Rosanna Miller is a reality-television star, who rose to prominence through her participation in the TV show called “Return to Amish.” The show was a successful spin-off from the defunct series “Breaking Amish.” It premiered in May 2014 on the TLC network, and has entertained viewers for the past seven years.
A brief background on “Return to Amish”
The idea of having a spin-off series materialized not long after the original Amish-themed reality series was canceled. Its producers wanted to delve more into the subject of young Amish people leaving their secluded community and exploring the “English” world, a term they used to refer to the world outside the Amish and Mennonite lifestyle. “Return To Amish” featured the lives of some of the original cast members, including Sabrina Burkholder, Jeremiah Raber, Rebecca Schmucker, and Abe Schmucker as they went back to reconnect with their old community. They were joined by new cast members each season as they went through different situations. Some of them had a hard time, so they continued living the non-Amish lifestyle.
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During the sixth season of the reality-TV show, 18-year-old Amish girl Rosanna Miller was introduced to the viewers. She was the best friend of another young Amish lady named Maureen Byler, who was the granddaughter of Ada Byler, an original cast member of the show. Ada was known to have been shunned by the Old Order Amish community, which wasn’t necessarily because of her loud character, but when she decided to get a job – it’s not allowed in their community to hold a job in the “English” world.
Get to know Rosanna Miller
“Return to Amish” star Rosanna Miller was born and raised in an Old Order Amish household, in a town called Brookville in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. According to her Facebook account, their family moved to the nearby town of Punxsutawney. While she was quite tight-lipped on the personal details of her family, she was shown to be living with her parents and brother – her parents were deeply devoted to the Amish culture and practices. Generally, they avoided using modern technology, including electricity and cars. They dressed in a certain way, and weren’t allowed to wear any fabric with bright colors, but only the dull and plain such as gray. Her parents’ faces were blurred each time they appeared on the TV show, and the scenes with them were shown mostly in long shot or wide shot angles.
It was insinuated at the beginning of the show that Rosanna didn’t have any type of work in their community; she just helped out her family on their farm; she was tasked to “manure out” the horse stalls in the barn ever since she was a kid. She was described as a tomboy growing-up, because she enjoyed doing chores out in the field rather than being cooped up inside the house. However, she liked girly things too, such as make-up, which she hid in the barn so that her mother wouldn’t find it. She said putting on make-up, especially lip tint, made her feel so glamorous, but she couldn’t expose it to their world because it was a big no-no to the Amish people.
The dream of exploring the “English” life
Rosanna and Maureen Byler, an Amish school teacher, were childhood friends. They first met in a tetherball tournament and were best friends ever since; the girls often dreamed of discovering what life was like outside their Amish community. Rosanna said that she wanted to leave her home because all they did every single day was work, eat, and sleep; they were not allowed to go out and have fun – Amish people lived quite a simple life to be closer to God. One of the original main cast members was her cousin Rebecca Schmucker, who would often talk to her about leaving the Amish community and how she enjoyed the “English” world. It inspired her to follow in her footsteps as she wanted to do many things that were forbidden to her people, and while Rebecca perfectly understood her excitement, her cousin warned her that it could be difficult at times.
Get the scoop on new #ReturnToAmish cast member Maureen Byler and her beau Daniel! Are they still together? Was Maureen really still Amish when they filmed? #SpoilerAlert New season premieres tonight at 9/8c on @TLC! https://t.co/AFhicW7etb
— Starcasm (@starcasm) March 22, 2021
Rosanna left the Amish community with Maureen
She and Maureen had a hard time telling their parents their intention to leave the community – they were pretty much aware that there was a chance that they wouldn’t be able to see their families again. As predicted, Rosanna’s parents told her to leave right away, if living the “English” life was what she wanted. Maureen contacted her childhood friend, Daniel, a former Amish working as a taxi driver, to take them to the airport. They were so amused by everything they saw in the airport, such as escalators, revolving doors, modern automated toilets, and the rest of the normal modern amenities in the building. Unfortunately, when they tried to buy an airline ticket, they were denied since they didn’t have any I.D. cards. Apparently, in the Amish community, they weren’t allowed to have their photos taken – they only have social security numbers and birth certificates. They were disappointed because they really wanted to experience travel by air. They called Daniel again, as they didn’t have any choice but to travel by car.
