MovieChat Forums > Alaska: The Last Frontier Discussion > I suspected abuse by Atz Sr a long while...

I suspected abuse by Atz Sr a long while ago.

posted 7 years ago by jet_85225
3 replies | jump to latest

In past episodes, Atz Jr has made some somewhat cryptic statements about his father implying that his father was not particularly "nice".

In the "When Cows Attack" episode (Season 6 Episode 11), Jewel Kilcher said:

"He was pretty hard on us when we were little".

"I think the reason my brothers opted out a lot working with the cattle is that because my Dad was hard to work with".

"I sort of gutted it out, I liked working with horses and animals enough that I sort of put up with it, but it was stressful".

I "get" that children has different perspectives from adults... but two kids and a ex-wife later, you have to at least wonder.

In that same episode, Atz said:

"She was a girl last time we were on a cattle drive together. I probably screamed and hollered at her and I'm amazed she's even willing to help me chase cattle again 20-30 years later".

That seems like the statement an abuser might employ.

Turns out... "After her parents split up when she was a child, Jewel writes, her father, Atz Kilcher, was abusive to her and her two brothers. She began living on her own at 15, earned a scholarship to Michigan’s Interlochen Center for the Arts at 16, then graduated two years later".

I provided the link below to the full article, but Atz Sr still seems to me like a angry man that seems to know he has to "be on his best behavior" while cameras are around.

If you watch the show closely, Atz Sr seems to often be "pulling himself back" or "editing" himself as he speaks... he starts to say something harsh, then tries to make nice.

We all know that reality TV isn't really "reality"... but I can't help but wonder what Atz Sr is like when the cameras aren't around.

I also can't help but wonder just how much of a prick he was before he became part of a "reality TV" show.

After 25 years working in Level One trauma center Emergency Departments and as a case manager, I have pretty accurate "bully/abuse radar" and just get a real bad vibe from Atz Sr.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sdut-jewel-interview-2015sep05-htmlstory.html

[–] melovell 7 years ago

As most may know, living on a farm type environment is very stressful, so Atzs behavior would have been a "learned behavior" stemming from his dad. Growing up in the era he did, spanking as punishment was always used, and some used a belt, my mom used a paddle, however that era has passed in America and today is very different from growing up in the late 90s and 00s era. So I can see and understand that type of punishment back then when jewel grew up. What we would consider abuse in today's world, in just punishment in his and his dad's era

[–] melovell 7 years ago

Is just*

[–] melovell 7 years ago

My uncle when we would visit his place, he would threaten us if we ever made him mad, he would take us to the garage and say, if you make me mad again ill shove ur nose into this pencil sharpener, then he would grind down a pencil in front of us, but now he's not like that, he might yell at times, but no threats and no spanking kids anymore, most people have outgrown those Tendencies in today's era now