Little People, Big World star Amy Roloff shared an update on where she stands with ex-husband Matt Roloff and his fiancée, Caryn Chandler.
“We’re cordial, we’re respectful. We can be in each other’s company,” Amy, 61, exclusively told Us Weekly of Caryn, 56, on Tuesday, February 20, while promoting season 25 of the TLC series with husband Chris Marek. “We can enjoy that time. I wouldn’t say we’re going to be best friends or anything.”
Chris, also 61, chimed in to say that Amy’s dynamic with Caryn is “amicable” and has “definitely gotten better.”
When Caryn and Matt, 62, debuted their romance in March 2017, Amy had already known Caryn for years due to her job as a manager and assistant for the Roloff Family Farm. The relationship announcement came nine months after Amy and Matt finalized their divorce. The exes, who share twins Zach and Jeremy, 33, son Jacob, 27, and daughter Molly, 30, initially split in 2015 after 28 years of marriage.
Amy told Us that moving on from the divorce and continuing to film with Matt and Caryn was “a process.”
“I never wanted to have anything to do with them, but yet I’m still doing a show with them,” she said. “But, that is like a job. So, time changes things and you grow up or you have a different perspective on it.”
Chris, who married Amy in 2021, added that Matt and Amy “still talk on the phone once or twice a month” about “family-related” matters.
“They have good conversations, so it’s definitely gotten a lot better since I’ve known them,” he said.
While Amy has turned over a new leaf with Matt and Caryn, she admitted that she doesn’t “really know” how her kids feel about the pair getting married. (Matt and Caryn announced their engagement in April 2023.)
“Caryn’s been around for a long time, but just as I allowed them to have time to embrace [it] when I was first dating Chris and when Chris was the newbie in our whole family life, I think it’s just a matter of time,” Amy said. “You got to give your kids time to embrace it.”
Matt and Amy’s son Zach seemed less than thrilled with the engagement news during a trailer for season 25 of Little People, Big World that dropped earlier this month. When asked how he felt about his dad’s engagement, Zach replied, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”
While Amy showed her support for the newly engaged couple in the teaser by asking to see Caryn’s ring, she doesn’t think that she and Chris will attend the wedding.
“I think the focus needs to be on them, and I didn’t want a lot of their friends to think, ‘Oh, my gosh, Amy and Chris are here.’ It’s like, just leave this [as] your moment. We don’t need to be included in that,” she explained.
Chris, meanwhile, shared that he “already told Matt” that he wants to go to his bachelor party, but thinks attending the nuptials might be “awkward” for him and Amy.
“I mean, they weren’t part of our wedding because we didn’t want Matt and Amy’s kids to feel, I don’t know, torn,” he explained. “They couldn’t have been happy when you guys got divorced.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
Little People, Big World airs on TLC Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
