TLC Stars Who Went Through Very Public Breakups

We know that sports fans will disagree, but there is nothing more dedicated than reality TV fandom. Have you seen the rose-themed watch nights that the girlies do for "Bachelor" Mondays? They could give any Monday Night Football hang a run for their money. And what about any "Real Housewives" premiere? The Bravo-holics go wild for our unhinged, middle-aged ladies. And we have to mention the TLC fan base because their ties run deep. 

TLC has a variety of shows that represent a vast amount of people from all walks of life. What we love most about their content is not only the representation that these shows are bringing but the honesty and heart being shown. Whether it's "90 Day Fiancé," "Return to Amish," or "My 600-Lb. Life," audiences are truly able to connect with the people we see on the TV, making it that much more devastating when our favorite stars break up. 

Obviously, breakups happen, but when you watch a relationship unfold in front of your eyes, it feels personal when they don't make it. But that's life, right? So without further ado, here are TLC stars that went through breakups.

Fans were shocked when Amy and Matt Roloff of "Little People, Big World" announced they were getting a divorce in 2015. But even though we were surprised by this news, there was actually some writing on the wall. In the Roloffs' book "Little Family, Big Values" which came out in 2007, it was noted that Amy and Matt had different opinions on what commitment meant. Matt wrote in the book, "Amy tends to be more of a committed-to-a-fault kind of person, while I see most commitments — with some very notable exceptions — as flexible and negotiable" (via In Touch Weekly).

Amy and Matt confirmed their divorce to E! News, saying, "After 27 years of marriage, it is with great sadness that we have come to the difficult decision to file for divorce. We are proud of what we have accomplished together including raising four wonderful children who have grown to become remarkable adults and building our strong and ongoing successful businesses." 

It turns out that Matt wasn't as committed to Amy as she thought, because it was revealed in her book "A Little Me" that Matt was involved with an employee, Caryn Chandler, before their divorce: "I saw messages, pictures, and other things that should not have been shared between people who just worked together and were still married to other people" (via People). Post-divorce, we have been able to watch their new relationships unfold. Matt is engaged to Caryn, and Amy married Chris Marek in 2021. 

Kim and Barry Plath of "Welcome to Plathville" announced their divorce in June 2022. In a statement to People, the pair said, "After considerable thought and discussion, we have decided to end our marriage. While this was not an easy decision, we know it's the best choice for both of us. We have been through many highs and lows in our 24 years of marriage and as we navigate this new chapter in our lives, we will co-parent our amazing children." 

We have watched Kim and Barry raise their 10 children in a very traditional home as Christian Fundamentalists, which makes this land even heavier on their hearts, being that divorce is traditionally frowned upon. 

The cameras for "Welcome to Plathville" were actually rolling while Kim and Barry were going through their separation. It was a heartbreaking and raw look at what they were going through. Based on one clip from the show, it seems that Kim and Barry were just going through the motions, but weren't really connecting for a while (via YouTube). And as sad as it sounds, divorce is something that a lot of people can relate to. An estimated 41% of people to be exact.

"Sister Wives" has been following Kody Brown and his polygamist family since 2010. The show documents their unconventional lifestyle and family unit with Kody having four wives: Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn, as well as 18 children. However, on November 2, 2021, Christine announced her divorce from Kody via Instagram, stating, "After more than 25 years together, Kody and I have grown apart, and I have made the difficult decision to leave. We will continue to be a strong presence in each other's lives as we parent our beautiful children and support our wonderful family."

Kody also took to Instagram to respond: "Christine's decision to leave comes with a great deal of sadness. We enjoyed many years together, and I have a large amount of respect and admiration for her. Although we are moving forward on different paths, we will always remain committed parents." 

Before the announcement, we actually saw Christine debating whether to leave or not in the finale of Season 16 of "Sister Wives." She said they didn't really have a romantic relationship anymore and that it was not a "real marriage."  We also heard Christine talk about their issues in the bedroom during the premiere of Season 17. Since the breakup, Christine is already engaged to a new man, David Woolley. Congrats, Christine! 

