I’ve got five parents and 44 siblings – I loved my ‘fantastic’ life but refuse to let my own kids have same childhood
A MAN with five parents and 44 siblings has revealed why he wouldn’t want his own kids to have the same childhood.
Calvin Wayman, 35, was born into a fundamentalist Mormon cult and enjoyed a very unconventional upbringing.
He left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 2019 and later appeared on Truly’s popular TV show My Extraordinary Family.
Now able to reflect on his previous life, he can see both positives and negatives to what he experienced.
He says: “I have mixed feelings on it now, having been out of the religion.
“On one hand it's fantastic, it's all I knew. On another hand, I see how much closer some families are with each other, and I think it's because they had the time to form deep bonds and connections.
“That’s a bit more difficult to do with that man people.
“And then I also realise that this wild lifestyle is even why I exist and I wouldn't be here without it.
“So I'm grateful in a strange way, even though it's not something I would want for my own kids.”
Calvin previously told how he has a trick he uses to remember all the names in his family.
He said: “I liken it to someone having a favourite sports team.
“If someone really loves the sports team, they know everyone's name on the team.
"And this 'team' lived together. When I was born, I was the 11th of 45.
"So I only had to learn one or two new teammates a year, so it wasn't that hard to remember names.
"Just don't ask me about birthdays - that is an entirely different matter."