Rip Wheeler (played by Cole Hauser) has had a soft spot for Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) since the 1990s when he started living on the Yellowstone ranch. There had always been a mutual attraction and in series two, she finally let him in and they have been going from strength to strength ever since. However, how Rip came to be on the ranch is a very disturbing story.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Yellowstone.
What happened to Rip’s family in Yellowstone?
Rip grew up near Miles City in Montana on a pig farm, where he was being raised by his single mum, alongside his brother.
His parents had divorced and Rip hardly saw his dad but everything changed one night in 1997.
Rip’s dad, a very violent man who had abused his wife, went to the farm with the mission of killing both of his sons and their mum.
Unfortunately for Rip, his dad mostly succeeded with his killings, murdering both his brother and his mum.
READ MORE: Yellowstone season 4 theories: Beth’s assistant sacrificed herself
While the events of Rip’s childhood were traumatising, he wouldn’t have met Beth if none of it happened.
If he wasn’t taken in by John then there would have been no love story between Rip and Beth.
In season three, fans were thrilled to see Rip was ready to propose, even going to great lengths of digging up his mum’s grave to retrieve her engagement ring.
But before he was able to ask for Beth’s hand in marriage, the Duttons had been targeted.
