Alex Martinez/BravoNewlyweds: The First Year is breaking new ground for Bravo.
The reality series chronicles the life of recently married couples for a full year and will feature a lesbian couple in season two. Samantha Abby and Laura Leigh Abby are sorority sweethearts. The under-30 couple dated for seven years before tying the knot.
"We met in 2004 at Emerson College. We actually met during a rush event for our sorority," Laura tells us. "I was a sister and Sam was pledging and everything started from there. Eventually a relationship blossomed."
During the course of the season, the two will explore having a child as a same-sex couple, deal with a large inheritance and career woes.
"You can never be sure how people can interpret what they're seeing. People have a lot of misconceptions about what a gay couple looks like. But when they watch, they'll realize every couple—gay or straight—we fight about the same stuff you fight about. We have a pretty normal relationship just like everyone else. We wanted to show that transparency," Laura says.
We caught up with the couple to discuss the reality TV process, pressures of showing the world their lives.
On when/why they got married:
"We got married on September 7, 2013. In 2011, my mom passed away shortly after that Laura was hit by a car and lost her ear," Samantha says. "We had a tough year and I think I realized I didn't want to go through anything without her, good or bad. That's when I knew. She knew it too."
On pressures showing the world a lesbian marriage:
"There's always that voice in the back of your head that puts pressure on you. You think, we're not just representing ourselves; we're representing all the lesbian couples out there," Laura says. "But in reality, we're not. We can only really only represent ourselves. And we're just like any other married couple. We mess up, but we love each other fiercely and we're comfortable enough in our relationship to put it out there. We can only be ourselves."
On the filming process:
"Going into it you're a little nervous," Laura tells us. "Will the cameras make situations different or uncomfortable? But we got used to it pretty quick. We had fun with it and we enjoyed."
On motherhood:
"For us, we'd always known that pregnancy would be a challenge. So you'll see we're learning the process and figuring out what's going to work best for us. There are so many different ways to do it," Samantha says.
"Viewers should tune in and watch us go through it," Laura says. "They'll see how we're similar and how we're different and what our ideas of motherhood are separately."
Newlyweds: The First Year premieres Tuesday, March 10 at 10 p.m. on Bravo.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)