The Untold Truth Of TLC's Welcome To Plathville

There's a lot to know about Welcome to Plathville. After all, TLC is no stranger to producing reality shows focusing on religious, conservative families widely seen as eccentric to the rest of the country, due to their traditional, ultra-strict lifestyles and higher-than-average number of children, and the Plath family of Welcome to Plathville is no exception. 

Welcome to Plathville follows the lives of Barry and Kim Plath, along with the lives of their nine children — Ethan, Hosanna, Micah, Moriah, Lydia, Isaac, Amber, Cassia, and Mercy. With the exception of Ethan and Hosanna, who both live elsewhere with their spouses, the Plath parents and their children live on a farm in rural Georgia, where their kids are largely sheltered from the outside world. "We've structured our lifestyle here so that we can retreat to our piece of heaven on earth," Barry Plath revealed on the show's premiere episode (via People). Added Kim Plath, "We have limited technology, we have limited computers. [The kids] don't play video games."

Of course, even in Middle of Nowhere, Ga., there's bound to be some drama. Here's the untold truth of the TLC reality show Welcome to Plathville, which may just make it as one of the best shows on TLC.

From the very first episode of Welcome to Plathville, it's clear that Moriah Plath is the black sheep of the family. When asked to describe their teenage daughter, Barry and Kim Plath paused and stared at one another before Kim urged her husband to tackle the question. "You know, Moriah can be opinionated," Barry Plath said in a clip from Welcome to Plathville. He continued, "She's wired differently." 

However, while Moriah doesn't always agree with her parents' stances on what a proper lifestyle should look like, she does believe that she's different than the rest of her family. The difference is noticeable to viewers, too, as Moriah seems infinitely more at ease on-camera than the majority of her siblings. Of course, this is likely due to the fact that Welcome to Plathville isn't Moriah's first time in front of the cameras. As revealed on the Plath family's website, Moriah made her acting debut in a 2018 short film called You Should Be THERE. The film, which can be viewed on Vimeo, features Moriah as Brittany — a troubled daughter who has a strained relationship with her father. 

While she may look the part, Olivia Plath is not an original member of the Plath family. Instead, the photographer married the family's eldest son, Ethan Plath, in 2018. However, considering how natural she and Ethan seem together, one might assume Olivia has known the Plaths for much longer than just a couple of years. And, according to an old blog post authored by Olivia, one would be correct.

In an October 2015 blog entry titled "Meet the Plath Family" on her own family's blog, Olivia gushed about the people that would one day become her in-laws. Calling the Plaths "[her] people," the Welcome to Plathville star wrote, "We have found all sorts of people, but never ones like these people." She continued, "We are so blessed to serve a God who deeply cares about each one of us and who orchestrates things for our good. ... Praise the Lord for a week of fellowship with like-minded believers and dear friends!"

While Olivia Plath was raised in a religious family, she revealed on the first episode of TLC's Welcome to Plathville that her upbringing was far less restrictive than that of her husband, Ethan Plath. 

"When Ethan and I first got married, I was really shocked at, like, the differences in how we grew up," Olivia said during the series premiere. Later, she made her intentions to break away from the Plath's traditions clear, telling the camera, "Obviously, we're our own family, and we're going to do things the way we choose to do them."

According to social media posts Olivia allegedly made before Welcome to Plathville made its TLC debut, she's strongly against the staunchly rule-abiding religious culture in which her husband was raised. In a June 2019 Facebook post shared by a fan on an online message board, Olivia reportedly wrote, "I hate the fundamentalist movement, [and] the legalistic approach to Christianity." She continued, writing, "It takes a beautiful and completely personal relationship and turns it into a list of rules or a box to be checked where everyone looks the same and talks like theological robots." 

Unlike shows like The Little Couple, I Am Jazz, and OutDaughtered, Welcome to Plathville hasn't been around long enough for viewers to truly feel like they know the Plath family members on a personal level. Still, it's easy to see that Moriah Plath is the undisputed black sheep of the family. Describing their sister, Hosanna and Lydia Plath giggled as they told the Welcome to Plathville cameras, "Moriah's more preoccupied with listening to music and doing her makeup." Kim Plath, Moriah's mother, even said she had "lost control of Moriah." Since when is learning how to pull off a bold lip or how to avoid eyeliner mistakes a bad thing?

In an October 2019 Instagram post, Moriah opened up to fans of the show about some of her personal struggles, many of which had been speculated upon since Welcome to Plathville's premiere. "I tried to hide it so long but at some point it became very clear to everyone except me that I was struggling with some things that are happening," Moriah wrote. The reality star continued, vaguely hinting at behind-the-scenes drama and writing, "Sometimes you have to go through something that completely destroys you in order to figure out who you really are."

