'Welcome to Plathville': Ethan and Olivia Meet After Separating in Exclusive Sneak Peek

10/01/2021 12:38 pm EDT

Ethan and Olivia Plath are looking towards their next step after deciding to take time apart from one another. The separated couple meets in PopCulture.com's exclusive sneak peek of Tuesday's all-new episode of Welcome to Plathville to talk about their struggling marriage. After Ethan left their home in the middle of the night, he tells the producers it was "simple" why he took off so abruptly.

"I just— with everything going on between me and Olivia, I literally felt like I didn't know what to do and I could not mentally or physically process any of it," he admits. "I literally felt like I was losing my mind if I didn't take a break." Leaving a note on the door and taking off at 4 a.m., Ethan finally meets back up with his wife to answer her question of what he was looking for.

"Well, what I really needed really was just some time to think things through without any distractions," he explains. "Like without having to work, without having to deal with unsolved problems, you know. Sorry if I left you hanging." Olivia reassures him that she gets where his head is, and Ethan tells her he's come to some realizations about the big questions looming over him as of late. 

"The main thing I want is a family. And I want to have that family with someone that I truly love," he shares. "The biggest question that I had to ask myself was if I could really accept you for who you are - who you've become - because a lot of things have changed. The bottom line at the end of the day that I've always asked myself over the past week or so is given that's what I want, is there anyone else that I would want that with?"

In last week's episode, Olivia revealed to a friend she had moved out after a "really intense argument," admitting, "I think the driving force in me moving out for a time was that I wanted Ethan to be able to make his own decisions and choices, and sometimes I'm really afraid that Ethan goes along with what I say, just because he doesn't want to make me upset. But that's not good for him either." The TLC star added, "I felt like if I didn't do something, then we would literally lose our marriage." Welcome to Plathville airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.

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