‘Welcome to Plathville’: Ethan Plath Feels ‘Caught in the Middle’ Between His Siblings and Wife Olivia

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the season 5 premiere of TLC Welcome to Plathville.

Ethan Plath is seriously over the whole drama going on Welcome to Plathville.

In Tuesday’s Season 5 premiere, Ethan and his wife, Olivia Plath, both 25, returned from a few months in Europe refreshed after spending the summer away to recharge and work on their marriage. Unfortunately, they ran into more trouble back home: Ethan discovered that Moriah, his 21-year-old sister and Olivia’s former best friend, had moved out of their Tampa home in their absence.

Things have been tense between Olivia and the rest of the Plaths for some time. She and Ethan’s 51-year-old mother, Kim, are not on speaking terms. Moriah hit a “breaking point” with her former BFF last season when Olivia refused to get out of the car for their late brother Joshua’s memorial service because Kim was present.

Olivia and Ethan Plath in “Welcome to Plathville”.

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‘Welcome to Plathville’ Olivia Plath opens up about her history with Kim — and their first fight

Additionally, Olivia accused Kim of using Ethan’s credit card in an interview at the end of Season 4 Plathville. After it aired in August 2022, Moriah and her siblings Micah, Lydia and Isaac subsequently shared a public statement on social media defending their mother and claiming their sister-in-law was not telling “the whole story”.

“I’m really disappointed in Moriah, disappointed in Micah for going along with it,” Ethan told Olivia as they discussed the announcement. “To say, ‘You can’t say X, Y, Z about my mom because I don’t like it.’ There are two sides to the coin: she might not like it, but that still doesn’t negate the fact that it happened.”

Towards the beginning of the episode, Moriah explained her reasons for moving out without telling anyone. She, Olivia, Ethan and Olivia’s brother, Nathan Meggs, had previously rented a house together. She told producers that she felt her departure was the “best” option.

“I don’t know how this is going to play out,” she admitted. “But I know when it comes to Olivia, I don’t feel guilty at all about just saying, ‘Hey, look. You were my best friend for a while, I love you, I wish you the best, but I don’t ‘want to be a part of it anymore.’ . It’s sad, it’s really, really sad, especially because I know that by ending my relationship with Olivia, I probably won’t have a relationship with Ethan for a while. But this is what I needed.”

Moriah Plath in “Welcome to Plathville”.

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‘Welcome to Plathville’ star Olivia Plath addresses rumors that she and Ethan have split

When Ethan, who returned from Europe a week earlier than his wife, came home to find his sister had moved away, he was stunned. All of Moriah’s belongings were gone and she left only a note as an explanation.

“I am very frustrated and frankly surprised,” he said in a confessional interview. “Moriah told me before we left for Europe that she was going to stay for a few weeks after I got back. But then something happens that she doesn’t like, she packs up all her stuff, it seems a little theatrical, if you will.”

Ethan Plath in “Welcome to Plathville”.

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He also admitted that things in his family are currently “sensitive” with his parents’ divorce. “I think the reaction of my siblings to what Olivia said, you know, might just be a desperate attempt to maintain some kind of sense of family and togetherness when it’s obviously split hard down the middle,” he explained. “But the fact is that what Olivia said happened. There’s no disputing that and that was the problem. Me, Olivia and my mom worked it out in a way that made me feel right about what was wrong.”

Meanwhile, Olivia has returned from Europe to find that none of the Plath siblings want to talk to her. She said that even though she apologized for her actions and understood where her in-laws were coming from, she still felt like she ended up “talking s—” no matter what she did.

“It’s also kind of crazy to me to ask someone over and over again why they chose not to have a relationship in their life, and then as soon as they share a story that only applies to them, that’s their story,” she said in an interview. “The current answer is: ‘That’s a lie. It didn’t happen. Get over it and grow up’.”

Olivia Plath in “Welcome to Plathville”.

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“But at the end of the day, I know what I’ve been through,” she continued. “I know what I experienced, I know why I chose to have the limits I have.

Later, Moriah and Micah spoke to their parents, Kim and Barry, about their concerns about Olivia’s behavior. Moriah continued to believe her mother’s side of the credit card story and stated that she no longer wanted to maintain a relationship with her sister-in-law.

“I had to choose. And I choose my family,” she said firmly.

‘Welcome to Plathville’ Olivia Plath posts picture from evening party with husband Ethan amid breakup rumors

At the end of the episode, Ethan and Olivia hugged as he prepared to travel to Cairo, Georgia to work on his cars for 2.5 months in preparation for the move to Minnesota. Olivia became emotional, crying that she didn’t want him to leave with all the family drama going on.

Meanwhile, Ethan admitted to producers that he feels “caught in the middle” between his wife and the rest of the family.

Ethan Plath in “Welcome to Plathville”.

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“This whole thing is definitely extremely frustrating,” he said. “I feel like I’m caught in the middle between Olivia and my family and I’m so tired of all this nonsense. I almost can’t take it.”

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Welcome to Plathville airs Tuesdays at 10pm ET on TLC.

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Source: HIS Education