Do you know the name Matt Roloff? I didn’t before I took on this assignment, but it’s also because I’m not much of a television fan. I like television, but I have a handful of shows I like to watch and that’s it. I don’t watch anything live, either, so I never see commercials for anything that might be on a different network. While I’ve certainly heard of Little People, Big World, I’ve never seen it. I know the show has millions of fans, and people adore the stars of the show. Matt Roloff is one of those stars, and it appears that right now he is at a place in life where he is struggling in a way that many of us will never understand.

In the midst of a divorce from his wife of almost 30 years, he’s also undergoing a serious health issue that requires surgery. He’s managed to keep it a secret to this point, but now the news is out and his many supporters and fans are horrified to learn that one of their favorite reality television stars is unwell. On that note, we thought we might try to learn a little bit more about Matt Roloff and his life so that we can get to know him just a little bit better.

He had 15 operations as a child

Matt Roloff lives with diastrophic dysplasia, which is a form of dwarfism that causes him to stop growing at a certain point. His condition is not one that allows for him to grow at a normal rate, and his childhood was a difficult one. He’s had dozens of surgeries throughout his life, and fifteen of those were when he was just a child.

His parents are not little people

Many people might be surprised to learn that Matt Roloff’s parents of are normal height. They are not little people, and it’s sometimes just unknown what causes someone to be born with a condition such as this. His parents are both of normal height and never had any idea that their child might be born with a condition such as this one.

He is one of four kids

With an older sister and two brothers, he is one of four kids. Matt Roloff’s older sister is also of normal height like his parents. He has a younger brother, Sam, who lives with the same condition that Matt lives with. Unfortunately, his other brother Joshua was born with a heart condition that killed him in 1999 when he was only 34. No one knows what caused so many different health issues within the children of this family.

He’s a twin parent

I have a special affinity for anyone who has twins, since my husband and I had twins when we tried for that third baby. Matt Roloff has fraternal twins born in 1990. Our twins are also fraternal – they’re a girl and a boy and you’d be shocked how many people don’t understand why they are not identical in any way – and that means I get what he went through for a few years in the beginning of his venture into parenthood. While he also has four kids, his twins were his first. Our twins were our last.

Not all his kids are little people

Interestingly enough, one of his twins has achondroplasia, which also makes him a little person. The other twin does not have it and neither do any of Matt Roloff’s other children. They are all of normal height with the exception of his oldest twin, which is just another great example of how they are really fraternal twins. His wife is also living with achondroplasia, so it’s clear that their oldest son gets that gene from her.

He has the coolest house in the world

On 34-acres in Oregon, Matt Roloff has really turned his home into probably one of the coolest houses around. He has a farm with a farmhouse, pumpkins, a lake with a pirate ship in the middle of it, a tree house stands three stories tall, and he even has a Medieval castle that’s the size of a real one. If that’s not cool enough for you, he also has underground secret tunnels, a volleyball court, a soccer field that’s all regulation size and he even has a mine shaft on the property. He also bought an additional 80-acres so that he can expand.

He owns a pumpkin farm

Along the property he owns in Oregon, Matt Roloff has a pumpkin field, too. The family opens it up during the fall every year so that families can come in and see the pumpkins, play, have fun and really enjoy themselves from time to time. It’s a nice location for all of them, and it’s one in which they have some serious visitors. Their pumpkin farm has approximately 30,000 visitors on an annual basis, which is actually very impressive.

He’s not doing well as a single man

His divorce from Amy was finalized earlier in 2016, and Matt Roloff has been living the single life ever since. Sadly, he is not adjusting to the life very well and he’s also very sick. He misses his family and wishes that he could have done something to make it work with Amy.

He doesn’t want his kids to worry

While Matt Roloff is undergoing surgery, he doesn’t want his kids to worry. He kept his health problems a secret from his kids as a result, and now he is undergoing a major surgery. They did not find out about it until recently, though, and they are not all that happy that their father would keep something like this from them.

He tries to keep things civil

He and his wife might be divorced now, but they work to put their differences aside so that they don’t involve their kids in the mess that became of their marriage. They have worked to be friendly or at least civil to one another for holidays and family gatherings, and it’s not easy for him but his kids are most important.

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