The Family Yearns for Private Life
After the initial media frenzy that surrounded the birth of the septuplets and the health scares that followed the next year, Bobbi and Kenny decided that their children should have a normal a life as possible. As such, they decided to keep out of the public eye for the most part. There were updates on how the children were doing around important birthdays, but that was mostly it. The couple received a letter from the famous Dionne quintuplets, who congratulated them and warned the couple to avoid the pitfalls they did as and advised the McCaugheys to keep their lives as private as possible.
Oprah appearance. Source: travelfuntu.com
Before the McCaughey septuplets were born, the Dionne quintuplets were the first set of quintuplets who have survived their infancy. The five identical sisters were born in Callander Ontario in 1934, and they were two months premature. They all survived to adulthood, even though one of them died in 1954 at the age of 20. The five girls were taken from their family and placed into the care of doctors only to be later turned into a tourist attraction. They were only returned to their parents at the age of nine, but after that, they were subjected to years of abuse by their father and his five other children. The sister later sued the government for compensation for the abuse they suffered as children, and they were awarded $2.8 million in 1998.
Their letter read:
“Dear Bobbi and Kenny,
If we emerge momentarily from the privacy we have sought all our adult lives; it is only to send a message to the McCaughey family.
We three would like you to know we feel a natural affinity and tenderness for your children. We hope your children receive more respect than we did. Their fate should be no different from that of other children. Multiple births should not be confused with entertainment, nor should they be an opportunity to sell products.
Our lives have been ruined by the exploitation we suffered at the hands of the government of Ontario, our place of birth. We were displayed as a curiosity three times a day for millions of tourists. To this day we receive letters from all over the world. To all those who have expressed their support in light of the abuse we have endured, we say thank you. And to those who would seek to exploit the growing fame of these children, we say beware.
We sincerely hope a lesson will be learned from examining how our childhood experience forever altered our lives. If this letter changes the course of events for these newborns, then perhaps our lives will have served a higher purpose.
Sincerely, Annette, Cécile and Yvonne Dionne”
Bobbi and Kenny were happy to oblige and followed the advice they received from the surviving Dionne sisters. They mostly kept their septuplets away from the public eye by making sure their public appearances were kept to a minimum and not allowing the press to photograph them apart from special occasions such as the moment they turned 13 or when they finished high school.