Katie Bates admits she felt betrayed by silence after opening up about a “painful” childhood incident.
Posting via her Instagram Story on Friday, May 22, Bates, 25, shared more of her feelings as she faces ongoing family tension due to the undisclosed past event.
Bates said she was posting “to clarify what I meant when I said I lost about 90% of my family relationships” in her previous post.
“After choosing to address painful things from my childhood, I quickly learned that not everyone responds to honesty and healing with support. Some people choose silence!! Some choose distance. Some choose to minimize or avoid uncomfortable truths altogether,” she wrote via the Instagram Story. “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!”
Bates concluded, “I stayed silent for a long time and I’m not doing that anymore.”
The Growing Up Bates alum revealed on Wednesday, May 20, that she made the choice to leave Tennessee amid family strain.
“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. The truth is, sometimes things happening behind closed doors are a lot more complicated and painful than what people see publicly,” wrote via her Instagram Story at the time.
She continued, “Recently I chose to address something that happened throughout my childhood that I wish I had the strength to address years ago. Unfortunately after doing so I lost relationships with about 90 percent of my family. This has been incredibly heartbreaking and heavy to walk through. I’m not going to share details online, but I’m also done pretending everything is OK just to protect appearances.”
Bates added that she decided that remaining in Tennessee would not be in her best interests, explaining she felt it was “no longer healthy” for her.
Instead, she is embarking on a fresh start alongside her husband Travis Clark and their two children. (The couple married in 2023 and were embroiled in a cheating scandal in January when Clark, 24, admitted to having an affair.)
“I’m choosing to move forward, finally heal and build a peaceful life for myself and my children,” she wrote. “More than anything, I’m desperately leaning on God right now even when things feel painful, confusing and lonely. I don’t have every answer right now, but I believe God can bring healing and peace out of even the hardest situations.”
