Thanks, I Hate It
After five years of marriage, Olivia Plath realized that ‘no growth was happening’ in her relationship with Ethan Plath.
Knowing when to walk away from a marriage isn’t easy. Just ask TLC star Olivia Plath.
In the December 2023 season finale of Welcome to Plathville, Olivia and her husband Ethan Plath announced their plans to divorce. The choice to split came after years of conflict with his family and tense discussions about their future as a couple. What made Olivia finally decide to give up on her efforts to save the marriage? She realized divorce was the right choice after asking herself a couple of key questions, she recently revealed.
Olivia Plath was tired of ‘making excuses’ in her marriage to Ethan Plath
On Feb. 20, Olivia took to social media to answer some questions from her followers. One person wanted to know how Olivia knew splitting up with her husband of five years was the right thing to do.
Olivia shared that once she realized her emotional needs weren’t being met in her marriage, she knew it was time to move on.
“I didn’t feel loved or protected in that relationship and I spent a few years of being depressed, emotionally unregulated, and feeling abandoned before I was able to admit to myself that no growth was happening in the relationship,” she wrote on her Instagram Story.
Not only was the Welcome to Plathville cast member unhappy in her relationship, but she knew things were unlikely to improve.
“I would probably still be feeling the same way 15 years down the road if I kept making excuses and waiting for change,” she added.
The ‘Welcome to Plathville’ star wouldn’t want her child to be in a marriage like hers
Though Olivia and Ethan decided to divorce, she doesn’t think that’s the right choice for everyone in a troubled marriage.
“Divorce isn’t the answer for everyone. Sometimes a relationship just needs help or intentionality; sometimes it needs a break and refocus,” she wrote.
Olivia had a moment of clarity about her marriage when she looked at it as an outsider.
“[A]nother good litmus test is: ‘Would I want my child to be in a relationship like this? Would I want to see my best friend in a relationship like this?’” she wrote. “And when I answered no to those, I knew it was over.”
Ethan and Olivia didn’t share the same values
Olivia and Ethan said “I do” when they were just 20 years old. Both came from fundamentalist Christian families. But soon after getting married, Olivia began to drift away from her conservative upbringing. More recently, she’s spoken out about being raised in a “cult” environment. That led to tension with Ethan, who said her rejection of the values she grew up with was a major factor in the breakdown of their marriage.
“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 told Olivia in the Welcome to Plathville Season 5 finale.
Olivia wasn’t interested in returning to the faith of her childhood.
“The faith and the world that I grew up in was a world built for men, that worked for men. And to tell me that I need to go back to a culture and a faith and a belief that told me that I was worth nothing without a husband, that in a relationship I just need to submit and say yes and cook three meals a day and praise God and it would all be fine,” she said. “I don’t think you understand the privilege you have to look at me and tell me I need to go back to that because it served you.”
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