Welcome to Plathville star Kim Plath opens up about being abused as a child on Season 4 Episode 9

Welcome to Plathville returned for an all-new episode on Tuesday night. Things have been going haywire in the Plath family as everyone tried to deal with the news of their parents' divorce in their way. Meanwhile, for the first time, Kim opened up to Micah about why she had been protective while bringing up her kids. It all boiled down to a traumatic incident from her childhood.

Episode 9 of Welcome to Plathville featured Micah and Kim meeting for a drink. While having a heartfelt conversation, Micah questioned his mother about her parenting style. They were brought up on the farm away from others, homeschooled, and religious. But the answer Kim gave Micah was something neither he expected nor anyone else did.

Though it was uncomfortable for the Welcome to Plathville star to open up about her tragic past, she decided it was best not to hide from her son anymore. She revealed that she was so protective and raised them the way she did because she was abused as a child.

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Kim opened up about being abused by her babysitter when she was a kid in Welcome to Plathville episode 9, season 4

Micah and Kim met up for drinks, which was against everything they were taught. During a conversation about Kim's reasons for ending her marriage with Barry, Micah asked his mother why she raised her kids the way she did.

Though Kim thought twice about opening up to Micah, she finally decided to answer him. She shared that there were various reasons, but one of the most important ones was because she was abused by her babysitter when she was merely 4 to 5 years old.

Kim shared that her mother was a single parent and tried to do the best she could. She hired a babysitter who was a teenage boy. Kim continued to add,

"I can just say that when you have little girls, the last thing you want is for them to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and have something happen."

Continuing, Kim shared that this happened regularly while she was growing up. She added that according to statistics, the people who you don't suspect and who is close to the family members are the ones who end up doing something like this.

Though he was shocked at his mother's revelation, Micah understood where it was coming from. Continuing, the Welcome to Plathville star shared that this was why she always knew where her kids were, who they were with, and what they were doing.

"That played a very large part in me being protective, maybe overprotective, but to me, the risk of not being overprotective enough is so great that I'd rather err on the side of overprotecting than under and have something like that happen."

Taken aback by Kim's confession, Micah shared that to date, he assumed they were brought up strictly because of religion. Kim said she didn't want to tell anyone then because they were too young.

The Welcome to Plathville star agreed with his mother and shared that when he was around 18 years old, he felt that there might've been some other reason but didn't expect it to be this. Micah added that although he was hurt hearing what happened to his mother, he was glad that she opened up to him.

Micah continued to add that growing up, he had heard very less about his parents' childhood. He added that he assumed they were perfect while growing up. But now, after hearing what his mother had to say, all the pieces fit together, and he realized that everyone is just a human.

Welcome to Plathville Season 4 airs every Tuesday at 10 pm ET only on TLC. Readers can check their local listings for more information.