The Roloffs are not the Kardashians.
We mostly tune in to Little People, Big World on a weekly basis because we want to see a bunch of relatives interact who basically just enjoy each other’s company.
They don’t fight. They don’t exploit each other. There’s very little drama and almost no controversy.
Over the years, various members of this close-knit family have had run-ins with the law, clashes with social media users and also taken part in other scandalous affairs that may come as a surprise.
We still love Matt, Amy and company.
As you are about to find out, however, they are not perfect. Far from it…
CHEATER! In her memoir, Amy came right out and accused her ex-husband of cheating on her with girlfriend Caryn Chandler. If not physically, then at the very least emotionally. “We had someone that worked for us for a very long time, on our farm,” Amy wrote. “And I believe – this is all from my perspective= that there was more than just friends going on. And I think that evolved to a point where that got in the way of our marriage as well.”
Jacob Dropped Out of High School And he didn’t do so quietly, either, engaging on Twitter with someone who gave him props to his “high intellect,” but critcized him for dropping out in protest of public institutions, to which Jacob replied: “If you can tell my intellectual level with me not having finished formal high school, why do I still need it? Just to say so?” He added that he had a “hard time being excited” for his friends going to a four-year college. “I think you could learn a lot more for a lot less.”
Matt Got Arrested for Drunk Driving The incident took place in 2007, after he was stopped near his home for swerve in and out and his lane. Six months after the arrest, he was found not guilty in court.
Jeremy the… Bigot? Way back in 2008, Jeremy Roloff was accused of writing racist and homophobic messages on his MySpace account. The situation was brought to everyone’s attention by the National Enquirer story excerpted above. The messages at the time insulted African-Americans, Mexicans and gay people.
Jacob the… Drug User? We can’t say this one is too stunning, but Jacob once Tweeted: “Who doesn’t suck at selling weed Hmu.” That acronym stands for Hit Me Up.
Roloff Farms… Sued? Yes. In 2011, a Washington woman named Linda Farrall alleged that she was injured due to a fall from a picnic pavilion at the property. She sued the Roloffs for negligence and the case was settled out of court.
Jacob Accuses Producers of… Stealing? Always an outspoken individual, Jacob publicly claimed in 2015 that he was getting ripped off from his time on the series. “Man I wish it didn’t feel like I was getting f-ced out of the money from the show that was my childhood right now,” he said back then.
And Then He Quit! Roloff has since made up with his family and admitted that he needed to grow up a lot, but he flat out quit the show in 2016 because it said everything you saw on it was phony and that his relatives were just playing “characters.”
Amy and Matt Get Divorced The stars separated in 2014 after almost 30 years of marriage, getting divorced a year later. There was no real cheating scandal or anything sordid here, but Amy did later lament: “It’s always sad to know that someone really doesn’t want you in their life anymore.”
Jeremy and Audrey Accused of Homophobia After getting married in 2014, Audrey and Jeremy started the blog “Beating 50 Percent,” on which they “nspire covenant marriages” and “encourage husbands and wives to give more than 50% to their spouse.” Why do they only address heterosexual couples? “We are not claiming to be a resource for same-sex marriages,” Audrey wrote back then in the comments. “It is not something we agree with.” The remark was later deleted due to reader outrage.
Jacob is Anti-Vaccine “If we don’t even know the risks, how would we know the benefits outweigh them?” the young star once asked a fan through social media. “My kids won’t be vaccinated don’t worry,” he added. (As of this writing, Jacob is engaged, but does not have any kids.)
Audrey Said WHAT About Marriage? In May 2016, Audrey took some heat for not exactly describing marriage in a romantic manner. “Every day, your marriage enters a battlefield,” she said. “What are you doing to protect your marriage against the dangers of, porn, workaholism, worry, pride, stress, fear, loss, addiction, comparison, social media, emotional cheating, that girl at the gym, in-laws, hormones, or idolizing your kids?” And then, in large/bold font, she added: “To win a war, you have to know you’re in one.”
She Also Posed Naked in a Bathtub Not the racist picture ever, but for someone who basically makes a living by espousing Christian values? This photo got Roloff in trouble in August 2016.
And She Said WHAT About Sex?!? Audrey was on quite a run in the middle of 2016. Not long after that bathtub image went viral, she offered unexpected advice for making life in the bedroom especially hot and spicy: recite your wedding vows DURING SEX. “I’ll spare you the details, but it was the most intimate thing we have ever done in our marriage, and probably the most intimate thing I have ever done in my life,” she blogged at the time.
Jeremy… Touches His Daughter in an Inappropriate Manner? No. Only if your mind is in the gutter. But you can click on the words above this photo to see what some folks have actually said about Jeremy’s hand placement in the snapshot.
Matt Dates Caryn Chandler There’s nothing wrong with Matt moving on after his divorce. But Caryn worked as a manager on Roloff Farms and has known Amy well for years. AWKWARD!
Amy Dates Chris Marek Amy has also been romantically involved with someone for several months. Marek is in the real estate business and seems like a very nice guy. But many fans think he is just using Amy for fame and fortune.
Jeremy Hates… Cell Phones?!? “Phones are ruining our love stories. I believe that the single most lethal problem concerning our love stories is our phones,” Jeremy wrote in the spring of 2018, causing many eyes rolls because he probably wrote this on a cell phone and, we’re sure, is grateful to all cell phone users who access his social media page through their devices.
