‘HARD-WORKING WOMAN’ Little People star Caryn Chandler’s son Connor slams trolls’ claims she’s a ‘gold digger’ for romance with Matt Roloff
star Caryn Chandler’s son Connor slams trolls’ claims she’s a ‘gold digger’ for romance with Matt Roloff
THE son of Little People star Caryn Chandler has slammed trolls who think she’s only marrying co-star Matt Roloff for his money, insisting she had independent wealth before she met him.
The father-of-one, who has sat down with The U.S. Sun for a wide-ranging interview about family life, admits he was shocked when his mom first got together with her now-fiance.
Caryn worked as a manager at Roloff Farms for 10 years before becoming Matt’s assistant while he was married to his ex-wife, Amy, the mother of his children.
After Matt, 61, and Amy split, he went official with Caryn, 55, in 2017 on social media, and the pair have always denied they had an affair during his marriage.
When they met, Caryn already had two children, son Connor, and daughter Brittany, with ex-husband Joseph Chandler, whom she was married to for around 20 years before he filed for divorce in 2012.
Many trolls hit out at Caryn on social media, claiming she was simply after the Little People star’s money as he has owned Roloff Farms for years, which includes acres of land, along with property.
Connor told The U.S. Sun: “My mom is really big on self-love. My mom loves herself, so don’t get me wrong, the hate is more confusing than upsetting to her.
“She’s a very happy, heartwarming person. She walks around everywhere with a smile. She never has hate toward people.
“So she’s always just asking me like, ‘How can people say things like this about me?’ My mom is a super hardworking woman, you know … She raised me and my sister really well, and she had her own money.
“A lot of people think she went into this relationship with nothing.
“She and my dad sold a business they own together, and she had more than enough for herself going into this relationship. So if you think she’s a gold digger, she doesn’t care.”
SURPRISE RELATIONSHIP
Connor, 24, says he didn’t initially understand his mom getting with a small person but now realizes she cared about the way he treated her, and Matt makes her happy.
He said: “I definitely thought it was interesting. I never really watched the show before, [but] I visited the pumpkin patch one year. The show’s great.
“I can say that I was surprised [that Caryn was dating Matt]. I even asked my mom like, you’re really interested in him? I was confused myself.
“I don’t find it confusing why now that she was interested in him, but then, it [was] hard from an outsider perspective.
“We can’t live a little person’s life and they’re just like us; they cook, they clean, they do normal things. They’re just a little bit shorter.
‘A GOOD MAN’
“It was a little confusing at first, and I wasn’t understanding what she saw, but it was more so what she wanted and she was getting treated very, very well. And that’s what she was going after.
“I remember when my parents first divorced, one of the big things was ‘I don’t ever want a stepfather, you guys are my parents’. But it’s great [Caryn’s new relationship].
“Matt is a very good person and he treats my mom amazingly. He treats my sister amazingly. He treats my whole family really well, and I really enjoy having him in my life.”
Connor says his mom still makes money from appearing on Little People, Big World, but she was never desperate to appear on the show and would have had a good income regardless.
“They do real estate here and there. I know the market’s crazy right now, so I don’t think they’re investing too much,” Connor said. “But TLC, with the show, that’s her main job.
“The money’s nice and my mom always has said that; everyone will always like a good paycheck.
“But she’s just happy that she is where she is in life. She’s always saying, ‘With or without the cameras, this is where we would be.'”
