DUIs, Drugs, Cheating & Reality Fakery! 'Little People, Big World' Roloffs' Secrets & Scandals Exposed
The Roloffs have shared their lives on TLC's reality TV hit Little People, Big World since 2006 — and they've gone through big scandals since then.
Both on camera and off, Matt and Amy and their four children Jeremy, Zach, Jacob, and Molly have been embroiled in issues involving their love lives, finances, and alleged show fakery!
Matt and Amy's bitter divorce after nearly 30 years of marriage first sent fans reeling -- and cracks have also appeared in Jeremy and wife Audrey's previously squeaky-clean marriage.
Both Jeremy and Audrey and black sheep Jacob quit the show, with Jacob slamming LPBW as manufactured. Sister Molly has also been MIA.
RadarOnline.com has uncovered Matt's embarrassing DUI history and his girlfriend Caryn Chandler's husband and son's past legal troubles.
Even after Amy moved on with her own significant other, beau Chris Marek, she revealed her devastating past hurt, saying that she believed Matt had cheated on her with Caryn before their split.
Matt has often left Roloff Farm for luxury vacations with Caryn and hid the fact that he'd purchased a home from her parents in Arizona.
Medical crises have also plagued the family, with Audrey suffering after giving birth and Amy telling followers about her beloved mom being hospitalized.
Click through RadarOnline.com’s exclusive gallery for more on the Roloffs' biggest disasters.
Arrested!
DUI crisis! In June 2007, family patriarch Matt was arrested for driving under the influence after he was seen swerving on the road in his van near their Oregon home. Six months later, he was found not guilty of the crime in court.
Racism Scandal
Little People, big scandal. In 2008, The National ENQUIRER reported that Amy and Matt's then-teen son Jeremy repeatedly used homophobic and racist slurs on his MySpace page. "I don't think Jeremy is hateful, just ignorant," a source told the magazine.
Medical Scare
On a 2010 episode of the TLC hit reality show, Matt collapsed at home. Fans began reporting that he died from a heart attack, but the dad only suffered from a bout of vertigo. "I am very much alive and healthy," he said at the time.
Sued!
Little farm of horrors! As RadarOnline.com exclusively reported, a guest's visit to the family's famous estate resulted in a bitter lawsuit back in 2011. Washington state resident Linda Farrall claimed she suffered serious injuries after she fell of a picnic pavilion at the property— and it was all due to the Roloffs' negligence. The case was eventually settled out of court in 2013.
Another Legal Battle
The Roloffs were also involved in another ugly lawsuit— but this time, they were the plaintiffs. In 2010, mom Amy claimed a building services inspector attacked her at home after she questioned his motives for sneaking onto the farm. Both Amy and Matt sought $160,000, but the court judge dismissed the case.
Split!
Looks like the family wasn't so happy after all. In March 2014, Matt and Amy announced their separation after 26 years of marriage. And the split wasn't a mutual decision. "It is not my choice for him to leave. I am saddened by it," Amy said in a TLC special. "We don't have a plan as to how we're going to work this out. It's not going to be easy."
It’s Over
Sadly, the couple never did work out their issues. They filed for divorce on June 5, 2015.
Crazy Times
Nude photos! At Jeremy's wild bachelor party in 2014, his twin Zach surprised the group with a life-size naked pic of the groom-to-be. (Jeremy, now 25, and wife Audrey Botti wed that September on the family farm.)
Toking Up
Wild child! Though troublesome son Jeremy eventually settled down, it seemed little brother Jacob remained a party boy for years. When he was 18, he often talked about smoking marijuana on his official Twitter page. "Who doesn't suck at selling weed?" he posted in 2015.
High School Dropout
High school dropout? In 2014, Jacob reportedly left high school to get his degree online. "I guess I can't handle when people are more concerned about who's dating who or where the next party's at rather than actual things that matter and are gonna affect them soon enough," he explained on his ask.fm page.
Matt Mess
In an unearthed video obtained by RadarOnline.com, Amy claimed in a Facebook live clip recorded on March 31, 2019, that Matt had become more than friends with girlfriend Caryn while the two were still married. "I think when you start looking before you’re separated in marriage, that is hard," Amy said in the video. "When you become involved or much more than just a friend….I think that’s what happened in my case.”
Lying About Land
Controversy swirled over how Matt nabbed a vacation house in Surprise, Arizona in 2017. Although LPBW viewers saw Matt going on a major house hunt with Caryn on the show, he really just bought the home from his girlfriend’s parents, according to Maricopa County property records obtained exclusively by RadarOnline.com.
Leaving Little People
Jeremy and Audrey stunned fans by announcing in 2018 that they were quitting the family reality show. The real reason? Audrey revealed on the Heroes For Her podcast that the cameras made her uncomfortable from the moment she first appeared on LPBW. "You never get used to it," she said.
