The Untold Truth Of Jacob Roloff
Little People, Big World star Jacob Roloff is considered the so-called black sheep of the Roloff family. His bad boy reputation makes sense when you consider he abruptly left TLC's hit reality show in 2015 and clearly isn't afraid to throw shade at his former employer or his own family members.
But is Jacob actually that different from his famous fam? Some might argue that his outcast reputation is nothing more than an elaborate act, and Jacob might agree, considering all his many gripes against the network. The way he tells it, the show you love watching on TV may be a sham.
Regardless, Jacob continues to be a mysterious character who fascinates LPBW fans. From his romantic proposal on a frozen lake to his rumored feud with his sister-in-law to his candid views on religion, entertainment, and his famous parents' child-rearing decisions, there are a lot of unanswered questions concerning this young man's life. We'll attempt to answer them all in this, the untold truth of Jacob Roloff.
Big show, little paycheck?
Jacob Roloff was just 9 years old when Little People, Big World debuted in March 2006. Given how young he was when the hit series began, one would imagine he'd have a hefty savings account by the time he left the show in 2015. Apparently, that wasn't the case. Shortly after he bailed on LPBW, Jacob wrote a cryptic message about allegedly getting screwed out of his reality television dough.
"Man I wish it didn't feel like I was getting f***ed out of the money from the show that was my childhood right now," he tweeted in August 2015.
According to TMZ, Jacob "was not more specific about who he feels is ripping him off," and production insiders claimed Jacob's pay was deposited into his own bank account. Did the reality star somehow jeopardize his TLC fortune by leaving the show (He didn't appear in the Season 9 finale), or perhaps his parents decided to hold onto his savings until he reaches a certain age? At this point, the jury is still out about the true trigger for that Twitter tirade.
His parents' decisions 'tainted' his childhood
Fights between parents and kids are to be expected, but sometimes things get out of hand. Just ask Jacob Roloff, who seemingly grew to resent his parents for subjecting him to reality television.
" ... I see the money I have earned and the vacations I was lucky enough to go on as 'compensatory', for lack of a better word, for a tainted childhood," he said (via Rock & Roloff.) It wasn't all bad, he said, but "money, things, and trips — all material — cannot ultimately compensate for the immaterial experiences of a childhood innocently experienced."
Though he clearly has mixed feelings about growing up in the public eye, Jacob may have made peace with the past. "I say sometimes that my childhood was changed somehow by filming but my childhood was filming," he said. "I as ego, that is, as Jacob Roloff, do not have some separate thing that is my childhood against other interferences to that childhood ... This realization is how I've come to let go of all bitterness in recent years towards both my parents and the production company, as if they had robbed me of normalcy."
He claims the family you see on TV is fake
Jacob has never been shy about his gripes with TLC and the producers of Little People, Big World. He feels he was grossly misrepresented on the show through its editing.
"Obviously I was a brat sometimes, which would be abnormal if I wasn't, but Created Character Jacob from Little People Big World was a brat in totality," he said (via Rock & Roloff.) "Not just simply acting bratty, like normal; production redefined his humanhood to Brat." He didn't stop there.
"They did the same tricks with my whole family. I posted once that, 'the family that is filmed is not my family. They are the Roloff Characters,'" he quipped. "...the Characters everyone sees on TV are merely the product of a group of folks in LA editing raw footage into a story that sells. Dad: Creative; Mom: Controlling; Zach: Angry; Molly: Smart (okay that one is on point); Jeremy: Adventurous; and Myself: Brat. That's quite a dynamic cast!"
We wonder what the "group of folks in LA" think about Jacob's perspective.
His proposal was incredibly romantic
Jacob Roloff definitely has a positive and romantic since. Just listen to his fiancée, Isabel Rock, relive their magical engagement via a blog post for The Knot.
Jacob reportedly wooed Isabel with a surprise trip to Iceland for Christmas. Once there, he whisked her away to a frozen lake in the middle of Reykjavik to exchange presents. (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind vibes, anyone?) In the middle of the lake, Jacob pulled out a "stunning turquoise ring" Isabel had spotted earlier that day. Although she loved the gift, she said she was a bit disappointed it wasn't an engagement ring.
It turns out, that was the point: "Within seconds, he started smiling mischievously, obviously catching my confusion. Right then, Jacob spun me around and said, 'Alright, one more gift...' and that is the moment he got down on one knee and asked the question I'd been longing to hear, 'Will you marry me?' He asked with a ring box he had hand built out of real wood and my dream ring."
Bravo, Jacob. Well done.
He may be fighting a cold war with his sister-in-law
Rumor has it that Jacob Roloff and his sister-in-law, Audrey Roloff, don't see eye to eye. Audrey, who is married to older brother Jeremy Roloff, supposedly doesn't approve of her brother-in-law's dating style, and she may have made that passive-aggressively clear shortly after Jacob proposed. Huh? We can explain:
The same day Jacob announced his engagement on Instagram in January 2018, Audrey posted this on her Instagram: "Some words on dating from a Christian perspective... Let's just say you recently hurried into a relationship, dabbled with sexual intimacy, and then became emotionally attached. The main problem with this scenario is that it blinds you to red flags... " Yikes. Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but there's no denying the timing of her message is suspect.
