Spicy bikini photoshoots, secret marriages, and shocking arrests.
"Breaking Amish" claims to show you everything, but there's a whole lot that audiences
didn't see. Keep watching for the real truth about what happened on the show.
As much as we want to believe everything on "Breaking Amish" is as real as it seems,
TLC has admitted to bending the truth when addressing rumors about the show's authenticity.
When photos of cast members living outside the Amish community before
the show aired circulated across the internet,
it raised a lot of questions and concerns about how much of the reality show is staged.
According to the New York Daily News, TLC issued a statement that said, in part:
"There is a lot of information floating around about the group featured on Breaking Amish.
Much of it is not true, but some of it is."
Hot Snakes Media, TLC's production company, later issued a statement to Variety further
addressing the speculations, although it appeared to backpedal slightly on TLC's earlier statement.
"Our Amish and Mennonite producers that we hired introduced us to Amish and Mennonite men and women
who were already determined to leave. They had already made the decision to go out and see the
world, with or without us. They courageously allowed us to follow them on this journey."
According to amishamerica.com, the Amish community forbids divorce, which is why it's surprising that
at least two of the cast members of Breaking Amish have broken off marriages. Jeremiah Raber,
known as the local Amish bad boy amongst community members, has become an instant celebrity and made
an everlasting impact on the show. When Season 4 of "Return to Amish" aired, we met his second
wife, Carmela Mendez, whom he met online and married in April 2016. But before that,
from 2005 until 2011, Raber was married to Naomi Stutzman, with whom he shares three children.
Cast member Sabrina Burkholder, a Mennonite woman amongst the Amish group, was also married prior to
the premiere of "Breaking Amish." During the "Breaking Amish: The Shunning Truth" reunion
in November 2012, Burkholder addressed the rumors with host Michelle Beadle, stating
the ceremony adhered to Mennonite traditions, which include no dancing or drinking alcohol.
"I'm not ashamed I was married. I still love [my ex] — he's a good man and he's honorable.
I have nothing but good things to say about him."
Although viewers watched Abe Schmucker and Rebecca Byler's love story unfold on the TLC show,
some believe the now-married couple dated way before the series originally aired when
a picture of Rebecca and Abe holding a baby was shared online and went viral. After TLC
claimed the couple met for the first time during Season 1, this caused speculation regarding the
identity of her child's father, considering Byler confirmed she had already divorced ex-husband.
When Byler later confirmed she is the mother of the child seen in the picture
during the "Breaking Amish: The Shunning Truth" reunion special, she quickly got defensive talk
circled back to the rumors that she'd been dating Schmucker before moving from Pennsylvania to New
York City and getting married, since the photo appeared to show them as a couple.
"So I lean over to take a picture and that's supposed to be intimate? I don't know. Whatever."
According to a July 2014 Bustle article, Byler shared paternity test results of
her daughter on Facebook, confirming that Schmucker is, indeed, the father.
These days, the couple and their children live away from the spotlight.
It turns out that certain "Breaking Amish" cast members have been drinking and partying
way before their time on the show. Kate Stoltz, Jeremiah Raber, and Abe Schmucker have all run
into their own trouble with the law before appearing on the show. According to Today,
Schmucker confirmed he was arrested in 2008 for public intoxication. He said:
"I spent eight hours in the drunk tank — it was pretty cool actually,
because my mom and dad didn't have to know about it."
Before joining the show in 2012, Stoltz was arrested and charged with a DUI
in Boca Raton, Florida, according to Starcasm.
"I got pulled over on the way home, and
I had obviously been drinking, so I got arrested for a DUI."
Stoltz admitted that her arrest made her feel terrible, adding:
"I think it was just a really bad decision, and a huge mistake.
Just me being stupid, and not thinking things clearly."
If that's not enough, Raber was also arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and public
intoxication in May 2015. According to TMZ, Raber was a passenger during a routine traffic stop.
When the cops followed the vehicle and found Raber in a screaming match with the driver
who had taken him home from a bar that night, he was arrested and later released.
"Breaking Amish" star Kate Stoltz is probably best known for leaving the
Amish community and following her dream of becoming a model in New York City.
