Katie Bates went on a massive social media unfollowing spree just months after revealing that her decision to address something painful from her childhood had caused her to lose relationships with most of her super-sized family.
A recent TikTok posted by @fundiearchive pointed out that the ‘Bringing Up Bates’ star currently follows just one of her 18 siblings on social media– sister Alyssa Bates, as well as Alyssa’s husband, John Webster. Likewise, Alyssa does not follow any Bates Family members other than Katie and Katie’s husband, Travis Clark.
Katie also unfollowed her parents’ joint Instagram page at some point, though her parents and a few of her siblings continue to follow and comment on her content, with sister Carlin Bates and brother and sister-in-law Zach and Whitney Bates doing so as recently as last week.
Katie’s social media purge comes months after she shared with fans that she had lost relationships with most of her family after choosing to address something painful that happened during her childhood. Katie revealed this news in May while answering questions on her Instagram Story about her decision to relocate her family from Tennessee to Texas, despite the majority of the Bates Family residing in Tennessee.
“A lot of people are confused by my decision to leave Tennessee, especially because from the outside it may look like I have a big support system here,” Katie told fans. “The truth is, sometimes things happening behind closed doors are a lot more complicated and painful than what people see publicly. Recently, I chose to address something that happened throughout my childhood that I wish I had the strength to address years ago. Unfortunately after doing so, I lost relationships with about 90 percent of my family.
“This has been incredibly heartbreaking and heavy to walk through,” she continued. “I’m not going to share details online, but I’m also done pretending everything is okay just to protect appearances.”
Katie went on to claim that staying in Tennessee was “no longer healthy” for her, and that she was “choosing to move forward, finally heal, and build a peaceful life for [herself] and [her] children.”
“ … Sadly I’ve learned that not everyone will support your choices when you finally choose honesty and healing and that’s okay,” she concluded. “Right now I’m focused on protecting my peace, my children, and the life I’m trying to rebuild moving forward.”
Katie’s apparent family fallout comes on the heels of her very public marital drama with Travis. Back in January— just hours after Katie revealed she had suffered a miscarriage— Travis confessed on social media that he had been unfaithful to his wife of four years.
While Katie went on to forgive Travis, his affair prompted her to begin therapy earlier this year, which she previously called “life changing.”
Katie stated that going to therapy made her realize that she had a lot to work through– including, presumably, the childhood trauma she spoke about in May.
At this time, Katie has not addressed her recent social media activity, nor has she shared any details about her family estrangement.
RELATED STORY: Katie Bates Says “90 Percent” of Her Family Cut Her Off After She Spoke Up About Secret Childhood Trauma: “Done Pretending”
(Photos: Instagram)
6 Responses
These therapists are ruining families
This is a new trend among Gen Z and it’s horrible . Instead of working through issues it’s now the “ cool thing” to go No contact with the people who love you most. This isn’t gonna turn out well for anyone .
Maybe you should look at the generations that RAISED the adults going no contact instead of blaming it on a “trend”. A lot of us parents by a certain generation were abused. I feel no shame in cutting off people that raised me in a cult that practiced SEVERE abuse. The way you use the word “trend” to downplay estrangement, let me guess… fundamentalist Christian? Maybe look at yourself and your beliefs instead of judging others but we all know fundies REFUSE to follow the do not judge rule. Mostly because y’all aren’t real Christians and you actually ignore the word of God.
*parented not *parents
🪬🙏🪬
This poor girl. Abused for years by a family member, marries a cheating pig, gets shunned by her family for being a victim of abuse. How dare she speak on it?! I’m sure the abuser apologized so now Katie is the problem if she mentions it. It’s a sick, twisted cult. She should call Jill Duggar. I’m sure they have a lot in common. This story just makes me equal parts furious and sad.
I was thinking the same thing, poor thing. I think all of those huge extreme Bible families are the same. The way they are raised has a lot to do with those boys imo.