TLC
‘Welcome to Plathville’ Stars Kim and Barry Plath Split After 24 Years of Marriage
It’s over. Welcome to Plathville stars Kim Plath and Barry Plath have split after 24 years of marriage.
“After considerable thought and discussion, we have decided to end our marriage,” Kim, 49, and Barry, 54, told People on Tuesday, June 28. “While this was not an easy decision, we know it’s the best choice for both of us. We have been through many highs and lows in our 24 years of marriage and as we navigate this new chapter in our lives, we will co-parent our amazing children.”
Welcome to Plathville follows the Plaths as they struggle with tense relationships with their adult children as they grow up, move out and start to rebel against their parents’ strict upbringing. The cracks in the Plath matriarch and patriarch’s marriage became a major story line on season 4 of their family’s hit TLC series. Kim revealed her separation from Barry during the June 7 episode.
“Barry and I have decided to live separately for a while,” Kim, 49, said in her confessional. “The easiest way to do that right now is whenever one of our rental properties is vacant, I pack a bag and I go and I stay there. I’m unpacking and kind of getting settled in for a couple of days to stay at the farm, which is where we raised all of our children, and I guess I’m feeling, you know, like I never thought it would be like this. It’s very different from what I ever, how I ever thought it would be. It’s just, it’s a time of a lot of change right now and I’m not sure exactly what that’s gonna look like.”
On the Tuesday, June 28 episode, Kim and Barry reunited after living separately for several weeks to discuss the future of their marriage.
“You know that I’m not happy,” Kim told her estranged husband. Barry said he was “looking for that wife who loved me,” and admitted that he felt “betrayed” by his estranged wife.
“One thing I thought wouldn’t ever be shaken was us. Now it’s totally shaken up. It’s just really sad. It’s a tragedy,” he continued. In his confessional, Barry said Kim “feels trapped” but he hoped that by “buying flowers” and “presents,” he would be able to help Kim change her mind about wanting a divorce.
Kim explained that she felt she had been “hurt too much” during their marriage, but Barry suggested that they try couples therapy to find help to “learn to speak each other’s language.”
“I just feel like it’s past that,” Kim responded and Barry replied, “Why are you being so selfish?”
Kim insisted that she’s tried to talk to her husband about their marital issues over the years, but he ignored their problems. “Now it’s gotten to the point where I’m ready to leave the marriage, now he cares,” she said in her confessional. “But I feel like if I was really worth it, he would have listened earlier.”
Barry started to get emotional as he admitted he took his wife “for granted,” but he wasn’t ready to give up on “24 years” and their children. He insisted that they didn’t have to come to a decision about their marriage just yet.
“I was ready to tell him that I wanted a divorce, but if Barry is still thinking that we can save it, he’s probably not ready to start talking about divorce,” Kim told the cameras. “I don’t know if he’s in denial, if he’s thinking that if he just stalls a little longer that I’ll change my mind. I think he’s waiting for God to do a miracle.”
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