More Nudity from Audrey Well, not from Audrey. But some dumb people on the Internet gave the star crap because she dared to share pictures, such as this one, of her daughter without any clothes on. People really can be dumb and gross.
Audrey is Anti-Formula “I was very adamant about breastfeeding exclusively. Formula is like a sin,” she actually said in May 2018. Needless to say, this remark was NOT met with very positive responses online. Yikes.
Caryn Chandler … Murderer in the Making?! In November of 2018 — about a year into their relationship — fans became convinced that Caryn was planning to murder Matt. Comments like “She’s dating a millionaire and waiting for the perfect opportunity!” became common on the Roloff’s social media. Fortunately, Caryn has yet to take Matt’s life in order to get her hands on his fortune.
Disneyland Medical Crisis! Amid near-constant mom-shaming, Tori Roloff revealed that baby Jackson suffered a medical crisis at Disneyland. It turns out that the boy was merely suffering from a common condition known as nursemaid elbow, but Tori received a ton of flak, regardless.
Jeremy and Jacob: Locked In a Bitter Feud! When Jeremy and Jacob unfollowed each other on social media back in January, fans began to suspect the brothers were feuding. They both posted this pic in an effort to prove that’s not the case, but many Roloff obsessives remain unconvinced.
Chris Marek Accused of “Creepy” Intentions Back in February, Amy Roloff posted some pics of a recent vacation she took with boyfriend Chris Marek. Haters swarmed her posts and accused Marek of using Amy for her money. Hey, at least they didn’t accuse him of plotting her murder!
Audrey Roloff Confesses to “Impurity” In the memoir she co-wrote with Jeremy, Audrey confessed that while she “won the virginity battle,” she was not 100 percent “pure” on her wedding night. Readers are free to interpret that as they will, but we think it’s pretty clear what Audrey is implying.
Jeremy Confesses to Porn Addiction In the same memoir, Jeremy wrote that he “had wandering eyes when it came to risqué images and social media profiles I had no business looking at.” In other words, he really liked porn — to the extent that it nearly destroyed his relationship.
Matt Accuses Amy of Holding Him “Hostage” In one of the most tense scenes ever filmed for Little People, Big World, Matt snapped on Amy in Season 14 and accused her of holding him “hostage” through their entangled business interests and her indecisiveness with regard to the family farm. It was proof that divorced couples can still fight like married couples!
Who Needs a Mask? In July 2020, Matt was spotted at dinner with friends… but seemingly without a mask. Does anyone see one on the table in this photo? It was snapped, of course, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Silence Speaks Volumes Amy also got criticized a bit for her reaction in the summer of 2020. In her case, it was general silence in the wake of George Floyd being killed. Amy didn’t anything for days, even as protests broke out across the country… until she finally explained that she kept quiet because she was arranging her thoughts.
And Then There’s the Onslaught of Criticism Leveled at Audrey… … it’s almost hard to know where to begin these days.
Such As? Audrey cited a passage from the bible in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, prompting major backlash from her own brother-in-law. Jacob Roloff gave flak on Instagram to “White people with moneyed cameras and moneyed families using black music, black message, black faces, to spread police propaganda and white Christian voices while contributing nothing to the movement, no call to donation, no call to action; only empty gestures and fancy platitudes.”
A Holiday Snub! After Audrey shared photos from a July 4th celebration, it came out that she invited a couple friends of Zach and Tori’s. Alas, neither Zach nor Tori were invited, making us think Audrey and Jeremy purposely snubbed their relatives.
You Will Not Destroy Me! Audrey has also made an enemy out of Jacob’s wife, Isabel, who shared this meme in July 2020. She never mentioned Audrey by name, but she uploaded it days after her husband slammed Audrey for her Black Lives Matter response.
Then There was the Mr. Clean Incident Audrey posted this photo and promoted Mr. Clean on Instagram. To many critics, the act reeked of desperation and hypocrisy. “Is this not the opposite of clean products in your home? I’m so confused,” one commenter wrote in response, while another added: You are anti-plastic and anti-chemicals but endorse this?” wrote another baffled individual.”
No In-Laws Allowed! This is a photo from Audrey’s birthday party. Notice who isn’t there? No one from Jeremy’s side of the family. There’s every indication that she simply doesn’t get along with her in-laws.
Fighting Over the Farm Throughout the latest Little People, Big World season, Amy and Matt clashed over the future of the farm. Matt eventually convinced his ex-wife to sell him her portion of the property, with the deal going down in late 2019.
Will the Farm Go Under? This isn’t a scandal, but the pandemic has affected nearly all businesses… especially ones that rely on a lot of people gathering in one place and also on people having disposable income. Roloff Farms fits this description perfectly. Pumpkin season may therefore be in jeopardy, which means the farm may need to shut down. Stay tuned.
More Audrey Disdain Audrey and Jeremy went on a road trip amid the pandemic, and were simply trashed online for being “careless,” which really seemed unfair considering they slept in a van and hung out outside and barely saw any human beings.
Caryn’s Son…. ARRESTED! This one isn’t new. But in the summer of 2020, it went viral that Caryn Chandler’s 21-year old son was arrested on January 11, 2020 by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon for some kind of assault. Connor pleaded not guilty to two counts of harassment after being taken into custody and remained there for approximately 24 hours.
Jacob Roloff Accuses Producer of Assault This goes above and beyond anything else on this list. It’s far more serious. But Jacob wrote in late 2020 that he was molested by a producer, who Roloff said “groomed” him for years,” on Little People, Big World way back when he was a young cast member on the show.