After her DUI arrest in 2012, Stoltz worked her way through alcohol education classes
and finished her probation to focus all her energy on modeling. She explained:
"I'm trying to get everything in my past and move on. Right now I'm taking
care of all of the court-related issues and after that I want to move up to New York."
Although Stoltz is undeniably one of the most successful cast members from
"Breaking Amish" and "Return to Amish," she has removed herself from the series
and her life in Pennsylvania and Amish upbringing. She said:
"I think the best thing I ever did was completely cut ties
with all of my friends and everything back home."
Jeremiah Raber appears to have lived a very non-Amish life way before "Breaking Amish"
even aired on TLC. According to Bustle, Raber's ex-wife, Naomi Stutzman, told a CBS
News affiliate that the reality star had left the Amish community when he was 18 years old.
However, when "Breaking Amish" officially aired in 2012, Raber was already in his 30s. At the time,
photos of Raber wearing modern clothing circulated the internet,
ultimately causing a whole lot of confusion regarding the legitimacy of the show. In the
"Breaking Amish" reunion special, Raber confirmed he had left the Amish community multiple times.
The TLC show claimed that Raber had been shunned from the community and that he
had never driven a car, but Stutzman had a lot to say about this as well.
Stutzman explained to Starcasm in September 2012:
"It's so untrue. Jeremiah's mom and dad bought him two cars to help him out when he left the Amish.
He was never shunned. He was spoiled rotten."
Stutzman has also alleged that aspects of the show are unrealistic and that TLC
has repeatedly promoted false narratives about the Amish community on the network.
In traditional Amish beliefs, using technology and taking photographs are highly forbidden. This is
because photographs represent "vanity," which is considered a sin in the faith.
"The community is strict like that because they believe
it's how they keep clean of all the evils of the world."
However, this didn't stop "Breaking Amish" star Kate Stoltz, known as the bishop's daughter, from
submitting multiple images of herself to modeling agencies in hopes of kick-starting her career.
This allegedly happened years before she claimed to have given up her Amish faith.
Stoltz reportedly entered a Best Smile contest in 2010 and on the show was
seen beginning a successful modeling career for herself in New York City,
posing for the camera in bikinis and risqué outfits.
In a November 2015 interview with HuffPost, Stoltz opened up about her longtime dream of modeling,
enrolling in the Fashion Institute of Technology,
and becoming an emerging fashion designer after leaving behind her Amish roots. She explained:
"I always knew that I wanted to be a model but I never knew how excited and interested I was
in design until I moved to NYC. Getting the opportunity to work with reputable
designers in Manhattan and working with all the amazing prints and fabrics is so inspiring."
Kate Stoltz set the record straight when it came to exposing the truth about the
popular TLC television show and did not hold back. Weeks before the third season aired,
Stoltz posted a series of tweets explaining that the majority of the fan-favorite show
is scripted. She also went into detail about how cast members were really treated on set.
In the since-deleted tweet, she wrote:
"We were bullied and harassed while filming.
If we didn't go along with the storyline, they would turn it around and make us look bad.
If they thought our lives were boring, they would create wild storylines about us."
The model went on to explain that the producers of the show went as far as manipulating cast
members in order to create more tension and drama for the show. She further explained:
"I would be told that someone is talking about me, they would be told that I am talking about
them. That way we wouldn't trust the other. I'm not just speaking to get my side of the
story out. I don't want people to fall for the same glossy pitch that I did."
"You guys act like somebody died. Like, get over yourselves."
"No, why don't you get over yourself and go in there and leave us alone."
As we know, "Breaking Amish" star Jeremiah Raber
spent many years outside of the Amish community before being on the show.
His ex-wife Naomi Stutzman — the mother of his three children — said that she can prove it. In
2012, Stutzman said that Raber had not been part of the Amish community since he was a teenager.
Stutzman added that Raber owed her over $20,000 in child support
and that a portion of it was paid by TLC Network.
"Did you ever mess up in your past? I regret that I didn't pay child support in the past."
Stutzman later alleged that Raber financially struggled during their marriage,
and said that his parents often helped Raber when he was low on cash, saying:
"Whenever we needed money for rent he'd go crying to his mom and she would pay our rent.
I was Amish and left. I was not shunned. It's different in different communities. The Amish
community is upset with him because the stuff is not true in real life."
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