Olivia Plath Says Ex Ethan Plath Will Never Quit ‘Welcome to Plathville’: ‘It’s Money’
The Plath family is addicted to reality TV fame, Olivia Plath says.
The former Welcome to Plathville star says that her ex-husband, Ethan Plath, and her former in-laws will never walk away from their TLC reality show for one simple reason: money.
‘Welcome to Plathville’ family will always say yes to more seasons, Olivia Plath says
Olivia was recently a guest on Ryan Bailey’s So Bad It’s Good podcast. In the candid conversation, the 27-year-old opened up about the end of her marriage, her rejection of her husband’s ultra-conservative values, and her decision to walk away from reality TV.
At one point, Ryan pointed out that Ethan and his family seemed miserable in recent seasons of the show, which have highlighted the breakdown of Kim and Barry Plath’s marriage, conflict between various Plath siblings and their partners, and drama around Lydia Plath’s engagement to Zac Wyse, which allegedly culminated in a brawl between two of her brothers at her wedding.
“Even with all this quote-unquote reality show fame, their life seems to get darker and darker … I just thought, man, where does this show end?” Ryan said. “And why do they want to keep doing this show? Like why do you want to keep doing this and putting your family out there?”
“I mean, it’s money at the end of the day,” the professional wedding photographer replied with a shrug. “They’re gonna say yes to as many seasons as they’re offered because of money. Not that the money is that great.”
Plath family have ‘become dependent’ on TLC money
The Plaths have a financial incentive to keep doing the show, which is in its seventh season. But Olivia says the pay for revealing it all for the cameras isn’t as high as fans might think.
“The money you make on reality TV is not good. Honestly, most of the money is made after you get off reality TV with what you do next or how you use social media platforms,” she explained.
“But they’ve all kind of become dependent on it,” Olivia continued. “And a lot of them don’t have full-time jobs or steady jobs. And they do rely on [the money].”
“It’s honestly really sad,” she added, saying that she expected some of the Plath children to leave “the cult.” Instead, “they kind of just went back even harder.”
Olivia has made a few brief appearances in Welcome to Plathville Season 7. But she says she’s moved on from both the Plaths and the show. Before filming this season began, producers told her she was “wanted back” but they wanted to know how her life fit in with the Plaths.
“I was like, ‘It doesn’t, and I don’t want it to,’” she said. “I kind of just phased myself out and then I was actively working to get out of my contract.”
With her time on Welcome to Plathville nearing an end, is there any chance that Olivia would consider appearing on another reality show? It’s not likely.
“When I started my life on reality TV … I had no idea what I was signing up for,” she said. “Seven years in, I would never, ever join an unscripted reality show again … I would consider a scripted, choreographed reality show. But I’d never do an unscripted one again.”
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