Ethan and Olivia Plath's Marriage Is in Trouble — but Do They See Divorce as an Option?

Things have almost never been easy for Ethan Plath and his wife, Olivia Plath, on their show Welcome to Plathville. Following their wedding, which took place not long before the series premiered on TLC, Olivia made the decision to step back from her family's strict Christian religion. Ethan followed suit and began to enjoy more worldly things with his new bride.

But after trouble with his family ensued, Ethan and Olivia's marriage began to suffer. Now, things are still a work in progress between them on Welcome to Plathville. And after the d-word came out once, it led some fans to wonder if the Plaths even believe in divorce.

Because Ethan and Olivia are both from strict religious families, it once seemed like divorce isn't even an option. However, now that Ethan's parents, Barry and Kim Plath, have their own troubles, that may have changed.

Before Season 4, Barry and Kim didn't bring up divorce on the show. Although they don't agree with their son's choices and they don't get along with his wife, neither had mentioned divorce as an option to fix things.

Technically speaking, if Ethan and Olivia got divorced, it would mean Kim and Barry could have their eldest son back in their lives full-time. And now that Kim and Barry announced outside of the show their plans to divorce, it would seem that the family's original religion-based stance on divorce has shifted.

On Welcome to Plathville, viewers learn that the Plaths are part of a fundamentalist Christian religion. However, it's unclear exactly what their religion is. As in, they could identify as Baptists or even independent Baptists, like the Duggar family from 19 Kids and Counting fame.

But as conservative fundamentalist Christians, Ethan's family wasn't initially in support of divorce. In Season 4, however, Kim explores life outside of her role as a full-time wife and mother and she wants more.

According to Focus on the Family, a Christian organization, some more devout Christians don't believe in divorce. In fact, according to the organization's website, it believes people should "pray that God will open the lines of communication between you and your spouse and that He will restore the love in your relationship."

It's possible that Ethan's parents share these same views. Or, they both once did. Neither has come out to say as much. But since the Plaths are quite religious and hold their faith close to their hearts, it's possible that Barry at least still feels that way.

And whereas Kim and Barry might have once seen Ethan and Olivia's marriage as permanent, because they are getting divorced themselves, it's clear that the Plaths don't all view divorce as such a taboo thing anymore.

In Season 2 of Welcome to Plathville in 2020, when things between Ethan and his parents became even more strained, he and Olivia admitted that divorce had been a topic of discussion for them.

"Divorce was definitely on the table for a couple of months," Olivia said on the show.

Ethan added, "That strain, it got to the point where it was either separation or divorce."

In the end, they decided to work to make their marriage stronger. That means following through with Ethan keeping his distance from his parents and younger siblings. But if things don't get better, Ethan and Olivia proved they don't share fundamentalist Christian views on divorce.

And if push comes to shove, their marriage might not make it.

Watch Welcome to Plathville on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.