Welcome to Plathville’s Olivia Seemingly Shades Kim Amid Duggar Documentary: ‘Underestimated Matriarch’

Welcome to Plathville’s Olivia Plath seemingly shaded her mother-in-law, Kim Plath, as she discussed the bombshell revelations dropped in Amazon Video’s documentary, Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets. 

The TLC personality, 25, took to Instagram Live on Tuesday, June 6, and was joined by sister Lydia Meggs as they spoke about matriarchy in the controversial non-denominational Christian organization, the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), which is famously connected to the Duggar family. 

While Lydia felt that the matriarch “hid” behind the patriarch, Olivia shared she had a different experience growing up which ultimately shaped her future relationships. 

“Getting married, I was like, I grew up with an overbearing dad so I know for sure, I do not want that. Got to run from that, cannot end up with that,” Olivia explained to her sister, seemingly hinting at her father-in-law, Barry Plath. “The family that I looked at, I was like, ‘Oh my God, their dad’s kind of chill,’ like, this kind of works for me.” 

However, the Virginia native went on to say she “completely underestimated what a matriarch was like.” 

The Welcome to Plathville star has been open about her experiences growing up in a “conservative, legalistic church,” and how she has reshaped her beliefs as an adult. Her husband, Ethan Plath, was similarly raised by his parents, Barry and Kim, which ultimately led to a major feud between Olivia and her in-laws, as she began introducing him to things his parents never allowed. 

“Obviously, we’re our own family and we’re gonna do things the way we choose to do ’em and we allow a lot of different things in our home that his parents wouldn’t and that’s just a personal choice,” Olivia said in her joint confessional with Ethan during season 1 in November 2019. “When we got married and we moved in here, we had alcohol in the home — that was a big source of tension. We’d want to go out for ice cream and that would create conflict because it would be like, ‘Well, you shouldn’t be eating sugar.’ And we’d be like, ‘Well, we’re adults. We can make that decision ourselves.’”

This created major tension in the family as Kim and Barry felt Olivia and Ethan’s lax lifestyle would negatively affect their younger children at home. This led to Barry and Kim banning Ethan and Olivia from spending time with Ethan’s younger siblings. Because of the family divide, Ethan and Olivia moved away from the Plath family’s hometown of Cairo, Georgia.