‘Little People, Big World’ Star Amy Roloff Opens up About Having Divorce Play out on TV

Little People, Big World star Amy Roloff got married to Chris Marek in August, six years following her divorce from her ex-husband, Matt Roloff. The reality star was married to Matt for 27 years, and their divorce in 2015 played out on camera for the TLC show. In a new interview with Us Weekly, Roloff opened up about the importance of transparency when it comes to her life. “It’s a part of our life,” she explained.

“It’s not a fun part of life, but I tried to limit that exposure as much as much as possible or as best I could because we’re doing a reality show, but I don’t think people need to know every little, personal intimate detail either,” Roloff continued. “You have to own it. You have to keep some of it to yourself. And to me, it was for the sake of the kids that we just [didn’t] plaster this all over the place either.”

Roloff explained that she wanted to show people that “divorce is hard, especially this late in my life,” and the decision to keep the cameras rolling came from the desire to share that feeling. While some people might criticize how much of her family’s life Roloff decided to share, she stands by their decision to do Little People, Big World. “I think there will always be moments of regrets, you know, here and there. I think when friends and other people become involved, or [are] willing to become involved, I think I go [into] ultra-careful mode and I sometimes forget this is TV,” Roloff said. “I think there will always be regrets, but I think there’s a huge amount of benefits [and] opportunity.”

Still, Roloff admitted some misgivings about bringing Marek onto the show and how that might potentially affect their relationship in the beginning. “I was really panicked about him,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Who in that heaven is going to date me being on this crazy show?’ Or he could have absolutely said, ‘Hey, I want to date you. I want to get to know you but I’m not going to be on this crazy show of yours.’” Ultimately, their relationship hasn’t suffered by playing out publicly, and Roloff thinks the “benefits really have outweighed [thing] more than the negativity.”