Olivia Plath opens up on her childhood, reveals she was told to get married and 'be a stay-at-home mom'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Olivia Plath has provided an insight into her 'very isolated' childhood. The 25-year-old television personality grew up in “the fundamental Christian world” which she termed as “a cult” in a new profile for Teen Vogue.

While reflecting on her life before her relationship and marriage to Ethan Plath which came to an end after five years in October last year, the 'Welcome to Plathville' star disclosed that she “grew up on a farm” and was “homeschooled”, leading her to become “very isolated.”

Plath also recalled how "overnight everything changed drastically" once her parents joined a new non-denominational Christian church with a fundamentalist view.

Olivia Plath was given books 'on how to be the best wife possible'

“By the time I was 13, I was being given books on how to be the best wife possible, so from a very young age I assumed that what was expected from me in life as a woman, and what I was told what was expected of me as a woman was to get married and to have kids and to be a stay-at-home mom,” Olivia Plath shared, as per People. “I did not want that,” she revealed.

Olivia Plath on her relationship with ex-husband

Plath felt that she was "living in fight or flight all the time" during the early phase of her relationship with Ethan. “I let my parents supervise my courtship, got married super young to another kid from a fundamental world,” she said, adding, “It did not really work out for me.”

As she looks back on the story of her relationship captured throughout five seasons of TLC’s 'Welcome to Plathville', Olivia said, “I’m like, ‘oh my God, who is that kid who cries in every single interview and is so emotional? What is her problem?’”

“I was 20 and newly married to someone who wasn’t ready to leave fundamentalism behind at the same time as I was questioning fundamentalism. I had my whole life open for the public to criticize and critique, and I was a kid who grew up so sheltered from the world,” she explained about her mentality early on in her marriage to Ethan. 

She also added how difficult it was to understand the dynamics of his tight-knit family, especially with her mother-in-law, Kim Plath, who she spent years not speaking to. 

“To be thrown out in it and have everyone watch me as I’m deconstructing and trying to figure out what being married is all about and dealing with in-law conflict," she added. "I look back and I’m like, ‘Sheesh.’ It felt very overwhelming,” Plath further revealed.

Olivia Plath called her marriage a 'trial run'

Olivia Plath spoke about the nature of her relationship on an episode of the 'So Bad It's Good with Ryan Bailey' podcast in February, calling the marriage a "trial run."

"I married someone I didn't know and that went very poorly for me,” she said, adding “It was a whole experience. I wouldn't trade it 'cause now I know what I don't want. And I think that that's just as valuable as knowing what you want."

Olivia Plath has been dating now since her split 

After her breakup with Ethan, she’s started “dating a bit,” but admitted it’s been “hard.” "I'm looking at character. I'm like, it's super important for me to date someone who is very curious about life, who's very compassionate towards other people," she shared. 

"Because if they're curious and compassionate towards themself, they can be that way towards other people. And those are two things I really want in a partner," she added.