As for Jacob, his rumored issues with Audrey might stem from his negative views about Christianity. "Christians as I have experienced them have assumed a real and damaging sense of superiority over all other belief systems...," he wrote in May 2017 (via Rock & Roloff.) According to Radar Online, Jacob also unfollowed Audrey on Instagram in December 2017.
He loathes his family's religion
Jacob Roloff has become a bit of a loose cannon since his departure from Little People, Big World. Want proof? Look no further than Jacob's scathing blog post explaining why he loathes Christianity. His views caused quite the stir because Jacob's immediate family members are self-identified Christians. Awkward, right?
The post said, in part: "Christians as I have experienced them have assumed a real and damaging sense of superiority over all other belief systems ... They have privately for so long deemed non-Christians as 'needing help' and diseased of the mind and spirit, condescendingly offering an empty platitude of the nature of 'I'll pray for you.' They don't pray for you though, they pray for themselves, their spiritual security, and out of pity that you aren't as fortunate as they to be 'in the know.'" Woah, tell us how you really feel, Jacob.
His family members have not publicly addressed that post, so perhaps they're focused on keeping the peace.
He writes about the dark side of reality TV
Jacob Roloff has no problem telling it like it is, especially when it comes to the alleged dark side of reality TV.
"I remember once seeing my parents go into a room in a restaurant to do a scene, and in the show's storyline it was about the beginning of my parents' separation..." Jacob recalled in a February 2017 blog post. "In the scene they were supposed to be discussing some serious matter, I don't know, I was just outside the room. I remember though that the scene they were doing was inherently staged and fake. Whatever discussion they were acting out had already happened in real life, so this was at best a rehashing. When they came out though, I saw tears in my mom's eyes and I suddenly realized that this staged 'joke', 'fake' thing was effecting [sic] real life in a profound way."
Of course, Jacob's memories are subjective. It's possible parents Matt and Amy Roloff perceive the restaurant scene differently, and maybe it wasn't staged. Still, Jacob's take certainly gives us food for thought.
He has another 'father figure'
Jacob Roloff may have revealed a rift with his father, Matt Roloff, in the tell-all book Out to See. Published in January 2018, the project details Jacob's strong relationship with a "father figure" named Mike but reportedly doesn't mention his biological dad "at all."
Jacob apparently bonded with Mike through a soccer club. Mike sometimes drove Jacob to soccer games. "I appreciate Mike's influence on me a lot ... he would get me reading Popular Mechanics and Popular Science out loud during the long drive," Jacob writes (via Radar Online.) "I expanded my mind and learned new words from the writing inside those magazines, and even things I didn't fully understand helped me later as a writer and reader ... In other words, what I already know about Mike's influence on me I find reaffirmed often."
Mike reportedly died in 2008 due to "cardiovascular complications," Jacob said. "I think I was in fifth grade at the time and I remember every detail of the morning my mom came to my room to tell me that Mike had not made it through his surgery ... I cried often."
Jacob's tribute to his mentor is moving, but what he didn't write in his book also speaks volumes.
He doesn't want to be 'Jacob from that show'
Jacob Roloff is arguably the most independent among his siblings. Case in point: He left Little People, Big World because he values his personal freedom over everything else. In other words, it's nice to lead a life you edit yourself, and Jacob does so via vlogging, which is essentially web television.
"There's two ways to do the filming thing — one way is through the show, maybe and the other way is through myself and vlogs. It's just more free doing it myself," he explained on an episode of his vlog. "I can do anything, I can say anything, I can talk about anything — I can show whatever I want." He's got a point, considering there's reason to believe LPBW is somewhat scripted.
The best part about Jacob's creative venture? It allows his identity to evolve. "I've been doing the show for so long ... why not do something else?" he mused. "If somebody were to say, 'oh, you're Jacob from the show,' I don't want that. I'd rather have, 'you're Jacob from my own thing...”"
He's fighting back against the rumor mill
Despite his candid critiques about the negative effects of reality TV on his life, Jacob Roloff has pushed back against others speculating about deep fractures within his family.
"You know that feeling of dread when someone is scrutinizing you and you think, "hey, this might be true about me," until they slip up and say something totally bonkers and wrong, and you sigh with relief because they are *so* off base?" Jacob said in the caption of the throwback snap (above) on Instagram in February 2018. "I feel this every. single. time. I see a headline regarding 'rifts' in my family. It is just so simply and surely untrue! This is a good picture of a pure, early, easy, fun time in my life." He also included an excerpt from his book, Out to See, praising his "pretty amazing" parents.
We can't help but notice that this picture also appears to have been snapped before Little People, Big World began airing, but regardless, Jacob is clearly coming to terms with his past, and his world post-reality-TV appears to be even bigger.