These days she may seem like a native New Yorker, but Kate Stoltz – of TLC's hit reality show "Breaking Amish" – had no intention of making the Big Apple her home when she arrived in 2012 for her first season on the reality show.
"I didn't realize I was going to end up living there because I hated it. I absolutely detested New York City when I first stepped inside. I never expected to stay," Stoltz tells Headlines & Global News in an exclusive interview.
Three years later, the former Amish gal is thriving as a model, an emerging fashion designer and star of the TLC "Breaking Amish" spinoff, "Return to Amish." She's also the franchise's only original cast member who hasn't moved back to Pennsylvania.
"The reason I decided to stay in New York was because it made me realize that they're so many opportunities," Stoltz says. "When you're in a city, there's people making it happen, traveling the world and doing the things they actually want to do – things people only dream about in other places. Being in New York has helped me realize that if I really do want that, I can do it."
The 24-year-old reality star grew up in Myerstown, Penn., as the middle child of seven and the daughter of her district's strict bishop. Stoltz left her family and the Amish community at age 21 and moved to Florida where a lot of ex-Amish head in their transition to becoming "English." About six months later, however, producers asked her to join the TLC series and then she quickly transitioned to modeling in New York.
