News Agency of having a cellmate for a soulmate.
The newlywed was referring to her husband Joshua Stewart, who is currently serving time in Washington State in the US for homicide and possessing a controlled substance.
Gehrke starred in the Netflix dating series “Too Hot Too Handle: Germany,” in which a group of determined singles meet in a paradise, where they have to remain celibate for a chance to win $100,000.
And while she might not have landed a paramour on the show, she did find love in an unlikely place — a Washington State correctional facility.
The whirlwind romance began last year while Gehrke was stuck in Dubai over Christmas because a visa issue had prevented her from returning home to Germany.
The lonely singleton saw a TikTok video about corresponding with the incarcerated via the social networking site writeaprisoner.com, which seems to spawn many of these lockdown love stories.
“I thought I could just send one of them a message saying ‘Merry Christmas,'” recalled Gehrke, who said Stewart’s account was the second one she clicked on.
“I saw on his profile he said he liked poetry and I was interested in that,” the lovelorn gal recounted.
After messaging each other about poetry, the blossoming soulmates took their relationship cell-ular, regularly talking on the phone for up to 11 hours a day. She’d also fly over to Washington on occasion to see her imprisoned pen pal face-to-face.
It wasn’t too long before the jailbird became her lovebird. “We really clicked,” gushed the smitten Gehrke. “He was just open about everything from the beginning. He was telling me so many stories about his life.”
And while romancing a convicted killer might seem unsavory, the prison wife-to-be said his crime didn’t change her “opinion of him” as she knew the “backstory.”
“I wasn’t immediately asking about the crime because I didn’t want to judge him just based on that,” Gehrke declared. “I was hearing a lot of stories about him growing up before I knew all the details about what he was incarcerated for. It made me see it all a bit differently.”
In February, Stewart popped the question during a phone call — a mere six weeks after first corresponding with his future wife on the outside.
Gehrke said yes and flew out to Washington in June for a 90-minute prison ceremony.
“It was a prison marriage — one of the other inmates was his best man,” she recounted. “We were all in white and had our own color theme. It felt super right.”
And while the couple were unable to consummate their marriage, they’re hoping to be approved for conjugal visits later this year.
Interestingly, Gehrke said both their parents supported their romance, declaring: “Obviously my mum had questions but she was very supportive.”
The relationship didn’t sit as well with online critics, many of whom felt that Stewart was simply trying to “con” his other half.
“Bro just secured his financial future after he’s out,” posited one hater while another added: “You most definitely got all your priorities messed up.”
A third wrote, “he will disappear after release.”
However, Gehrke insists their relationship isn’t some slammer-bam-thank-you-mam.
“People just look into things with a made-up mind — they can’t believe we married out of love,” she lamented.” They just think I’m using him or he’s using me. They can’t believe it’s real love.”
She added, “We have a lot of support but we also have a lot of haters.”
Gehrke hopes to live with her hoosegow husband in the US after he’s released under house arrest in December 2025.