Following Welcome to Plathville's premiere, Ethan Plath quickly became the unlikely hero of the TLC reality show. The eldest Plath child, Ethan was the first to leave his parents' farm and make a life of his own with his spouse, Olivia. Since Welcome to Plathville made its TLC debut, Ethan's excitement over watching Friends for the first time, as well as the hilarious video Olivia Plath recorded of her husband trying his very first soda — Coca-Cola, not Pepsi — has been a source of much delight for viewers. Along with his friendly demeanor and blonde hair, the permanent smile plastered on Ethan's face has even drawn comparisons to the relentlessly optimistic Kenneth Parcell from Tina Fey's 30 Rock. 

However, according to blogger Katie Joy from Without a Crystal Ball, who reportedly spoke with Ethan and Olivia Plath, life hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows for him. As Joy revealed in a vlog — and as Welcome to Plathville Season 2 has shown – the eldest Plath sibling reportedly doesn't have a relationship with his mother, Kim Plath. When asked for the reason behind his estranged relationship with his mom, Ethan allegedly said, "She's selfish, she's stubborn, and she doesn't look out for anyone but herself." 

Welcome to Plathville had a pretty simple premise: Parents Barry and Kim Plath live on a 50-acre farm in rural Georgia with seven of their nine children, who they've raised to reject technology, mainstream media, and many aspects of modern society. However, according to some online sleuths, the Plaths might not have been actually residing on a sprawling farm in the middle of nowhere when Season 1 aired — contrary to what the TLC show would have viewers believe. 

As reported by Soap Dirt, the farm featured in Welcome to Plathville is listed as a rental on Airbnb by Kim Plath, who has earned the vacation rental website's "Superhost" title. The listing for the farmhouse describes the venue as being "nestled on a private and quiet fifty acre farm," and explains to prospective renters, "You have the house all to yourself." 

So, if the entire property is available to rent seemingly year-round, where do the Plaths actually live? According to Soap Dirt, Barry and Kim Plath bought a home in Cairo, Ga. in 2017, which happens to be close to restaurants and shops, as well as their son Ethan and his wife, Olivia.

During Welcome to Plathville's first season, it became clear that the close relationship Ethan Plath's wife, Olivia, formed with her sister-in-law, Moriah Plath, had seemingly inspired the free-spirited Plath daughter to seek freedom from her family's farm life in rural Georgia. Unsurprisingly, this influence Olivia had in Moriah's life put even more of a strain on her already rocky relationship with her super traditional in-laws, Barry and Kim Plath.

With all the drama, it's natural to wonder why Olivia even wanted to be a part of the TLC reality series in the first place. However, according to the Welcome to Plathville star, she felt forced into appearing on the show.

"I made many mistakes during the filming of the show (the first one being allowing myself to be manipulated into doing it by family)," Olivia wrote in a December 2019 Instagram post. She continued, writing, "But until you've dealt with narcissist behavior, you have no idea how easy it is to freak out and react in an effort to protect yourself and those you love."

Welcome to Plathville did return for another round, of course, in November 2020. Shockingly, the previously close-knit family had fractured into three parts, with Ethan and Olivia Plath estranged from his parents entirely, Micah and Moriah Plath cohabiting away from their family and on their own for the first time, and Kim and Barry Plath living with the younger kids in a brand new house. As The Cinemaholic reported at the time, it turned out that reports of the Plaths moving to Cairo in 2017 were indeed accurate (although they didn't let on that it had been that long on the show).

Season 2 detailed how the family was settling into their massive new home, which is located just a few blocks from Ethan and Olivia's place and a couple blocks from Micah and Moriah's new spot too. The most shocking point to note about the stunning new Plath homestead, however, is that it's also situated close to Walmart, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, among other institutions, meaning it's considerably less isolated than their farm. Kim and Barry are going to have to work extra hard to keep their no junk food rule intact. 

One of the biggest shocks of Season 2 was that teenagers Micah and Moriah Plath had fled the family home and were living in their own, appropriately messy house (where eating Pop Tarts at all hours was a given). Moriah joked on Welcome to Plathville that it was a mutual-ish decision, but the underlying issue was the duo simply couldn't abide by their parents' super strict rules anymore. As Soap Dirt reported, both kids got jobs to support themselves, with Micah pursuing modeling and Moriah music — while also juggling part-time work as a yoga instructor and a mechanic's assistant — and they even embarked on their first dates ever.

