Trigger Warning: This story contains descriptions of child loss.
Lydia Plath recently opened up about the 2008 accidental death of her younger brother Joshua, revealing that the tragedy wasn’t something she and her family talked about, despite the incident being “the hardest thing” that their family experienced.
As fans of Welcome to Plathville may recall, the Plath family– including Lydia’s parents, Kim and Barry Plath– previously addressed their son’s death on an episode of their family’s TLC series, explaining that Joshua had died in a farming accident on the family’s property when he was just 17 months old. Kim, who was pregnant with her and Barry’s eighth child at the time of the accident, shared with viewers that she was using her car to move fruit trees on the farm and did not realize Joshua was nearby until she hit him with her vehicle.
While appearing on former Counting On stars Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo’s podcast this week, Lydia– who was joined by her new husband, Zac Wyse– recalled Joshua’s death, as well as the way the tragedy was handled within her family.
“ … We had a sibling pass at 17 months when I was four years old and it was in the hands of my mom,” Lydia recalled. “It was a very tragic accident and because it affected her so much, we couldn’t talk about it. And so like, the deepest, hardest thing that happened in our childhood, we couldn’t talk about it around her. So we just didn’t talk about it.
“And because we didn’t talk about the hardest thing in our life, they just didn’t talk about the deep things,” she continued. “I think that’s just what’s affected us in that way of not talking about the hard things. We didn’t talk about the hardest thing in our childhood.”
While addressing the incident that led to Joshua’s death on a 2019 episode of ‘Welcome to Plathville,’ Kim explained that, before moving her vehicle on the farm that day in 2008, she had just seen Joshua and “thought it was OK” to proceed, before revealing to viewers that she “ran over him.” According to People, in an essay on a since-deleted website, Kim detailed the moments following Joshua’s death, claiming that she was “just barely” functioning and “wanted to die.”
“My husband was dealing with losing his son and his wife,” she wrote. “I was gone. Checked out. Unavailable for conversations or reality.”
Kim even admitted in the essay that if the situation had been reversed and Barry– from whom she has since split– had been the one to cause Joshua’s death, she would have reacted differently and “would have thrown” accusations his way.
“He never did,” she wrote of Barry. “He never even hinted at anything like that. He was strong. He just loved me.”
Kim and Barry’s daughter Moriah Plath– who was six at the time of the accident– has also spoken about Joshua’s death on the TLC series, sharing on a 2022 episode that she still struggles with what happened to her brother as she was “really close when he got run over.”
“I watched it all happen, so sometimes I’ll still remember that like it was yesterday, like a flashback,” she said during the episode, which later saw the Plath family reunite at Joshua’s gravesite on what would have been his 15th birthday.
Like Lydia, Moriah also shared that after Joshua passed away, “nobody would talk about it” in her family.
According to a 2008 article in the Thomasville Times-Enterprise, the Grady County Sheriff’s Office ruled Joshua’s death an accident following an investigation. (The article notes Joshua’s age at 15 months at the time of his death; however, it appears to be an error, given his reported birthday.)
“The mother was pulling the vehicle forward – she had been doing yard work – and thought she had accounted for all the kids,” Investigator Daniel Singletary claimed. “She had seven children, ages 15 months to 10 years old, and they were all outside playing. She thought everyone was accounted for, moved the vehicle forward and discovered she’d run over the youngest.”
The article goes on to state that when deputies arrived on the scene, emergency personnel saw Kim trying to administer CPR to her son, at which point medical personnel took over and tried to save Joshua, though their attempts were unsuccessful. Joshua was pronounced dead at the scene.
Months after Joshua’s death, Kim and Barry went on to welcome daughter Amber, followed by two more children, Cassia and Mercy. They are also parents to older sons Ethan, Micah and Isaac, as well as eldest daughter Hosanna, who does not appear on ‘Welcome to Plathville.’
(Photos: YouTube; TLC)
3 Responses
I’m glad he’s not with that Veronica girl anymore you can tell he’s just such a kind person I just did not like her vibe she was bossy and then calling Ethan’s EX getting all that drama started. Moriah does sometimes say things she shouldn’t say and she does get on my nerves sometimes but she does try to apologize about it, but that Veronica just would not let it go. He’s a good looking kid he’s not going to have a problem finding another girl she just needs to move on and just shut up about now being abused I mean so ridiculous she’s about 10 ft tall who abused her. She doesn’t strike me as the type of person you could abuse. Just ridiculous and stupid I really wish they don’t show her or that Olivia anymore. They’ve got Instagram and all that stuff, say what you want it’s a free country but at least I don’t have to look at it.
You sound like a delight. I hope no one who calls you a friend ever has to deal with abuse and confide in you. You though……