When Welcome to Plathville premiered in 2019, fans were smitten with the stars and all the
drama in the Plath family, particularly with Olivia and Ethan Plath, who had to deal with
a whole lot when it came to his family. While the two seem truly in love, what's the truth
about their marriage?
One of the things that make the Plath family unique is their ultra-conservative world views.
In the series premiere of Welcome to Plathville, it's established that the Plaths try to keep
their kids as far removed from the modern world as possible.
"We've structured our lifestyle here so that we can retreat to our piece of heaven on earth."
They don't watch television or use the internet for anything other than schooling, and matriarch
Kim Plath has even outlawed added sugar or any kind of junk food in the family home.
Ethan Plath first met Olivia at a conservative family camp after which they stayed in contact
by old-fashioned letter writing.
On their wedding website, they wrote:
"Within a few weeks of returning home, Ethan couldn't get Olivia off of his mind and decided
that he was completely smitten."
But it wasn't until two years later that their letter correspondence started, and they developed
mutual feelings for each other. Clearly, their love story was a long time coming.
Because Olivia and Ethan Plath weren't exactly raised like most American kids, their love
story wasn't exactly like most people's. Their parents were both pretty conservative, and
because they didn't live near each other, they had to keep things G-rated and get their
parents' approval.
The pair didn't really fall for each other until they were granted the permission to
spend time together in person.
And, according to the couple's wedding website, that happened about two and a half years after
they first met. Olivia described her visit with the Plath family. She said:
"[I] spent two weeks in Georgia with the Plath family and we were finally able to go on our
'first date.'"
It might not be the stereotypical love story for most people, but clearly Ethan and Olivia
made the most of their unusual circumstances.
If you've watched even just one episode of Welcome to Plathville, then you know that,
after being married for a while, Olivia Plath's relationship with her in-laws wasn't exactly
sunshine and glitter.
"Family problems like these really can strain marriages to the point that they just break
and people give up on each other."
But, as it turns out, Olivia actually enjoyed being with Ethan Plath's family when they
first started dating. And since Ethan and Olivia got married, there must have been a
point where Olivia and the Plaths actually liked each other, right?
Well, Olivia wrote in her family's old blog that when she first met and got to know the
Plath family, she totally got along with them. The blog post described Olivia's family and
the Plaths. In it, she wrote:
"Indulging in quality time, late night shenanigans, sharing testimonies, dancing and reeling,
washing dishes, hiking, playing music and talking and laughing galore."
Additionally, Olivia referred to the Plaths as being, quote, "[her] people." But, clearly
that wasn't always the case:
"And I felt like if I did not conform and think exactly like you guys or do things like
you guys, I wasn't accepted."
While so much has changed since then, the fact that Olivia initially got along with
Ethan's family, at least somewhat, helps to explain why the pair got together in the first
place.
Olivia and Ethan Plath seem like an adorable couple. While Ethan's innocence made their
relationship even cuter — and the video Olivia took of him trying a Coke for the first
time was highly entertaining — quite possibly nothing could top his proposal to Olivia.
After three years of knowing each other and most of their relationship being long-distance,
Ethan surprised Olivia with the most thoughtful proposal ever.
As Olivia wrote on their wedding website, she was totally surprised by Ethan's grand
gesture. Olivia explained that the two went out for dinner at a "special garden," which
was actually where they had their first real date and really got to know each other.
She wrote:
"That's where Ethan got down on one knee, told Olivia he couldn't live without her and
asked her to be his wife."
For several reasons, after Olivia and Ethan Plath tied the knot, the couple's relationship
with the Plath family seriously started to disintegrate. Because Ethan's parents, Kim
and Barry, didn't approve of the way Ethan and Olivia were living their lives, they started
to restrict Ethan and Olivia's access to his siblings.
"We are a family, but this is two households. And that is extremely important to me."
As Olivia said in a scene during Season 2 of Welcome to Plathville, things with Ethan's
parents took a turn for the worse when they were denied seeing his siblings without his
parents chaperoning the interaction.
As Welcome to Plathville made clear, Kim and Barry apparently didn't trust their oldest
son and his wife not to corrupt their children by drinking Coke and watching television.
"During last year, we were allowed to see the kids some, and then last fall, everything
just completely changed and we were not allowed to see the kids at all."
One of the hardest obstacles that Olivia and Ethan Plath had to face in their marriage
was that the Plath family rules didn't sit right with Olivia. And since she didn't agree
with them, there was some tension between Kim and Barry Plath and their new daughter-in-law.
She expressed it this way:
"Since we got married, it's just been like a long process of [...] introducing him to
all these different things. Obviously, we're a family and we're going to do things the
way that we choose to do them. And we allow a lot of different things in our home that
his parents wouldn't."
"It just got to the point of, like, if this is going to work, we're going to have to fight
really hard for this. And cut out everything that doesn't want us to make it."
Clearly, Olivia didn't agree with the Plath family rules, and who could blame her?
On Season 1 of Welcome to Plathville, Olivia and Ethan Plath appeared to try to make things
work with Ethan's family. While they were only allowed to be around Ethan's siblings
sometimes — and usually only while supervised — the couple still tried to stay in touch
with the Plaths.
