‘Welcome to Plathville’: Micah Plath Reveals Why His Modeling Career Is So Important to Him
Micah Plath, 19, surprised his strict parents, Kim and Barry Plath, on the first season of TLC’s Welcome to Plathville by announcing that he wanted to be a model. As Micah began to break away from his Christian fundamentalist upbringing, he began to pursue modeling as much as he could. The revealing outfits he was asked to wear – and the women he often had to pose with – were fairly shocking for his more conservative family members.
On Welcome to Plathville season 2, Micah is living away from the Plath family home with his sister, 17-year-old Moriah Plath, and his passion for modeling hasn’t cooled. Micah revealed just what modeling represented to him on a personal level in a recent interview with TLC producers.
Micah realized he wanted to ‘broaden his horizons’ after life on the farm
When Micah was young, he wanted to be a farmer. After all, being raised on a farm meant that was the only profession he really knew about.
But, while the Welcome to Plathville star had since moved on to other dreams, he still held a place in his heart for farming, getting outdoors, and working with his hands.
“It’s still a slight passion of mine,” Micah said of farming. “I love getting out in the dirt.”
But now, Micah wanted to see more of what the world had to offer. He hoped to use this time of discovery to travel and explore as much as possible, especially after his sheltered childhood.
“I recently went out into the world and broadened my horizons,” he said.
The ‘Welcome to Plathville’ star began to overcome his self-consciousness through modeling
One way in which Micah wanted to see more of the world – and mature as a human being along the way – was in the field of modeling.
While the Welcome to Plathville star seemed confident in his looks now, it certainly hadn’t always been that way. In fact, he struggled with low self-esteem and a poor body image when he was younger.
“Growing up, I was very self-conscious of my looks and my body,” Micah said, adding that he often had to wear his brother’s hand-me-down clothes and didn’t know anything about fashion. The Welcome to Plathville star explained that he was “short” and looked many years younger than his age, which made him feel shy and scared around girls.
What’s more, his older brother, Ethan Plath, sometimes picked on him as a kid – as did his younger brother, Isaac Plath. But as Micah grew up, he wanted to hold his own more. That started with a commitment to physical fitness.
“I started to grow out of that, started lifting weights and got bigger than them,” Micah explained. He also started styling his hair and actually thinking about his clothing. In turn, his confidence improved as well, which made him want to pursue modeling more seriously.
The Plaths’ second-oldest son saw modeling as a way to ‘push his boundaries’
Micah went on to explain that, to him, modeling was more than just standing in front of a camera and “looking good.” He liked being able to go past his comfort zone in terms of how much he would reveal, creating a persona in every photo shoot, and getting to know new people.
“I got the chance to pursue it and really realized how much I love it,” the Welcome to Plathville star gushed. “I love pushing my boundaries…You have to learn to become the character to sell a product.”
Because his parents had always refused to allow him access to social media, growing an online fanbase also helped the 19-year-old come out of his shell. Traveling for modeling gigs and networking with others on social media platforms taught him that there were many ways of life beyond what he’d been exposed to in his younger years.
“I’m just seeing that there’s so many options,” Micah said. “You’re not limited to one thing just because that’s the way you grew up. Modeling really helps all of that.”
When he was younger, Micah concluded, he often felt “frustrated” because he didn’t see himself making any progress toward a better future. Now, the sky was the limit.
