Kim Plath ‘s new love story is just beginning.
In a sneak peek at Tuesday’s Welcome to Plathville, Kim, 51, asks her love interest, Ken Palmer, to define their relationship. Nerves could be high in such a moment, but Kim keeps it cool, calm and collected.
“What would you consider our relationship to be? Would you call me your girlfriend?” she asks Ken over sushi.
A moment of suspense flys by and ends with Ken happily accepting the proposition to put titles on their connection. “Oh definitely, if you would accept that title,” he says.
For Kim, it’s a no-brainer. “I was thinking we were probably at a point where we would call it boyfriend-girlfriend.”
Ken and Kim met during one of Isaac Plath ‘s flying lessons, as Ken was her son’s flight instructor and former coworker. Though that could cause tension in the family, Ken sees major potential. Still, the couple is keeping their loved ones in mind as they step forward into commitment. “I really like you a lot. And I really can see a future with you,” Ken says. “And it’s important to me that everybody is okay with it.”
After the sweet conversation, Ken and Kim share a kiss over their sushi table, as the Plath matriarch thanks Ken for taking her to a nice dinner.
The entire situation is like an unexpected dream for Kim, who is separated from husband Barry Plath.
“The whole divorce process — it’s been hard, but at the end of the day, I mean, I like being with somebody that I really like,” she says in a confessional interview. “It’s weird to, on the one hand, be a girlfriend, and on the other hand, be over 50. Never thought I’d get a second shot at love, and it appears I am.”
In last week’s episode, Kim told her friend Alicia about Ken: “It’s just refreshing to finally be with someone that listens to me and that hears me, that really hears me,” she said. And he hears beyond my words. He doesn’t just hear the words I say, he hears the heart behind it. And I feel like that’s something I’ve been hungry for for a long time.”
As excited as she was about her new relationship, she admitted she was nervous to tell her children she was seeing someone. “I’m terrified,” she said. “I’m not saying that we’re getting married or this is it or anything like that. But he is a part of my life now. And I guess it’s serious enough that I want to tell the children.”
She continued: “I think I’m probably the most nervous to tell Isaac, just because I know how much it means to Ken. But if Isaac’s not okay with me dating Ken, I guess we’ll just have to talk about it. At the end of the day, I have to make some decisions that are best for me. You know, in 10 years, there will be no children left at the house. They’ll all be adults with their own partners, their own jobs, their own lives. And then what am I left with? You know, I need to be left with a life that is a life that I want to live.”
Plath and Barry separated in 2022 after 24 years of marriage. The tense split was featured during season 4 of Welcome to Plathville. “While this was not an easy decision, we know it’s the best choice for both of us. We have been through many highs and lows in our 24 years of marriage and as we navigate this new chapter in our lives, we will co-parent our amazing children,” the parents of nine said at the time.
Kim now lives in her own apartment, while Barry and the pair’s younger children (who have not moved out yet) live in the family home.
Welcome to Plathville airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
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