Matt Roloff Confesses the Birth of Formerly-Estranged Son Jacob Wasn’t Planned

Not all of the Little People, Big World children were planned, father Matt Roloff has revealed in […]

October 9, 2017, 10:11am

Not all of the Little People, Big World children were planned, father Matt Roloff has revealed in his book.

“After Molly (our third child) was born, we had decided to call it quits as far as having children was concerned,” Roloff wrote in Against Tall Odds: Being A David In A Goliath World. “But God had other plans, and he sent us another gift in the form of our youngest son, Jacob.”

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The father of four said his other three children all were excited to have a new younger sibling, but that Zach, now 27, had hoped the new baby would also be a little person with whom he could relate.

Jacob, now 20, has had his fair share of trouble with his family over the years, reportedly estranging himself from his parents at the age of 18 after claiming that they forced him to be on Little People, Big World.

In 2015, Jacob posted on Instagram a picture of him with Jack Hamill of TLC‘s Our Little Family and detailed in the caption how little he enjoyed being filmed on his own family’s show throughout his childhood.

This is Jack. I’ve never felt I had more of an opportunity to influence someone’s life than when I told him how much I didn’t like filming when I was his age, so he knows just because the adults say it’s what’s best, doesn’t mean it’s what’s best. Then after, I asked him how he felt about it and after a pause he said, “I like it medium”, meaning not at all, which is exactly what I would’ve said at 7. Seeing him for the few days that I did and hanging out with him for the short time that I did was a crazy reflective experience, seeing what it looked like (more or less) to be a 7 year old thrown into different situations for your parents’ ratings. He doesn’t know that yet though. He’s more of a central focus character in his family’s show than I ever was, too, so there’s more ‘depending’ on him; I can’t imagine. Im hoping I get to see him again and how he turns out, and that what I said sticks with him.
A post shared by Jacob Roloff (@jacobroloff45) on Aug 2, 2015 at 12:12am PDT

Later, in his 2017 book Verbing, Jacob said during his period of estrangement with his family he felt “isolated” and “angry.”

In the comments, mother Amy Roloff apologized to her youngest, saying, “You’re an awesome son Jacob. You, like your brothers and sister keep blessing me everyday. I’m sorry it was so tough on you.”

While the other three Roloff siblings have had little trouble being in the spotlight, their father reflected in his book about how different their personalities all have been since the beginning.

“Sometimes when I’m with my kids, I wonder how each of them, with the same two parents, could be developing personality traits that are so different from one another’s,” Roloff said. “Each of our children is unique. Jeremy, Zachary, Molly and Jacob are alike in many ways, yet completely different in others.”

“My family isn’t perfect,” he added. “Like any family, we have conflicts, times where we are down, times where we need every bit of patience to continue to function successfully as a family.”