TLC
Welcome to Plathville’s Ethan Plath and Olivia Plath Split After 5 Years of Marriage
Welcome to Plathville stars Ethan Plath and Olivia Plath have called it quits after five years of marriage.
“Ethan and I have decided to go our separate ways,” Olivia wrote in a statement posted on Friday, October 27. “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.”
The reality star continued, “There were good moments and I want to remember and honor those. We fell in love as children and are going our separate ways as adults. Wiser, older, and braver. We will be okay. Thank you for the good times, Ethan. I wish the best for you.”
Ethan, meanwhile, took to social media with his own post reflecting on the news. “Olivia and I have parted ways. It just didn’t work between us, though Lord knows we both gave it all we had. It seemed we were constantly pulling each other in opposite directions in life with different goals.” He continued, “I wish Olivia the best in the future ahead. I care for her deeply and always will.”
Rumors of Ethan, 25, and Olivia’s split first ignited in June after Olivia’s sister Sophia Meggs-Roberts commented on a YouTube video regarding the Plaths and their connection to the controversial Duggar family documentary, Shiny Happy People.
“I’m Olivia’s sister. Olivia and Ethan are in the middle of a divorce,” Sophia wrote in a since-deleted comment. “And season 5 should be out very soon.”
While Sophie didn’t expand on her remark, the Welcome to Plathville star, 25, directly responded to the rumors and her sister’s statement specifically in an Instagram comment on June 22.
“Sophia is my younger sister, but her and I have a very distant/strained relationship due to our worldviews and reactions to the ultra-religious world we were raised in,” the photographer wrote in a lengthy response. “Subsequently, she actually isn’t a reliable source when it comes to my personal information as she doesn’t know about my personal life. There is a lot of speculation going around, but if Ethan and I had something to share, we would. Thanks!”
Fans of the show know Ethan and Olivia have had a troubled relationship with Ethan’s family that ignited shortly after their 2018 marriage. Olivia famously butted heads with Ethan’s parents, Kim Plath and Barry Plath, as she didn’t agree with the Plath’s strict religious beliefs with included no TV, no mobile phones or sugar.
Ethan and Olivia have had longstanding communication issues; however, their problems were magnified after the couple moved from Tampa to Minnesota during season 5 of Welcome to Plathville.
The latest season — which premiered in September — documented the couple as they respectively questioned whether they were the same person they fell in love with.
This was demonstrated during a Christmas gathering when Olivia opted to give her sister Lydia Grace’s boyfriend CJ a butt plug as a “gag gift.”
“I wouldn’t recommend giving a sex toy to family members or anybody other than your spouse if you wanted to do that. That’s weird,” Ethan said in a confessional alongside his wife. While Olivia stood firm that she had “no regrets,” Ethan later confided in CJ that he felt Olivia had “started changing” throughout their relationship while he had stayed set in his ways.
“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,” the TLC personality said in a later scene. In a private confessional, Ethan confessed that he felt he and Olivia had been “drifting apart on some fundamental stuff.”
“But that’s just how the pages of time unfold,” he concluded. “You can’t foresee stuff like that.”
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