‘Bringing Up Bates’: Alyssa Bates Webster Relationship Trouble?

Alyssa Bates Webster, as seen on Bringing Up Bates, has rumors of strife swirling through the interwebs. In her recent birthday post on Instagram, Webster included, “This year Different life circumstances and shifts in relationships just made me want to skip over today.” Fans immediately noticed the cryptic message and began to worry for Alyssa.

Marriage to John Webster

Alyssa Bates Webster and John Webster married on May 24, 2014. They have five children together: Allie, 8, Lexi, 6, Zoey, 5, Maci, 2, and their first son, Rhett, 7 months. Throughout the entirety of their marriage, Bates has been a stay-at-home mom. Though for a short stint, she did assist her husband in his commercial cleaning business. As a result of some health problems, she had to stop in 2019. As a stay-at-home mom, Alyssa spends her time caring for the children and homeschooling the oldest four. John works in the heating and air conditioning industry in his family’s business.

As you can imagine, a post discussing any “shifts in relationships” will have people automatically thinking, “Oh! It’s got to be her husband.” Especially in light of some recent comments he has made that directly affect Bates. A few have commented that they feel that since he now has a son, he is less involved with Alyssa and their daughters. However, it is worth noting that he is featured in the post’s image, which some fans feel is enough to count him out as being the subject of her vagueness.

Sibling Strife

Being one of 19 children, it’s inevitable that there will be some bickering and fighting from time to time. In light of her obscure post, followers are considering all possibilities. The majority of the Bates family is fairly active on social media, so it’s pretty safe to assume that they would comment or post for family birthdays. In most cases, this seems to be true for their large family. Kelly Jo Bates, in particular, is amazing at keeping up with all of her children’s and grandchildren’s birthdays and doing lovely posts for each. (You can view her post for Alyssa’s birthday here.)

A few sisters in particular are suspected to have drifted away from Alyssa in terms of their closeness. Some followers suggested that Katie and Alyssa are not on speaking terms. However, one was quick to note that Katie did post a Happy Birthday in her stories, commented on Alyssa’s post, and sent a gift to her door. There was a bit of speculation that Carlin may have been the subject of Webster’s ambiguity, but she was apparently the first in the family to post in honor of her big sister’s birthday. She also commented, “We love you so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIS!” on the post in question.

Though this particular Reddit thread made no mention of the current status of her relationship with her brother Lawson, it’s worth noting that she didn’t even attend his wedding. Also of note is a lack of Josie Bates Balka’s presence on Alyssa’s page. There have been months of assumptions that Josie is on bad terms with a lot of her sisters. It seems to be painfully obvious given she didn’t like or comment on her sister’s birthday post, nor make a post of her own.

Other Possibilities

Although details are hard to come by, there is a bit of speculation that the post may be in reference to in-laws or even friends. The Websters do share a large portion of their lives on social media, however, they have said that they do have new friends that they have chosen not to share on any of their platforms. As far as in-laws go, those relationships can certainly be complicated, and it isn’t expected that she would share details if the post is in reference to John’s family.

Who do you think Alyssa was referencing in her post? Do you think there is something to any of the claims that it is related to her siblings or John? Drop a comment and let us know your thoughts!