Rolling Off The Farm
While LPBW focuses on the family Roloff Farm near Portland, Oregon, Matt keeps leaving it with galpal Caryn for luxury vacations. The two's destinations have included the Grand Canyon, Maui, and Cabo San Lucas.
Naughty Time
In Jeremy and Audrey's book A Love Letter Life, devout Christian Jeremy confessed he nearly destroyed their union with his pornography habit. When he first began dating Audrey, he was "failing behind the computer screen," he wrote. "I had wandering eyes when it came to risqué images and social media profiles I had no business looking at."
Emergency Trip
Amy had to rush to her Michigan home town when her mother Patricia, 86, was hospitalized in June 2019. "My mom isn't doing so well," she sadly told fans via Instagram.
Overexposed
Haters have blasted Jeremy's sexy wife Audrey for her oversharing on social media. In 2016, the Christian blogger posted a seemingly nude photo of herself in the bathtub on her website.
Unreality?
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, family free spirit Jacob left the show in 2014 and later explained he felt “isolated” and “angry” for being pushed into reality TV fame at a young age. But worse, he later slammed the show as fake. In 2017, Jacob wrote in his book Verbing that over time LPBW "became more orchestrated than spontaneous, in a weird indistinguishable mix."
Hard Sell
Zach and his wife Tori struggled to sell their starter home for five months and took a bath on it, RadarOnline.com learned. It finally sold for for $47k under the asking price, despite Zach’s prediction there would be a “bidding war” for it like other homes in the neighborhood. They dropped $560,000 on a lavish new five-bedroom home.
Gone Girl
Matt and Amy's daughter Molly has been MIA from the show in recent years. She's forged an independent path with her husband Joel Silvius. RadarOnline.com reported that Molly and Joel bought a beautiful four-bedroom home in Spokane, Washington – far away from the other Roloffs --for $248,000.
Exes’ Feud
In 2018, Amy's boyfriend Chris Marek admitted to RadarOnline.com that she initially wanted him to stay away from her ex-husband Matt. "To be honest, Amy was concerned in the beginning about how Matt and I might interact," Chris said. Things later were okay between the two men.
Ex-Hubby Horror
Matt's galpal Caryn's ex-husband's troubled past came back to haunt them. According to Oregon state court records exclusively obtained by RadarOnline.com, Caryn's former spouse, Joseph Chandler, was arrested twice for driving while under the influence and once for assault. For his 2018 arrest, Joseph was sentenced to 45 days in jail, his license was revoked for a year, and he was sentenced to two years probation. Five years earlier on December 31, 2013, Joseph was arrested again for driving with a suspended license. He pled guilty to the charges and was placed in the “Washington County Community Corrections/State of Oregon Corrections Department for a period of three (3) years.”
Rocky Union
Jeremy revealed that his marriage to Audrey has been tough. In celebrating four years of marriage in 2018, Jeremy candidly wrote about his relationship with the mother of their daughter, Ember, "These have been tough months recently, but hard work always pays off."
Bitter Boy
The Roloffs’ son Jacob, who is set to wed fiancé Isabel Rock in 2019, has had a tough time forgiving his dad for divorcing Amy years ago. An insider told RadarOnline.com that he's blamed Matt: "His mom was hurting for a long time, and Jacob believes Matt was the sole cause of that — like his dad is the one that blew up the whole family."
Sketchy Son?
RadarOnline.com exposed Matt's girlfriend Caryn's son's troubled past. Connor Chandler has been arrested twice for theft and criminal mischief. The news came only days after Connor admitted to struggling with drug addiction that caused his life to spiral out of control.
Bad Birth
Jeremy's wife Audrey was in agony after the birth of their daughter Ember in September 2017. The girl arrived 12 days past due and labor was incredibly painful. Audrey also explained, "I got mastitis five days after she was born. Mastitis is when the breast tissue is infected….I also had issues with just like blistering and bruising."
Medical Woe
In 2018, when Zach and Tori's son Jackson was just one year old, he was rushed to the hospital by his terrified parents after badly injuring his arm while playing. Luckily, Jackson, who has dwarfism like his dad, recovered. "We’re all good now, just sore," Tori wrote online.
Show Scandal
Matt ripped LPBW producers about the show’s tone before the 2018 premiere. The patriarch agreed with a fan’s comment about alleged negative editing on Facebook. "I’m not sure we (the Roloff family) can take that kinda of editing much longer. Errrrr," Matt wrote.
Big Move?
What does the future hold for the Roloffs? On the 2019 season finale of Little People, Big World, Amy finally decided after angry negotiations with her ex Matt that living on the farm was no longer "healthy" for her. She accepted his buyout offer on the farm and said she would have "no reason to set foot on this farm again."