What Return To Amish's Abe And Rebecca Are Doing Now
Abe and Rebecca Schmucker are two O.G. members of the cast of Breaking Amish. The couple appeared on all four seasons of the original TLC show and departed its spin-off Return to Amish at the close of the show's fourth season (via Distractify). Since leaving the series, Abe and Rebecca have chosen to remain out of the spotlight, focus on their marriage and raise their two daughters, Malika and Kayla.
Abe and Rebecca are one of the most beloved couples in the series. Their love affair was documented on the series via a courtship, wedding, and the birth of their children, all under the watchful eye of TLC's cameras.
Since 2017 the couple has chosen to live a more private life out of the public spotlight. Rebecca's Instagram is set to private but she does accept friend requests. Abe does not regularly update his social media.
What is the couple's life like now? What have they been doing? You'll be surprised to find out.
Rebecca and Abe currently live near their hometown
Abe and Rebecca hail from the same Amish community in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. They reportedly live close to the same town they grew up with their own family and but have not returned to the Amish lifestyle and its strict set of religious beliefs.
When the duo made their reality television show debut in 2012, Abe and Rebecca appeared to not know one another and pretended to be two Amish twenty-somethings trying their hand at an exciting new life. It was later revealed this was not the case at all.
Abe and Rebecca not only knew one another, they reportedly conceived a child together. The couple played along with the show's storyline that they were unaware of the other's existence before leaving their Amish community as they fell deeper in love. Abe asked Rebecca to marry him. She accepted, but had news that shocked her boyfriend to his core. She had been married once before and was divorced. Divorce was neither allowed nor accepted in the Amish community.
Abe feared retribution if they moved forward in their relationship and was visibly upset Rebecca did not share this information before accepting his proposal. "I didn't say we can't get married," he explained. "I said I have to make a decision between you and, like, being Amish," he said to his beloved (via Huffington Post).
Rebecca showed off her feisty side after their prior relationship was revealed
Rebecca showed a testy side to her personality after the couple's relationship secrets were revealed. During the second half of a reunion recap episode titled Breaking Amish: The Shunning Truth, Rebecca showed her fangs as she addressed the rumors she and Abe were a couple before moving from Pennsylvania to live in New York City.
Rebecca snapped at show host, NBC's Michelle Beadle per Us Weekly. "[Fans] can believe whatever they want, but if they want to know, they can watch the show. If they don't want to believe, they don't have to believe it. That's my opinion. I don't give a s**t what anybody thinks. People have to discuss our lives so much that we can't even have our own life anymore. They're making us out to be somebody I don't even know," an irritated Rebecca exclaimed.
A paternity test would later determine Abe was the father of Rebecca's secret daughter.
Why did Rebecca and Abe leave the series?
Rebecca revealed in a since-deleted Twitter post why the couple decided to exit Return to Amish at the close of the show's fourth season. They reportedly wanted to live their lives as ordinary citizens without the glare of TLC's cameras following their every move.
In the post, Rebecca sent her best wishes to the rest of the cast. Rebecca also added a secondary comment where she elaborated on her original statement.
"Announcement! We made the decision to no longer participate in Return to Amish," she revealed. "It's been a long road to come to this decision as a family and to move on to things that make us happy and bring us closer together to where we want to be. P.S. I got my GED!!" Rebecca wrote in a subsequent post (via Starcasm).
Today, Abe works as a truck driver to support his family. Rebecca is a stay-at-home mom who raises their two daughters while her husband is on the road (via Distractify).
Are they still friendly with their former castmates?
Abe and Rebecca are still very close with Abe's mother, Mary Schmucker, and his sister, Katie Ann.
The couple moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to Mary. The beloved Schmucker family matriarch appeared on several seasons of both Breaking Amish and Return to Amish, and had become a much-beloved cast member. Rebecca and Mary recently appeared together on a Facebook Live video where they chatted with fans.
Mary sells Tupperware on her Instagram page and can also be seen demonstrating cooking techniques on YouTube.
After appearing on the series, Mary was shunned by the Amish community due to her outrageous behavior which included drinking, dancing, and driving a car. She was last seen during Season 5. Mary was eventually welcomed back into the community and was able to attend Katie's Ann's wedding (via Soap Dirt). Katie Ann welcomed her first daughter in May 2020.
It is unknown if Abe and Rebecca still maintain a relationship with any of their former co-stars, including Jeremiah Raber, Sabrina Burkholder, or Kate Stoltz.