'Little People, Big World's Tori Roloff Says Her Father Didn't Approve of Her Relationship With Zach
Zach and Tori Roloff are opening up about the early stages of their relationship when family questioned their love.
On Thursday's episode of the Raising Heights podcast, the Little People, Big World alums talk about their experience as a mixed height couple -- with Tori being average-sized and Zach having dwarfism.
During the conversation, Tori reveals that like many people, her family and friends had questions when she revealed that she was dating Zach -- especially her father, who wasn't keen on the idea at first.
Tori and Zach Roloff talk about her family's questions at the beginning of their relationship.
"I can remember getting ready to go on a date with you and saying who you were and showing him a picture of you and him being like, 'No, what are you talking about?,'" she recalls to Zach. "'This is not the guy I pictured for you.' He literally asked, like, 'Are you sure?' multiple times. He was like, 'I don't know about this.'"
She adds, "Then he met you, and I joke all the time, but pretty sure my dad likes you better than me now. My whole family likes you more."
Tori, 33, and Zach, 34, began dating while they were in high school in 2011. The pair tied the knot in 2015 on the Roloff family farm. Together, they are parents of Jackson, 7, Liliah, 4, and Josiah, 2.
Tori says that when her father met Zach, his perception of him and the height difference changed.
"As far as the height difference though, he definitely overlooked that once he met you," Tori says. "He was like, 'Oh, I think I get it.'"
As for her family and friends, they also had questions and concerns about their romance, but they let them go once they got to know Zach.
"I think that there were questions when we started dating from my friends and family, but once everyone met you, they were like, 'Gosh, I get why this girl is into him. I get this scenario, I get this relationship.' Height didn't matter," she shares.
Zach notes that as a person with a disability, you want people to overlook the obvious physical aspect, despite how hard it may be. Tori had no issue doing that.
"You look for all these things that are wrong when the person's not right for you," Tori says. "Once I met you, even though your height is different than what I would have imagined, there was nothing wrong with you. There was nothing that I could pick apart."
Tori and Zach agree that they haven't faced a lot of public adversity during their relationship, but chalk that up to their Little People, Big World fame. The pair also note that tuning people out has also worked in their favor.
"Outside opinions shouldn't matter," Tori says. "They could have kept me from happiness and they could have kept you away from happiness as well. We didn't let other people's opinions come between us or our relationship."
Tori and Zach's love story played out during their time on Little People, Big World. Zach's family -- including his parents, Amy and Matt Roloff, and three siblings all appeared on the series since 2006. Earlier this year, Tori and Zach officially exited the series with their kids at the end of the last season.
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