Looking back. After three years of marriage and three seasons on Welcome to Plathville, Ethan Plath and Olivia Plath opened up about their reality show regrets — from awkward outfits, past tattoos and that now-infamous driveway confrontation that kicked off the family’s ongoing feud.
The pair, both 23, exclusively spoke with Us Weekly in August and went into detail about what they wish they’d done differently during their tenure on the hit TLC show.
“I have definitely had moments of regret,” Ethan told Us. “I definitely, like, thought, ‘Why did I ever say yes? I should never have said yes.’ But then, at the same time, there have been positive aspects of the show as well.”
Olivia echoed her husband’s sentiments before noting that she doesn’t regret her experience as a whole.
“I felt, like, with anything in life there’s positives and negatives, and in the negative moments, it’s really easy to question everything,” the blogger added. “But I feel like there’s been more positives than negatives and I feel like it’s also added to our life. It opened a lot of doors for us, and, like, overall, I don’t regret it.”
The couple, who wed in 2018, have had a tense relationship with Ethan’s folks — Kim Plath and Barry Plath — ever since they were planning their wedding. The drama has since been chronicled on the family’s TLC reality program, which is currently in its third season. Things came to a head during the season 2 finale when Ethan confronted his parents in the driveway about their mistreatment of Olivia. As the situation grew more heated, the Georgia native eventually said goodbye to his youngest siblings before driving away.
Looking back now, Ethan and Olivia regret how they handled the emotional scene because they have a better understanding of their boundaries.
“Pretty much anything with his parents in it, I would redo,” the wedding photographer noted. “But I also realize that’s me three years later with better boundaries and more growth saying, ‘Why did I handle things that way?’ So I have to give myself grace for that. But there [were] definitely some of those [moments that] were just really awkward. I’d redo the driveway scene [and] the talk with your parents on the couch.”
Ethan, for his part, noted that if he could go back to that intense moment in time, he would have tried to handle the situation more calmly.
“Well, I know for me — she probably wouldn’t have done it at all — but I know for me, if I was actually going to [re]do it or if I could go back to do it over again, I probably would have absolutely been polite and, you know, all of that, but I would have stood up for [Olivia] and for me. But I don’t know, after we were married, that was not long at all,” Ethan added.
His wife continued, “We were still floundering trying to figure out how to set boundaries and finding that line between ‘always respect your parents’ and ‘we’re not being respected, we’re being walked on.’ So, I think, like, us looking back and changing is just coming from a place of growth. So there’s grace for a younger version of yourself that doesn’t know better.”
For more of the married couple’s reality show confessions — including which makeup and wardrobe looks make Olivia cringe— watch the exclusive video above.
Welcome to Plathville airs on TLC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
