On Tuesday, November 17, Trent Johnston turns 50 — and the birthday list he brings has 50 items on it, starting with a horse, a lance, and a dude ranch. Eleven years ago, America met him as the loud dad with five kids and a rulebook. This is the road from there to here.
March 2015: The Loud Dad With Five Kids and a Rulebook
When 7 Little Johnstons premiered in March 2015, the family of seven from Forsyth, Georgia walked straight into America’s living rooms — and Trent walked in loudest. He was the funny, rule-setting dad, the one who laid down the law and enforced it at full volume. His daughter Liz was 13 years old then; today she is a married mother of two. Emma’s own timeline from 9 to 21 shows how far the youngest has come.
November 3, 2023: The Day the Rulebook Got a Granddaughter
On November 3, 2023, Liz and Brice Bolden welcomed daughter Leighton — five pounds, ten ounces, nineteen inches — and Trent Johnston became a grandpa. “The wait is finally over! We’re excited to introduce our baby to the world,” Liz and Brice told PEOPLE at the time. Fans who only knew Trent the rule-setter suddenly saw the soft side: a grandfather holding a newborn like glass. The rulebook did not disappear. It just got a new chapter, written in much smaller handwriting.
November 2025: A Wedding, an Offer, and an Empty Chair
On November 8, 2025, Liz married Brice Bolden at the Johnston family home in Forsyth, and Trent watched his 13-year-old from Season 1 become a bride. A month later, in December 2025, Trent laid out his terms for a reconciliation with Anna on camera — and nearly a year on, the fence he offered to build is still unbuilt. Anna departed the series after Season 16, skipped Season 17, and will not appear in Season 18. Then October 10, 2026 brought the hardest night: Anna was arrested in Georgia on suspicion of DUI, with officers reporting a blood alcohol level of 0.139, and released the next day on a $1,563 bond, according to reports. The wedding photos are joyful. The empty chair in them is impossible to miss.
September 8, 2026: Grandpa Again — While the House Fills Up
On September 8, 2026, Liz and Brice welcomed son Coleman, and Liz announced on Instagram that “our family is complete.” For Trent, that makes two grandchildren in three years — and a house that refuses to sit still. Eldest son Jonah is seven years into his relationship with Ashley, holds a steady sales job, and still lives at home, and according to The Ashley’s Reality Roundup, tensions are rising between Trent and Jonah over exactly that. Amber finally gets a storyline of her own: perimenopause, complete with a menopause party cake. Two grandkids, a grown son still under his roof, a wife entering a new chapter — Trent turns 50 in the middle of all of it.
October 23 to November 17, 2026: Fifty, a Lance, and a Premiere
On October 23, TLC dropped the Season 18 trailer, and Trent’s birthday plan stole the show: 50 new things at 50. TLC says he is “embracing a major milestone as he turns 50” — dude-ranch work and jousting, plus magic tricks, cow chasing and rock rappelling, according to reports. See his 50-at-50 bucket list, ranked wildest first. Season 18 premieres Tuesday, November 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on TLC, with the six Johnstons returning for Season 18. One chair stays empty. One lance gets picked up.
YOU MAY LIKEEverything We Know About 7 Little Johnstons Season 18 — Wedding Bells, New Homes, and One Big Question MarkSo here is the question for Trent’s 50th: on November 17, would you rather watch him charge down a jousting lane with a lance in his hand — or sit down for the one conversation with Anna that eleven years of television still has not given us? Team Lance, or Team Fence?
More 7 Little Johnstons drama
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