90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days star Vanja Grbic shared her heartbreaking past with fans during her season 7 debut episode. Vanja is a 41-year-old woman from Orlando, Florida. A belly dancer by profession, Vanja also has three other careers she talked about in her introduction. Vanja is a professional permanent makeup artist, a vegan baker, and a medical sales rep. Work never stopped for Vanja, who had her own house and own car through all her years of hard work. She’s still recovering from the heartbreak caused by the man she was engaged to 11 years ago.
Vanja’s partner was leading a double life, and she caught him cheating. Vanja took a trip to Bosnia in Eastern Europe, where she is from, to reconnect with her culture and people, so she could get her groove back. The solo trip was fruitful, since when she ended up in Split, she matched with professional basketballer Božo with a six-pack. They couldn’t meet while she was in Croatia, but Božo and Vanja became a couple after she came back to the U.S. Božo also betrayed Vanja’s trust when he told her he was interested in dating someone else.
Vanja Was 10 When The War Started In Bosnia
Vanja’s cousin Sanela visited her in the episode to help her pick her outfits for her trip to Croatia. While Sanela expressed her doubts about Vanja traveling to Croatia to meet Božo, who had broken up with Vanja for another relationship, she still supported her sister. Vanja discussed how she connected with Božo on so many different levels. She added that while the culture in Bosnia and Croatia was different, there were a lot of similarities, and Božo “felt like home” to her. Sanela asked Vanja if Božo knew about the “whole war,” and Vanja replied, “Of course he does.”
Vanja recalled how she had the most magical childhood growing up in Bosnia. However, when Vanja was 10 years old, the whole country separated and the war started. Vanja and her family had gone to visit her grandparents. They were getting in their car to start driving back home when they saw missiles exploding. “The night sky was just lit up,” Vanja recalled and added that the ground was shaking and “that was it.” Vanja and her family were never able to go back home.
Vanja Remembers Eating “The Black Soup” For Months
Vanja ended up having to stay at her grandma’s house. They had no electricity or water for a year. They ended up boiling flour and onions for food. They called it “the black soup” and it’s what they kept eating for months. Vanja remembered how they were bombed “all the time.” Vanja was almost killed on a couple of occasions. She would never forget sitting in the basement for one whole day at a time while air raids were happening and bombs were dropping everywhere, while she could feel the grown shake.
“And then you’re just, you don’t know if the next one that drops is going to come on top of you.”
Vanja Has Learned To Take Life By The Horns
It was absolutely devastating for Vanja to have gone through that level of stress and trauma as a child. The war in Croatia was not as long or as devastating as it was in Bosnia. However, Božo’s family had been affected by it just like everyone else from former Yugoslavia. This is why Vanja believed Božo understood what she had to overcome and the scars that she must carry in her heart. “It’s always part of who we are,” she added. Vanja admitted that the near-death feeling changed the way she thinks and the way she feels about everything in life.
