‘Welcome to Plathville’ Stars Ethan and Olivia Plath Separated Months Before Announcing Split

Ethan and Olivia Plath have officially filed for divorce. 

The stars of TLC’s Welcome to Plathville filed paperwork to end their marriage on Feb. 21 in Carver County, Minn., In Touch reports. The couple announced their separation in October 2023. 

The ‘Welcome to Plathville’ stars announced their split in October 2023  

Ethan and Olivia married in October 2018, when both were just 20 years old. Five years – and five seasons of Welcome to Plathville – later, their marriage was over.  

“Ethan and I have decided to go our separate ways,” Olivia wrote on Instagram. “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.”

“We fell in love as children and are going our separate ways as adults,” she added. “Wiser, older, and braver. We will be OK.” 

“Olivia and I have parted ways,” Ethan wrote in his own post on Instagram. “If 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 with different life goals. I wish Olivia the best in the future ahead. I care for her deeply and always will.”

Ethan and Olivia Plath separated in February 2023

Though Olivia and Ethan announced their split in October, they’d actually ended things months earlier. In their divorce filing, which was obtained by In Touch, they listed their date of separation as Feb. 25, 2023. The reason was due to an “irretrievable breakdown” of the marriage. 

Rumors had been swirling for years that Olivia and Ethan were on the verge of divorce. The couple’s many issues were on full display in episodes of Welcome to Plathville, including conflict with his parents, Kim and Barry Plath, and later his older siblings, Micah Plath and Moriah Plath. The two also argued over where they should live, eventually moving from his small hometown of Cairo, Ga. to Tampa and later Minnesota. 

Deep divisions over politics and religion were also a major factor in the end of their marriage, which became clear in the Welcome to Plathville Season 5 finale. 

​​”One of the biggest things that could be done on your end to try to make this work would be to go back and try to mend your relationships with your family and try to get back to some of the roots and values that were instilled in you and how you grew up,” Ethan said to Olivia, who has a fraught relationship with her parents, who are Christian fundamentalists.  

Olivia said she grew up in “a world built for men” and had no interest in going “back to a culture and a faith and a belief that told me that I was worth nothing without a husband.”

“There are roles that a man plays that are different than a woman plays,” Ethan replied before criticizing Olivia for not doing enough cooking.  

Ethan went on to say that he couldn’t imagine having kids with Olivia because of their different values. 

“In good conscience, holding the beliefs and values that I have and with the way that you have changed, I can’t see how I can do that,” he said. “There’s just things I’m not OK with the children I raise growing up to think and believe. It’s a matter of principle to me.”

Source: In Touch 

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