The teens admitted to Ethan and Olivia that their upbringing left them confused about relationships, because their parents instilled in them the importance of marriage above all else. They even confronted their folks about the lack of preparation for the real world during a tense meeting. Micah and Moriah explained that lacking GEDs, following years of home-school, was a major roadblock, as was the absence of sex ed growing up.  

Season 2 of Welcome to Plathville certainly didn't disappoint when it came to drama, and one of the biggest talking points was Lydia Plath's teary-eyed dedication to her family and unquenchable desire to get everybody back on the same page once again. Viewers rallied around her as the bona fide saint of the family, with Reddit users joking about how Lydia seemed to be doing all of the housework too. The Plaths are super religious, that much is clear, but when Lydia debuted her so-called "prayer closet," fans' jaws dropped.

Some even questioned Kim and Barry's parental abilities, with one tweeting, "In what world is this... prayer closet okay?" Another made an on-the-nose reference to classic horror movie Carrie, in which Sissy Spacek's titular character is banished to her own prayer closet by her loopy mother. Sadly, though, most fans worried Lydia's retreat to her prayer closet, where she begged for assistance from a higher power, was simply a "cry for help," with one commentator noting, "Where is child welfare when u need them?"

There are plenty of odd things about the Plath family, but certain rumors are genuinely concerning. Take Daily Soap Dish's assertion that, up until Welcome to Plathville came along, the younger kids didn't have birth certificates. Ethan and Hosanna Plath got theirs, but the seven children who followed allegedly did not. Without a proper, state-issued birth certificate, the kids wouldn't be able to drive, work, or even vote legally. When TLC approached Kim and Barry in 2017, looking to document their family life, they were allegedly forced to register their kids properly so the Plaths could all appear on the show and, presumably, receive remuneration for it too. 

YouTuber Without A Crystal Ball went through the records and ascertained that, reportedly, the Plath kids didn't have birth certificates until very recently. It's been suggested that Kim and Barry wanted to keep their children under the radar, away from the government's prying eyes, but could there have also been a control element to it? Again, without the proper documentation, there's not much these kids can do without parental consent.

Ethan and Olivia Plath appear to have finally broken free of the constraints of his troubled upbringing, but Olivia isn't so sure they should be starting a family of their own just yet. Speaking to People, she confirmed that it's definitely in the cards for them some day. "Ethan and I both love kids. We're both from large families, and we would definitely love to have a couple of kids," Olivia enthused, adding, "I think our ideal would be to have a few of our own and then adopt a few." 

However, they're not ready just yet because there's still a lot of healing that needs to happen first, much of which she works through personally in therapy. "I think maybe once we've gone through some therapy, we feel like we've processed our childhoods and we're ready to not just react when we have our own kids, but actually like, take positive steps for a better childhood for them," it will happen, the Welcome to Plathville star shared. The young couple also wants to live a bit more too, before settling down.

Since moving out of the family home and finding some much-needed independence, Moriah Plath has turned her attention to her one true passion in life: music. The aspiring singer, who previously performed in the family band, has a couple of songs available to stream on Spotify at the time of writing. Moreover, the "Welcome to Plathville" star also offers her singing talents to fans on Cameo.

As People reported, when Moriah released her debut single, "Missed Myself," in January 2022, fans quickly speculated that it was about her recent breakup from boyfriend Max Kallschmidt, thanks to lyrics like: "I let you get the best of me/ But that won't mean/ You can control who I'll be." Over on Instagram, Moriah revealed she'd written the song immediately after leaving Georgia for the first time, admitting, "That's when I began to realize how lost I was, and that I would go however many miles it took to find me!"

The talented teen finds songwriting difficult but ultimately helpful for processing her feelings. Fans on Reddit were split on whether Moriah could sing, but clearly, she's happy doing her own thing.

Ahead of Season 4 of "Welcome to Plathville" dropping, Olivia Plath took to Instagram to share a frank message with fans, noting that although the season was filled with "lots of laughs, empowering experiences, new faces, challenging new dynamics, and relatable conversations as we continue figuring out who we are and what we want out of life," it never gets easier to share every element of her life with the world.

As it turns out, Olivia's husband, Ethan Plath, sometimes wonders whether agreeing to be on TV was the right call. In an interview with People, he said, "I would definitely recommend to anyone being offered a reality show to say no." At the same time, Ethan acknowledged he can't go back in time and change things now, reasoning, "What's done is done, and that's just best to do what we can with what we have and make the most of it."

The mechanic knows "Welcome to Plathville" likely had a negative impact on some of his most important relationships. Regardless, "If the opportunity is there to keep doing what we're doing, I'll continue to work on that."