TLC’s ‘PolyFamily’ Says They ‘Lost’ Relationships with Loved Ones After Coming Out as a Quad

Relationships aren’t always easy, especially when they’re between four people.

In the premiere of TLC’s new series, Polyfamily, Alysia, Tyler, Sean and Taya share what life is like being in a closed quad relationship. During a parents’ night out ahead of the birth of their fifth child, the two couples reflected on the sacrifices they have made for love.

“When I first came out as polyamorous to my mom, she was outright supportive, and she had her fair share of questions and concerns,” Taya explained. “The biggest one being that she didn’t want anyone to get hurt. But she showed us support, and she was happy to meet Tyler and Alysia.”

“When we told her we wanted to move in together, I think that’s when she really realized that this wasn’t a phase, that this is something we really wanted to fight for,” she continued. “And the more time that she spent with us and got to know Tyler and Alysia, and could see the love between the four of us, I think she realized that this is something that was going to be forever.”

Not all of them have been so lucky, though. Alysia revealed that she and Tyler have struggled with a lot of loss since joining the quad.

“When we first came out as polyamorous, we definitely lost family members, we lost friends,” she said. “There’s a lot of people that just don’t get it. I don’t have a relationship with my dad and stepmom right now. Tyler’s mom didn’t get it at first. His dad still doesn’t get it. And Sean doesn’t have much living family, but Taya’s uncles are not embracing it either. 

“We’ve had friends too, with kids around our kids’ age, that, they just don’t know how to answer those questions if they were to come up,” Alysia shared. “People have definitely taken a big step back once they found out we were polyamorous.”

Alysia’s friend, Katheleen, admitted she was shocked when she found out.

“We were actually at a mutual friend’s wedding, and [Alysia] was like, ‘Hey, we’ve been dating this other couple, and I’d really like you to meet them,’” she said, noting her main concern was for Alysia and Tyler’s two children, who they had before joining the quad. “And I was like, ‘What?’ The biggest thing about it is, what if it doesn’t work out? They went into it with two kids, and now there’s five kids, and how that would affect anything if things were to change.”

Taya’s mom, Jill, then opened up about being a parent to someone in a four-person relationship, saying she just wanted her daughter “to be happy” and “loved.”

“As crazy as this ride has been, I can’t even imagine anything different for her,” she added.

Later, Alysia acknowledged the challenges of seeing Jill support Taya, knowing the rest of them don’t have that.

“There’s definitely some envy when I can see Tay’s family being so supportive and so open and welcoming,” Alysia told cameras. “Of course I’m gonna be envious, because I want my family to behave the same way.”

“My relationship with my dad is really strained,” she went on to reveal. “When he doesn’t recognize two of my partners as people that I’m in a relationship with, when they are categorized just as friends and not considered to be family, when they moved down here to be with us to start a family with us, to grow our family and love and support us, and to be told that he doesn’t think that they’re family, it makes it really difficult to come together and find that understanding.”

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Polyfamily airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.