Olivia Plath Discusses Ethan Plath’s Dealbreakers in Their Marriage
Olivia and Ethan Plath’s split came down to a clash of values.
The stars of TLC’s Welcome to Plathville announced that they were separating in October 2023. The couple – who had been together for five years – faced numerous challenges in their marriage, including serious conflicts with his family. But ultimately, massive disagreements over how to raise their future children and other core issues caused them to go their separate ways.
Ethan Plath ‘drew a line in the sand’ in his marriage to Olivia Plath
Olivia and Ethan discussed the demise of their relationship in the Welcome to Plathville Season 5 finale. In that December 2023 episode, Ethan revealed what needed to change for the marriage to work.
“One of the biggest things that could be done on your end to try to make this work is to go back and try to mend your relationships with your family,” Ethan said to Olivia, who is estranged from her parents. He said he wanted her to return to “the roots and values that were instilled” in her growing up. (Olivia has compared her childhood to growing up in a cult.)
“The faith and world I grew up in was a world built for men,” she replied. “And 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 I was worth nothing without a husband … 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.”
“You’re the one telling me that if I don’t answer ‘yes’ to everything on your list, then I can’t be with you,” Olivia added.
“Mutual respect does not negate a right or wrong,” Ethan replied. “I feel that I have to draw a line in the sand.”
Ethan wanted Olivia to be Republican and go back to church
So, what were Ethan’s dealbreakers? They weren’t revealed in the Welcome to Plathville episode. But Olivia discussed them during an appearance on the July 31 episode of the Pink Shade podcast.
“It was not just three things on the list,” she said. “He just told me, ‘Here are some things that are gonna have to happen if we’re going to stay together.’”
“One of them was I would have to become religious again and go back to church and raise our kids in [the] church. One of them was I would have to go Republican, be conservative, that whole sphere. And then the other one was what our kids would be allowed to do, see, who they were going to be allowed to be, all that,” she said.
“To me, that’s way more than three things,” Olivia added. “There’s a lot of nuance and different facets to those as well.”
When it came to kids, the Welcome to Plathville star said her ex told her he would not be able to accept their children if they were gay. Those anti-LGBTQ beliefs did not make it onto the show.
“Off cameras, in our personal life, that was a really big thing for him,” Olivia said.
Welcome to Plathville airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
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