However, things ended up getting so bad in the time between Season 1's end and Season
2's start that the two had to make a tough decision in regards to Ethan's family.
"There was a day three or four months ago that Ethan came over to our house and told
us he wanted nothing to do with us ever again."
Ethan explained that:
"Since last year, a lot has happened in our relationship between me and Olivia and my
parents and my siblings, just the family dynamics. It really does hurt [...] I have a lot of
frustration that I am trying to deal with."
Then Ethan revealed that the couple had made a tough choice in order to save their relationship.
He said they needed space as a couple and decided that meant no contact with his parents.
No one who gets married ever expects to get divorced, or to even have to talk about getting
divorced. But for Olivia and Ethan Plath, the pressures from their reality show and
especially from the Plath family made it nearly impossible not to discuss splitting up.
"Divorce was definitely on the table for a couple of months. And it was a really hard
couple of months."
She also noted:
"And just got to the point of like, if this is gonna work, we're gonna have to fight really
hard for this and cut out everything that doesn't want us to make it."
It seems as though Ethan and Olivia needed to focus on each other, and so stepping back
from the Plath family drama helped them do that.
Olivia added:
"I think as we heal as people, our marriage will begin to heal and thrive."
The year 2020 was a tough one for just about everyone. And for Olivia and Ethan Plath,
2020 had them spending even more time together, though that wasn't always a good thing.
In the second episode of Season 2 of Welcome to Plathville, Ethan and Olivia have a little
issue in the kitchen where she is trying to get some work done and he is having a hard
time making pancakes.
It was pretty tense between the two, as Olivia explained that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
her job had to slow down and she was at home more. Still, while they got used to more and
more of each other's company, they also learned to enjoy it.
In an Instagram post from August 2020, Olivia shared just how happy she was spending more
time with Ethan. She wrote in the caption:
"Thankful for a quiet downtown so we could get ice cream and talk on the bench for a
while. I guess one good thing about 2020 is that Covid has helped me to not take those
little moments for granted."
If the coronavirus can't take those two down, nothing can.
In case you didn't know by now, the Plath family on Welcome to Plathville is incredibly
strict. Ethan Plath, then, was raised to avoid certain foods, music, shows, and clothes,
and you can bet that he was also taught to avoid tattoos.
However, in Season 2 of Welcome to Plathville, Ethan and Olivia Plath cemented their marriage
in a whole new way when they got matching tattoos. In the episode, Ethan was a lot more
nervous than Olivia at the thought of getting a tattoo.
"I walk in and I didn't know what to say. I was shocked. Absolutely shocked."
Ethan had said he never wanted one until he met Olivia, and he even second-guessed his
decision. In the end, they went for it for the most romantic reason.
Ethan said:
"We thought it was something that was like cute and kind of like romantic to each have
something from the other I guess."
The tattoos — Olivia got a queen of hearts tattoo, while Ethan was inked with a king
of hearts — were definitely a symbol of their relationship and evidence that they've
both escaped their controlling upbringings.
One of the biggest surprises on Season 2 of Welcome to Plathville was when Ethan and Olivia
Plath looked at buying another home in a neighboring city in order to put some distance between
themselves and Ethan's family. But as it turns out, they've given it a lot of thought, and
for Ethan and Olivia, moving away from their small Georgia town is pretty important.
In an interview with People, Olivia explained that while Welcome to Plathville did show
a little of their journey to move, it wasn't the whole picture.
"Have you heard from the realtor yet?" "Yeah. We didn't get the house. Someone else got
it."
She told People about relocating:
"I think we definitely will go over the border into Florida. On the show, everyone saw us
go look at a house and we both honestly loved that house, and I was really heartbroken when
it fell through because it kind of felt like a nail in a coffin of, 'Oh okay, I am stuck
here.'"
In the end, Olivia said it was for the best because the house was only 30 minutes away,
which wasn't far enough from Ethan's family in their opinion.
"I just don't want to raise kids in a place like this. I don't want to raise kids in a
place where I'm scared to go to the grocery store."
In the Season 2 finale of Welcome to Plathville, viewers got an up-close look at just how tense
things were between Ethan Plath and his parents, Kim and Barry Plath. When Ethan went to their
house to say goodbye to his younger siblings, he badly wanted his brother and sisters to
say goodbye to OIivia, who was waiting in the car just across the way, too.
"I'd like to say goodbye to them and say goodby to you. This isn't a debate or conversation.
This is my statement to you."
But his parents just wouldn't let them go to the car. And things escalated.
At one point, both Kim and Barry tried to go see Olivia, something Ethan was adamant
shouldn't happen. And Ethan was so adamant, in fact, that he almost came to blows with
his father.
"It is very nice for you to say that you love me, but behind my back when you talk about
my wife to other people. It's not gonna fly with me."
Moments later, Barry took off towards the car, and Ethan had to forcibly grab him and
talk sternly to him in order to protect his wife. It was seriously tense, but it showed
just how much Ethan had grown and how had learned to stand up for his wife.
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