The Roloff family has delivered the audience many heartwarming TV moments through their “Little People, Bug World” series. While they’re a common family at the how’s core, the Roloffs are highly inspiring for sorting out their differences, both in personality and the physical sense, to love each other and pursue their dreams.

Nevertheless, not everything has been a bed of roses for the Roloffs since their TV debut. In 2020, the family’s youngest child Jacob revealed that he’d suffered sexual abuse from a member of the show’s production team, shocking everyone in the process.

With this dark and terrible detail about “Little People, Big World” now made public, several questions about the true nature of the show and the impact it had on Jacob and other members of the family surfaced.

So why did Jacob wait so long to reveal the truth? And what about his relationship with the other Roloffs? Keep watching to find out!

Why Wasn’t The Sexual Abuse Revealed Before?

When in late 2020 Jacob Roloff revealed that he was a victim of sexual abuse, he left everyone shocked and concerned. Though it’s unclear how long the abuse lasted, except that it extended for some time in his childhood, the revelation didn’t lose any impact because of that, nor for the fact that he waited so long to speak his truth.

Regarding the latter question, Jacob affirmed that it took him some time to process what happened to him as a child. Nevertheless, the fact that his abuser contacted Jacob again in 2015, led him to contemplate revealing the terrible experience he’d gone through, eventually deciding to do so five years later.

Jacob identified his abuser as Chris Cardamone, a third-party producer who formerly worked for “Little People, Big World” from seasons three to seven. Up to that point, the Roloff family had no idea about the terrible situation, finding out about it through a text message left by Jacob in their family’s private group chat.

Regarding the fate of Cardamone, it seems that no legal action was taken against him, as Jacob revealed in one of the replies to his post. However, it’s known that Cardamone was arrested for child molestation back in 2008.

Why Did Jacob Leave The Show?

Given the nature of the sexual abuse revelations made by Jacob Roloff, many people have come to believe that it’s the reason he left the show. However, Jacob’s decision to leave the spotlight was caused by many factors, starting with his displeasure at how reality TV works.

The first time Jacob opened up about these issues was in mid-2016, shortly after leaving the show for good. According to Jacob, it wasn’t rare for him to receive comments about how many viewers missed seeing him on TV, and encouraging him to return, but to no avail, since neither of those things is a possibility for him. Jacob affirmed that many aspects of the show were staged, created as storylines by the people involved in the show, turning his family into characters very different from the family he loved.

That situation wasn’t something Jacob would happily take part in, admitting that as soon as it was possible, he got away from it. That makes sense considering he left the show when he was barely 18 years old, making his statement even stronger.

Years later, when Jacob revealed the abuse he’d suffered, he also made it clear that even though the terrible and unfortunate experience he went through influenced his way of perceiving reality TV, it was also true that his ideas against the industry were also guided by his morals.

Other Thoughts On Reality TV

Aside from the emotional disconnection which Jacob felt with the Roloff family as portrayed on TV, he’s also very against other aspects of the industry. For example, in his 2020 tell-all post, he keenly criticized the fact that children appear on TV, asking his readers to challenge the idea of seeing kids growing up under the spotlight as something normal.

#LittlePeopleBigWorld star Jacob Roloff has alleged that producer Chris Cardamone sexually abused him after "a long grooming process." https://t.co/7lIxAliAcK pic.twitter.com/5RygGxiTyy

— Decider (@decider) December 17, 2020

Though Jacob affirms there’s no ‘causal connection’ between the entertainment industry and childhood trauma, he affirms that becoming a child star affects one’s self-perception, and should be questioned, or at least a discussed topic in the industry, and amongst viewers.

That wasn’t the first time Jacob revealed his thoughts on reality TV. In 2017, he released a book entitled “Verbing”, containing three essays in which he explores his experience as a child star from a spiritual and intellectual standpoint. On top of that, he’s written about similar topics on his Rock & Roloff blog.

Last but not least, in 2022 Jacob took to X (formerly Twitter) to directly deny any accusations about him getting rich through the show, as he’d earned around $6 an hour for appearing in it, which is considerably less than the average ‘rich’ TV star earns.

His Relationship With The Family

While Jacob’s opinions about “Little People, Big World” could be misinterpreted as him hating on his family, actually he always makes sure to point out how much he loves them.

Nevertheless, part of the reason people had to believe that Jacob and his family didn’t get along came from his book Verbing”, in which he revealed that his displeasure at having his entire life exposed on TV created a breach of ideas between him and the Roloffs, especially with his parents Matt and Amy, who eventually asked him to see a therapist because of it.

Despite that, Jacob isn’t ostracized by his family, and neither does he have a bad relationship with them. Even in his 2020 tell-all post, Jacob denied any responsibility of his family when it came to the sexual abuse of which he was a victim.

These days, Jacob has a good relationship with his parents and the family of his brother Zach. The bond between him and his older brother Jeremy seems more estranged, yet the latter was a guest at Jacob’s wedding, meaning that the brothers don’t hate each other either.

What Is Jacob Doing Now?

Even though Jacob said goodbye for good to a life on TV, his online presence hasn’t faded. It’s thanks to his website Rock & Roloff, and his Instagram account, that we get some important updates about his life, such as the fact that he now owns a farm named Helvetia Herb and Garden, which specializes in growing organic cannabis and a wide variety of vegetables and fruits.

Regarding his personal life, Jacob has been happily married to Isabel Sofia since 2019, following a five-year-long relationship. The couple welcomed their son Mateo in December 2021, whom they’ve strongly refrained from featuring in social media due to their shared ideas about child protection from such involvement.

All in all, Jacob’s opinions and ways of life are somewhat different from the rest of his family, but that isn’t a bad thing.