Lydia Plath is opening up about having to sacrifice her teen years to become a mother figure for her younger siblings after her mom, Kim, ran out on the family.
The Welcome to Plathville star recently appeared on the podcast of Jinger Duggar Vuolo and Jeremy Vuolo, alongside her own husband, Zac Wyse. During the episode, Lydia discussed feeling like her own thoughts and wants didn’t matter, particularly after her mom left the family and Lydia was forced to step up and basically parent her younger siblings while helping to keep the Plath household afloat.
“Being the middle child of nine, going from being the middle child to being the oldest [girl] at home at 15, and then when my mom left when I was about 17, [I took on] like a mother role…I just did what I had to do to keep things going,” Lydia said. “I was also working and in school. So I was just doing what I could to survive.”
Lydia— who is the fifth of Kim and Barry Plath‘s kids— was often seen on ‘Welcome to Plathville’ caring for her younger siblings, while also doing most of the cooking and cleaning for the entire family. Her older siblings— Ethan, Moriah, Micah and Hosanna— were on their own when Kim left the Plath home. (She later divorced Barry.)
During the interview, Lydia seemed to catch herself talking too negatively about her time as the Plath family’s substitute mom and insisted that she (usually) liked her motherly duties.
“Of course I was thriving,” she said. “I was enjoying it and having a good time… for the most part. I was way overwhelmed.”
“She was just doing what she could to support her family,” Zac added.
Jinger— who, like Lydia, also “helped” to parent many of her younger siblings via the Duggar Family’s “Buddy System”— seemed to empathize with Lydia about having to take on a motherly role at a young age.
“I was doing what I could for others and I never took the time to, like, speak my voice or understand what my opinion was really,” Lydia said.
Lydia stated that meeting Zac— whom she married in February— has helped her realize who she is as a person.
“For Zac to be like, ‘No, your opinion matters, your thoughts matter, your feelings matter, that just really changed me,” she said. “It’s taken me a long time to be able to access those feelings. For so long, if you don’t access them, you just forget about them.”
During the first season of ‘Welcome to Plathville’— which was filmed when Lydia was 15— Barry and Kim both talked a lot about how Lydia did most of the chores around the house. Lydia herself even introduced herself to the show’s viewers by stating, “Around here, I’m more of the responsible one.”
“It’s usually up to me to make sure everything gets done,” she told the viewers. “Now that my older sister Hosanna’s married, I do a lot of the housework. Moriah, for some reason, doesn’t really do any of it.”
You can watch Lydia and Zac’s full interview on The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast below!
RELATED STORY: ‘Welcome to Plathville’ Star Lydia Plath Opens Up About Younger Brother Joshua’s Death: “We Couldn’t Talk About It”
9 Responses
Where was Barry? Why didn’t he step up to be a parent? Kim is horrible but Barry is the worst of them all.
Remember last season (or the one before that?) when Kim was decorating her dance studio that she conned Barry into buying her, while Lydia was busy caring for the kids in between running around cleaning their rental properties? I thought that was disgusting.
I wonder if her selfishness is the reason her and Ken are no longer together.
Why, pray tell, is Barry not getting equal hate here? By all means, Kim is a real POS and deserves every ounce of criticism given. Yet Buff Barry lifts weights (ew) but isn’t able to lift a finger?
This confirms my theory that she married as quickly as she did so she could get the hell away from her family and all the parentification.
I think so, too. The husband serves creepy af..but definitely her ticket out of there. The dad is creepy too-he had time to lift weights but didn’t have time to take care of his kids.
Well, I don’t think the Duggar girls were given a “choice” when their pos brother SA them. Sick! They should have put Jim bob and Michelle in jail for facilitating his abhorrent crimes. I feel so bad for these poor girls . I agree with you that it’s terribly selfish for these awful “mothers” to just keep popping them out and forcing their older kids to raise them. I do believe it’s a cult.
“seemed to emphasize with Lydia”
Empathize yo.
I listened to the entire podcast episode today. It sure was interesting! I’m glad Lydia is with a man who is so supportive of her, but I sure hope she gets some therapy. She seemingly has developed some anxiety from her time in the Plath house (understandably).
I feel for those kids – I think they all need therapy.
Moriah said she witnessed their little brother’s death. How traumatic that must’ve been. It’s no wonder she’s still grappling with things.
I’m also impressed that Lydia and Moriah are close, even though their mother seemingly pitted them against one another growing up.
Best of luck and blessings to Lydia. She deserves the world ❤️
I think this is the way it is in all fundie family’s and it’s selfish AF on the parents part. If you want to have a basketball team sized family that’s on you. If you as a parent can’t handle it then don’t pop out copious amounts of children. As Lydia pointed out she was the mother figure before Kim ever left. No one helped her because she pasted a smile on her face and cleaned “with joy for the Lord”. When she got overwhelmed she locked herself in her prayer closet and sang off key until she could paste a smile back on her face and serve the Lord and her parents and her siblings. The women are indoctrinated at a very young age into thinking this is all they are meant to be. And if that is their choice more power to them. But that’s the point. Is it their choice really?