Christine Brown isn't the only member of "Sister Wives" to leave Kody. During the "tell-all" episode that aired on January 8, 2023, Janelle Brown revealed that she and Kody are separated. Janelle opened up on the special, saying, "I think if we both really sat down, we'd look at each other and say, 'Really? We've been separated for several months.' ... I'm happy. Really happy. I don't know, things just really became sort of indifferent. Like I just didn't care anymore" (via YouTube). Janelle also revealed that she did respect him, until the conflict with their children. 

The conflict she is referring to is Kody's fallout between sons Garrison and Gabriel which started during disagreements about COVID-19. Kody eventually uninvited them to Christmas, which caused a huge rift between Janelle and Kody. 

Kody said during the tell-all that he would love to reconcile with Janelle, but she seems to not be interested in that. Janelle seems to be thriving on her social media, sharing her weight loss and health care journey, as well as her new digs, with a patio and all! 

And another one bites the dust — because, in January 2023, Meri and Kody Brown took to Instagram to announce their separation in a joint statement that reads, "After more than a decade of working on our relationship in our own unique ways, we have made the decision to permanently terminate our marriage relationship. During this process, we are committed to kindness and respect toward each other and to all members of our family, and we are also committed to the continued healing of any and all relationships within the family."  

Meri and Kody were married way back in April 1990 but separated in 2014. Throughout "Sister Wives," we have seen Meri and Kody have somewhat of a tumultuous relationship, so even though the breakup is sad, it is not too surprising. Meri is the third of four wives to leave Kody, with Robyn being the only wife left. 

While we have all known Olivia Culpo since she was crowned as Miss Universe, we had the opportunity to meet her just-as-beautiful sisters, Sophia and Aurora, when their reality TV show "The Culpo Sisters" premiered in November 2022. During the first season, we got to know Sophia and her NFL boyfriend, Braxton Berrios, who is currently a Miami Dolphin. 

Fans had noticed that Sophia wasn't posting Braxton on her socials as much, and she later confirmed her breakup from Braxton in a now-deleted TikTok, saying, "I just have to go back to New Jersey and get all of my stuff, which I've been kind of avoiding just cause moving out of a long-term relationship where you guys live together, that's really hard" (via The Daily Mail). Sophia also took to her Instagram stories and opened up even more, revealing, "I haven't addressed this because it's been really hard to come to terms with and process. I'll say that it didn't end well or honestly. A lot of trust was broken" (via The U.S. Sun). 

Even though it has only been a bit over a month since Sophia announced her breakup at the end of March 2023, she appears to be thriving on social media and just attended Stagecoach. 

We were first introduced to Tammy Slaton and her sister Amy on the show "1000-Lb Sisters," which follows Tammy and Amy's weight loss journeys. We also were introduced to Tammy's boyfriend at the time, Jerry Sykes, but were surprised when at the end of Season 2, it was announced that the pair were broken up. Some fans thought that it was due to Tammy's reveal that she was pansexual, but the real reason is actually more salacious than that. It turns out Jerry was married.  

During Jerry's relationship with Tammy, Jerry was married to Kia Russell-Rucker Sykes, who told TMZ that she only learned about his relationship with Tammy while watching the show. Kia does admit that she and Jerry are separated but feels that the reason for that is Tammy. Kia also told The Sun that she believes that Tammy knew Jerry was married and went out with him anyway. 

Since Tammy's breakup with Jerry, she got married to Caleb Willingham in November 2022. Tammy and Caleb met at a rehab center. Congrats, you two! 

We have watched Whitney Thore thrive as a big, beautiful woman in "My Big Fat Fabulous Life." And we loved watching her budding (and rather quick) romance with Chase Severino. Within a couple of months of dating, Whitney and Chase got engaged in the city of love, Paris. With the quickness of their romance, it isn't a huge surprise that there were things that Whitney didn't know about him. The fact that he was still not over some other woman being one of them. 

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Whitney announced that she and Chase broke up because he cheated on her and got another woman pregnant. The caption for the post read: "Hey, y'all. This is a really weird and uncomfortable thing to have to 'announce' on social media ... Chase and I are no longer engaged. ... Chase reconnected with a woman with whom he has had a long history" (via The U.S. Sun). This reconnection resulted in a pregnancy. Woof. 