Rosanna Miller’s journey to the “English” world in “C
Florida was Rosanna’s target destination, because Maureen’s grandmother, Ada, had a house in Pinecraft, located in a small community of Amish and Mennonites in Sarasota, Florida. When they arrived, they were welcomed warmly by former members of their Amish community and main stars of the show, including Jeremiah Raber and his wife Carmela Mendez, as well as Sabrina Shmuck and her boyfriend Jethro Nolt. Ada told them that they stayed together and chose to ride out the virus by staying in Florida. They all believed they had a better chance of not contracting the virus there, since the number of cases in the area was quite low at that time, as compared to the other places in the US.
Rosanna was overwhelmed and had a panic attack
While Rosanna was excited to explore her new world, she was also quite overwhelmed by the whole thing – before her first day away from her family ended, she had a panic attack. Sabrina tried to distract her, but she was so out of it that they had to call 911. Ada said that the possible consequences of her actions finally hit her, and Rosanna couldn’t handle it. In the young girl’s mind, she wondered if she would be shunned by her own family, and if they would become outcast in the Old Order Amish community by her actions. Eventually, she calmed down and the paramedics made sure she was alright before they left. The EMTs were worried that she wasn’t comfortable with the people she was staying with, but she assured them that the others would take care of her. Sabrina was apprehensive that her cousin might not fully understand the difficulty of living in the “English” world, but she hoped that she could survive it.
First time on the beach in Florida, swimming, and para-sailing
To keep Rosanna’s mind off her worries, Ada took her and Maureen out for a bicycle ride, and they explored the neighborhood. Rosanna wanted to go to the beach, as she hadn’t seen the ocean in her entire life; she dreamed of touching the sand and swimming in the water. When they arrived at the beach, she was so excited, but also worried that they didn’t have anything appropriate to wear. Apparently, in Amish customs, they were only allowed to wear skirts with hemlines not more than six inches above their ankles, and donning short-sleeve dresses was only permitted while they were working at home. Their hair should always be up in a bun with a cover. However, even without a swimsuit, she swam and even tried para-sailing. She confessed that she was glad that she didn’t decide to return home after her panic attack.
Her first time shopping for swimsuits and gained her first “English” friend
After Rosanna and Maureen realized that they needed to have appropriate attire if they wanted to fully enjoy the beach, they went shopping. Claudia, one of the sales assistants, was drawn to Rosanna and took her under her wing and helped her choose the perfect swimsuit. Apparently, Claudia was also from Pennsylvania, and was curious about the innocent look on their faces, most especially Rosanna’s, so she wanted to help her out with her fashion choices. Eventually, Claudia became Rosanna’s first non-Amish friend.
Her first date with a non-Amish person
Rosanna went out on her first date with a non-Amish boy named Nick. It was Claudia who introduced them when she invited Rosanna to hang out with her friends. While she bought a new dress for the occasion, in the end she decided to stay comfortable by wearing her traditional Amish clothing. They played a few rounds of miniature golf, and Nick patiently taught her how to play the game. She was quite surprised that compared to Amish boys, Nick was a bit shy and nervous around her, but she also realized that he was a bit of a player.
She bought her first mobile
It’s forbidden to buy or use a mobile ‘phone in the Amish community, so for the first time, reality TV stars Rosanna and Maureen bought a smartphone. There was joy on their faces when they were given a demo presentation of the gadget’s features. Rosanna said that the Amish community should have one for every home, so that they could easily call for help in an emergency.
