TLC
Is it Really Over? Find Out if ‘Welcome to Plathville’ Stars Ethan and Olivia Filed for Divorce
Welcome to Plathville stars Ethan Plath and Olivia Plath made the heartbreaking decision to part ways during season 5 of the family’s reality TV series, which aired in December 2023. The pair — who have separated once in the past — seemingly ended things mutually after not being able to get past their growing differences and fans are curious if the TLC stars have started the divorce process.
Are ‘Welcome to Plathville’ Stars Ethan and Olivia Divorced?
Ethan and Olivia officially jointly filed for divorce on February 21, 2024, In Touch confirmed. The former couple listed their date of separation as February 245, 2023, and noted “irretrievable breakdown” as the reason for their divorce.
When Did ‘Welcome to Plathville’ Stars Ethan and Olivia Split?
The TLC personalities confirmed their split on October 27, 2023, after months of split speculation first sparked in June by Olivia’s sister Sophia Meggs-Roberts.
“Ethan and I have decided to go our separate ways,” Olivia wrote in a lengthy message. “I have ambivalent memories of us being 18 years old, innocently dreaming of forever – but the partner you choose is a reflection of the world you want to live in, and at 18 I didn’t know who I was or what kind of life I wanted to create for myself. 7 years later, I’ve already begun my journey of questioning, deconstructing and rebuilding and I know that is a process that I will continue to prioritize throughout my life.”
Ethan, who normally is quiet on social media, followed up with his own statement that day, writing, “It just didn’t work out.”
“Lord knows we both gave it all we had,” the eldest Plath son wrote via Instagram. “It seemed we were constantly pulling each other in opposite directions in life with different goals.”
Why Did ‘Welcome to Plathville’ Stars Ethan and Olivia Split?
Since their October 2018 wedding, Olivia clashed with Ethan’s parents, Kim Plath and Barry Plath. Olivia did not subscribe to the Plath family’s conservative views and often rebelled against their long list of rules which included no TV, no mobile phones or computers and no sugar or soda.
Apart from Olivia’s longstanding feud with Ethan’s family, the couple struggled with communication as the wedding photographer felt Ethan would rather avoid their issues than address them.
Ethan and Olivia moved to Minnesota during season 5 of the series to get away from the family drama; however, that’s when the cracks between them in their relationship started to show.
“When we first got married, we were pretty much on the same page. Political beliefs, religious beliefs and now we’re on opposite ends of the book,” Ethan explained during an October 2023 episode. In a private confessional, the reality star confessed that he felt he and Olivia had been “drifting apart on some fundamental stuff.”
Meanwhile, Olivia felt Ethan wanted to start a family, just not with her. “I think in an ideal world you want a family with me,” she explained to him. “When it actually comes down to the reality of it, you’ve told me that if we had kids, you wouldn’t want me talking to them about things I believe in.”
The pair decided to end their marriage for good during the season 5 finale on December 5, 2023.
Ethan asked Olivia to mend her relationships with her family and try to go back to the “roots and values that were instilled” in her growing up.
Olivia responded by arguing that she wouldn’t go back to following the fundamentalist Christian religion she was raised with. “The faith and the world that I grew up in was a world built for men, that worked for men. And to tell me that I need to go back to a culture and a faith and a belief that told me that I was worth nothing without a husband, that in a relationship I just need to submit and say yes and cook three meals a day and praise God and it would all be fine,” she said in the heated conversation. “I don’t think you understand the privilege you have to look at me and tell me I need to go back to that because it served you.”
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