Chase is currently engaged to the mother of that child, Sara Jackson. As for Whitney, she announced (again via Instagram) in the summer of 2021 that she is dating someone. The pair had a whirlwind romance in, you guessed it, Paris. 

We have been watching Elizabeth Johnston grow up and find love with Brice Bolden on "7 Little Johnstons." We first saw Elizabeth with Brice in February 2019, and then the two ended up going to prom together. Throughout the next couple of years, we saw Elizabeth and Brice's relationship not only unfold on "7 Little Johnstons," but also on social media as well. In December 2022, Brice posted the above photo to his Instagram of Elizabeth and him with their dog. 

However, fans started to speculate that the pair broke up when Elizabeth wiped her Instagram clean of all of the photos of her and Brice together. Brice, however, still has pictures up of Elizabeth, causing fans to comment asking things like, "Please, please, please tell me y'all did not break up!" and "Did y'all break up?!" (via Instagram).

Elizabeth nor Brice have commented on whether they are together or not, but with Season 13 currently airing, maybe they are keeping quiet so they don't spoil the season.

"I Am Jazz" has been a huge win for the transgender community. The show follows Jazz Jennings, a trans woman, navigating life. We especially loved watching Jazz and her relationship with Ahmir Steward. Obviously, there is a nostalgia factor here: We all went through our first relationship and had our first love. But "I Am Jazz" specifically is showing audiences LGBTQ+ love, and that is so important. 

Sadly, not all good things are meant to last. Ahmir confirmed to RadarOnline in April 2019 that he was single, but did say that he and Jazz are still in contact, and are still supporting each other. We were already aware that Ahmir's mom had some issues with the relationship, which couldn't have been easy for either of them to navigate, but this is the first confirmation we have on the topic. Their breakup was confirmed during Season 6 of "I Am Jazz." 

Jazz went on a date in a recent episode of "I Am Jazz."

"My 600-Lb Life" chronicles the weight loss journeys of people who are morbidly obese. One would think that once a partner has become a much healthier version of themselves that their relationships would improve, however, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Christina Phillips and Zach Phillips are one of those couples. When we met Christina during Season 2, she weighed close to 700 pounds. Since then, she has dropped over 500 pounds and is truly a success story. Sadly, her weight loss put a big strain on her marriage to Zach, and the pair ended up divorcing.

During her "Where Are They Now?" episode, Christina opened up about the breakup: "I was in a really abusive relationship. And that definitely, I think, has had a negative impact on me" (via Yahoo). Other couples that ended up breaking up are Zsalynn Whitworth and her husband, Lupe Samano and her husband, and Laura Perez and her husband, just to name a few.

"The Family Chantel" focused on Chantel Everett and Pedro Jimeno and all the trials and tribulations that went along with their marriage. But even before that, we actually met Chantel and Pedro on "90 Day Fiancé." Fans have been with them since the beginning, and with their relationship being the primary focus of multiple shows, it was heartbreaking to see — and we mean in the literal sense, since the cameras were there for all of it — their divorce. 

In July 2022, the pair filed for divorce, with Pedro stating their marriage was "irretrievably broken" (via US Weekly). The divorce is definitely not amicable, since they filed mutual restraining orders on one another. Pedro also says that Chantel withdrew money from their joint account "out of spite." 

Chantel teased on her social media that she had a new man, sharing a TikTok meme that hinted at a new boyfriend, although she has yet to confirm or deny anything (per TV Season & Spoilers). Pedro has been rumored to date multiple women. 

We couldn't exclude "90 Day Fiancé" on a list that is about TLC breakups. Listen, as we've said before, we adore love. But it is honestly no surprise that "90 Day Fiancé," the show that is based around living with a fiancé from a different country for 90 days to decide if you should get married or not, ends in plenty of breakups and divorces. While Chantel and Pedro's may be one of the most well-known, there are honestly too many to count. 

One of those couples is Molly Hopkins and Luis Mendez, whose relationship ended just six months after getting married. Molly didn't like the way that Louis treated her and definitely had suspicions that he was using her for a green card, especially after he ended up getting married again only a few months after their divorce. Other couples that broke up were Colt Johnson and Larissa Dos Santos Lima, Darcey Silva and Jesse Meester, and Ashley Martson and Jay Smith, just to name a few.