Katie Bates Clark Shares New Details About Family Rift After Losing ‘90%' of Relationships: ‘Stayed Silent for a Long Time'
Bringing Up Bates‘ Katie Bates Clark is revealing new details about a painful rift between her and her family.
The reality star, 25, first shared that there was tension within the Bates family in a Q&A posted to her Instagram Story on Wednesday, May 20.
When one fan asked why she was moving away from her home state of Tennessee, Katie explained that the distance would not make much of a difference as she is already not on speaking terms with most of her family.
"A lot of people are confused by my decision to leave Tennessee, especially because from the outside it may look like I have a big support system here," Katie wrote. "The truth is, sometimes things happening behind closed doors are a lot more complicated and painful than what people see publicly."
"Recently I chose to address something that happened throughout my childhood that I wish I had the strength to address years ago," she continued. "Unfortunately after doing so I lost relationships with about 90% of my family. This has been incredibly heartbreaking and heavy to walk through."
After Katie dropped that bombshell, fans immediately began speculating as to what was causing the issues. In an Instagram Story posted on Friday, May 22, the mom-of-two shared more insight into the ongoing family drama.
"After choosing to address painful things from my childhood I quickly learned that not everyone responds to honesty and healing with support," Katie explained. "Some people choose silence!! Some choose distance. Some choose to minimize or avoid uncomfortable truths altogether. But when someone has been repeatedly harmed, staying silent or distancing yourself despite knowing the truth can become its own form of betrayal."
"Neutrality doesn't always equal innocence, and it certainly doesn't equal support!" she added. "I stayed silent for a long time and I'm not doing that anymore."
RELATED: Katie Bates Clark Reveals Where Marriage to Travis Clark Stands After His Affair
The family rift is not the only hardship Katie has faced in the past few months. In January, Katie's husband Travis Clarkconfessed to having an extramarital affair shortly after she suffered a miscarriage.
In her Wednesday Q&A, Katie said that she and Travis are "working through things" and are making "really good progress" though there are "still hard days."
Katie and Travis married in December 2021 and share children Hailey, 3, and Harvey, 1. They are best known for starring in Katie's family's upTV reality series, Bringing Up Bates, which documented Katie's parents, Gil and Kelly Jo Bates, and their 19 children for 10 seasons from 2015 to 2021.
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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 10:58 AM.