Went back to Pennsylvania, and made some new plans
Rosanna didn’t have any plans of going back to Pennsylvania that soon, but Jeremiah and Carmela, two of the main cast of “Return to Amish”, were exposed to the Covid-19 virus. Everyone in the production crew and the rest of the cast went into the two-week quarantine requirement. They were all tested for the virus during the isolation, and were relieved when the results came back negative. When Florida was hit hard by the pandemic, the governor issued a demand that all non-residents of the state leave before they locked it down. Ada then invited everyone to stay at her Pennsylvania home, so Rosanna went with her. While Rosanna wanted to do many things in Saratosa, such as getting a driver’s license and taking her GED test, she said she didn’t want to die from the virus so made new plans for her transition to a non-Amish life.
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Rosanna asked her brother to come with her
Since Rosanna’s home was about an hour away from Ada’s place, she gave her family a visit. She first met with her brother who was quite understanding of her dreams, but was worried that his sister wouldn’t be able to handle all the evil out there. She invited him to come with her and live in a house together. He said he couldn’t do that even if he wanted to, as their parents needed him and pointed to the stacks of logs. Farm work was hard and their parents couldn’t do everything on their own.
Told her mom about her decision to leave the Amish life
During the ninth episode of “Return to Amish,” Rosanna was quite nervous to let her mother know that she had chosen to live in the “English” world. There was a chance that her family especially, her mother would disown her, just as those other parents had done to their children who left the Amish way of life. Her mother asked if she wanted to leave her family, and Rosanna replied with a no, and further elaborated that there were just so many things she’d like to see and explore outside their community. Her mother didn’t give her a hard time after she realized that her daughter couldn’t be swayed into changing her decision. Rosanna was relieved and thankful when her mother said that she could always come home to visit them. Her friend, Maureen, wasn’t as lucky, as her parents didn’t approve of her decision to go “English” and disowned her, but she said it was all worth it, since Daniel had finally proposed to her.
Made some new “English” friends thru Claudia and a makeover
One of the few people Rosanna usually talked with using her new phone was her first non-Amish friend, Claudia. Due to the pandemic, the clothes shop was closed, and Claudia went back to Pennsylvania as well; she invited Rosanna to hang out with her, and meet her friends. Rosanna was excited, as she knew that she needed to make new friends if she wanted to continue living outside the Amish community. Claudia and her friends helped Rosanna out on her makeover; they changed her look, from her hair down to the nails on her toes, and for the first time in her life, she wore a colorful modern dress that showed some of her skin. All the people who saw the new Rosanna said that she was pretty hot.
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Rosanna Miller after the sixth season of “Return to Amish” ended
Based on her photos and posts on Instagram and Facebook, Rosanna has fully embraced the “English” life – drinking beer, eating sushi, wearing revealing clothes, and getting her belly button pierced. Reportedly, she had even got into trouble for buying alcohol in August 2020 as she was still a minor at 20; she pleaded guilty and was fined $300.
Her dating life was also revealed as her relationship with a non-Amish guy named Johnny Detweiler became Instagram-official; it wasn’t clear when they started going out, but it was said that Johnny made the initial payment for her court fine in January 2021, so fans assumed that they were already together then. In July 2021, a fan commented on her photos on her Facebook account about the obvious bump on her tummy, and she confirmed that she was pregnant. Rosanna welcomed her first child in March 2022, and shared the good news with her fans as she posted photos of her baby girl through her Instagram stories. Her daughter’s name is Clara Rose Detweiler and she weighed six pounds, 12 ounces, about three kgs.
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Fans of the reality-TV show wondered if the show has been canceled. No official announcements were made, but there was a good indication that the TLC network had renewed the show for its seventh season. Rosanna once held a question and answer session on her Instagram, and she was asked about plans for a new season of “Return to Amish”, to which she replied, ‘Yeah there should be one coming out soon.’ Although she didn’t mention that she would be part of it, fans were quick to surmise after she took down all posts pertaining to the pregnancy, and then later made her social media accounts private, that she was probably given a gag order because all of it would be featured in the seventh season of the show.
There have been many allegations about the authenticity of “Return to Amish.” Some viewers claimed that most of the cast members were already part of the “English” world, long before the first episode aired. Critics blasted the show for its alleged bogus narratives, but some fans came to their defense, and said that while it was possible that it was just a reenactment of the journey of former Amish members who left their community, the stories could actually still be real.
