Jacob Roloff Reveals Why He Left ‘LPBW’: He Believed He Was A ‘Roloff Character’ And Not Himself
Jacob Roloff has revealed why he left Little People, Big World, and though you may think it has to do with him being estranged from his family, the reality is a little more mundane. Simply put, Jacob believes that TLC producers manipulated him and his family members, and creatively edited the footage, to make everyone look like “Roloff characters” instead of who they actually are.
The youngest of the original generation of Little People, Big World (Jacob’s nephew Jackson Kyle is the first of the second generation), Jacob has had a difficult relationship with the show, to put it mildly. What’s more, statements he’s made along the way, plus the way he’s acted, seem to suggest that he and his family might not be getting along.
What’s the real story?
Swindled Out Of Money
As polite news stories put it, Jacob left the series in 2015 over a “contract dispute.” Jacob himself has a different way of describing what happened.
According to the Keeping Up with the Roloff Family blog, back in 2015 Jacob tweeted his feelings on how LPBW had treated him financially. The Inquisitr will not embed that tweet because it contains a word that cannot be printed on this website.
“Man I wish I didn’t feel like I was getting f**ked out of the money from the show that was my childhood right now”
As of this writing, it’s not clear who Jacob seems to believe swindled him out of his money, be it his parents, TLC, or the production company behind LPBW, nor is it clear how much he thinks he’s owed.
Beyond the money dispute, however, there’s an even bigger reason Jacob has put LPBW in the rearview mirror, and it’s this: He doesn’t like playing “a character.”
“Roloff Characters”
As In Touch Weekly reports, Jacob’s biggest problem is the fact that, as he sees it, LPBW producers pressured him and his family to portray themselves as characters, rather than as themselves.
“For the sake of ‘the episode’ and ratings I’ve seen a lot of STORYLINES drawn up (loosely) about our lives. And when I was standing here, behind the scenes and watching it from an outside perspective I just couldn’t stop laughing. Laughing at how hard the producers have to try to get us to follow the talking points, and at how ridiculous the talking points are. The family that is filmed is not my family. They are the Roloff Characters and I have scarcely anything in common with them, nor do I want to be a character myself.”
Jacob, in particular, leads a far different life from the Jacob character previously portrayed on LPBW. His parents and brothers are devout Christians, while Jacob is an outspoken agnostic. His brothers are hard-working family men, while Jacob has been photographed smoking marijuana (or at least, what appears to be a marijuana cigarette) and is currently tooling around the Pacific Northwest, living out of a truck with his girlfriend, Isabel.
Estranged From His Family?
That he’s off LPBW and living life his own way has led some fans to speculate that Jacob is estranged from his family. However, just because Jacob marches to the beat of his own drum doesn’t necessarily mean that he and his family don’t get along. Every family has at least one family member who does things his own way; that doesn’t have to mean that they hate each other.
In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, before hitting the road, Jacob and Isabel stopped by mom Amy’s house to say goodbye.
A post shared by Amy Roloff (@amyjroloff) on
As you can see, everyone was all smiles, and it certainly doesn’t look like anyone hates anyone.
So there you have it: While Jacob Roloff has issues with LPBW and with religion, it seems that he and his family (his mom anyway) are all kisses and hugs.
[Featured Image by Lwp Kommunikacio/Flickr/Cropped and Resized/CC BY-SA 2.0]
