Little People, Big World star Matt Roloff and his son Zach Roloff appeared to have put their differences behind them after Zach surprisingly called his father’s post about retirement “extremely misguiding.” Matt was seen at a birthday party for Zach’s son Jackson days after Zach’s comments. Earlier this month, Matt announced plans to sell 16 acres of the 109-acre Roloff Farms property.
On Saturday, Zach’s wife Tori Roloff shared a video from Jackson’s aviation-themed birthday party on her Instagram Story. One clip showed Matt joining his family to sing “Happy Birthday” to his grandson. Tori also published a photo of Jackson sitting beside his birthday cake, but the post made no mention of Matt at the party. Jackson’s real birthday is May 12, but Zach and Tori had to postpone the party because their newborn Josiah was born earlier than expected on April 30. Zach and Tori are also parents to daughter Lilah Ray, 2.
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The festivities came at a tense moment for the Roloff family. On May 12, Matt and listing agent Juli Martin of Luxe Froves Global Properties told The Wall Street Journal Matt was selling 16 acres of the farm for $4 million. This portion of the property includes the house where Matt and his ex-wife, Amy Roloff, raised their four children.
A few days after announcing the price for the parcel of land, Matt told fans he was planning to retire and was disappointed that his dream of keeping the farm in family hands would not come true. He blamed Zach and Jeremy Roloff because both are not interested in taking ownership. “Both of them (along with their growing families) had moved on to other interests and investments…. and even tho a substantial family discount and a ‘gift of equity’ was offered by both Amy and I… (and I still owe Amy a bundle of money)… they decided individually that the timing was not right for them to purchase a part of the farm at this time,” Matt wrote. He went on to write that the decision to sell was a step toward his “retirement goals.”
Zach, who is the last of Matt and Amy’s children to still regularly appear on LPBW, surprisingly criticized his father publicly. “This post is extremely misguided and false. My dad is manipulating the narrative right before the season comes out,” Zach wrote in a long Instagram response to his father’s post. “Once again, like he has for most of his life, [he is] not taking responsibility for his own actions and blaming others.”
“Dragging the family drama that he created and then manipulate the fanbase to make himself come out OK [sic],” Zach continued. “This post is a new shocking low of cowardice and manipulation of his family and kids for his own gain.” Zach later deleted his comment and Matt completely shut off comments for his post.
Amy commented on the situation on May 19 during a live video stream on her Little Kitchen YouTube channel with Lisa Dixon. She called Matt’s sale of the farm “very sad” because it is still “personal” to her. “The business was part of our personal life so it will never just be business,” Amy said. “You can’t treat those that are directly a part of your family, and assume – because it’s business – [they’re] like any other vendor. I’m not like any other vendor. My boys aren’t like any other vendor. These are your boys!”
Amy went on to say it “will be kind of weird” if the farm is sold to an outsider. “I’ve always said that [Matt] may have built a lot of stuff and had the creative ideas but the farm was the family’s,” she said. “We all had elements of the farm, and what it is today is definitely a part of all of us.”
