When TikToker Audrey (@audreyinreallife) was 12 years old, her parents isolated her and her siblings from the world. She is the oldest of 11 kids, but when she was 12, there were still only eight siblings.
Her childhood had been fairly normal up until that point. They were sheltered, homeschooled kids who didn’t have the best social skills. But they still went to church every Sunday, attended a church activity once a week, and visited extended family.
“I remember very vividly going to one birthday party as a kid and being the weird homeschooled girl there because I had almost no experience being inside someone else’s house,” said Audrey.
“Everyone else was dressed as superheroes because it was a superhero party, and I was dressed as a Disney princess because we weren’t allowed to watch superhero movies.”
When her parents tried to ground her at 12 years old, there wasn’t much they could do. The only thing they could take away from her was her contact lenses because she hated wearing glasses.
One time, she had a meeting with one of the church leaders. He asked about her friends, and she made up a story about hanging out with a girl from church and going to each other’s houses.
He knew that she was lying and called her parents out of concern. He told her parents that the church community would be more than happy to help with driving the kids around to activities and playdates.
“I remember my parents coming home from that and relaying that information to me and then saying that people at church were basically trying to take their kids away and tell them how to parent their kids,” said Audrey.
They never went back to that church again. From then on, they started driving to the next town to sit in the hallways of churches and listen to the sermons over the intercom. Then, they would leave before anyone could talk to them.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
Audrey and her siblings were conditioned to think that their neighbors and anyone outside of their home was a threat. They weren’t allowed to play in the neighborhood or answer the door. Basically, they were on lockdown.
At some point, her parents decided that eight kids weren’t enough, and they wanted more. But since her mother had complications with her last pregnancy, they hired a surrogate to carry three more kids. The ninth and tenth children were twins.
When Audrey’s parents told them that they would be having more children, the youngest kids burst into tears because there were already too many children in the household.
Her parents also argued constantly. Her dad would leave the house all day, and her mom would lock herself in the bedroom and argue with him on the phone.
Meanwhile, the kids were taking care of and raising each other. Audrey’s parents paid her to do chores around the house, so she never learned to drive or got a job during her teenage years.
Furthermore, her three youngest siblings were supposed to be kept a secret from the outside world. For some reason, her parents were determined not to let anyone find out about these extra kids.
Their extended family finally found out about the twins when Audrey’s grandparents kept pushing to come visit for the holidays.
The existence of the 11th child was revealed after Audrey’s aunt called the police to do a welfare check on her mother. For years, people had been making calls to CPS about their family, but no one ever came until Audrey was 18.
When police officers showed up at their house, Audrey’s parents tried to claim that the 11th child was the neighbor’s baby, but they weren’t buying it.
To this day, the reason that Audrey’s parents give for isolating their children is that people were trying to tell them how to parent their kids, so they just made sure their kids never saw anyone.
“I understand in some situations that no contact is necessary, and there are reasons to go no-contact with family members,” said Audrey.
“But to take your 11 kids and hide them from everyone in the outside world and never let them leave or interact with anybody at all, it’s just crazy. And at that point, it seemed to me like the only explanation is mental health and control.”
Eventually, Audrey was allowed to leave home and go to community college. She now has a good job and no kids.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
