An Australian mother of eight children, including quintuplets, is being brutally honest about the toll it's taken on her marriage, saying she and her husband are "passing ships in the night".
- 'I've already lost it on my kids': Dad's brutally honest Instagram rant about being a stay-at-home parent
- 'Are you a perfect parent?' Pink lashes out at Instagram trolls
- Meghan Markle mum-shamed on Instagram for 'awkwardly' carrying baby Archie
Kim Tucci made international headlines in January 2016 when she gave birth to quintuplets Keith, Ali, Penelope, Tiffany and Beatrix. She and her husband Vaughan Tucci were already parents to eight-year-old Kurt, four-year-old Ava and two-year-old Indiana, meaning their household grew to a whopping 10 members overnight.
Kim, who documents life with quintuples on the 'Surprised by Five' social media accounts, often posts about hardships that come with having five babies at once, including minimal sleep and postnatal depression.
Now she's opened up about the toll it's taken on her marriage, telling Mamamia she and Vaughan are going through a trial separation.
"Our biggest mistake is that we focused so much on the kids and we lost ourselves in the process," she says. "We were together for 10 years before, and then all of a sudden it's like you're strangers... like passing ships in the night."
She added she can see where things "went wrong", and said it's "just really sad".
In their temporary arrangement, her husband comes to visit their eight children, with Kim their sole carer most of the time.
The couple last appeared together in a February Instagram post which Kim captioned "the Seven Year Itch".
"A lot of our photos have been all smiles for the flash of the camera, but as soon as the camera is away, there have been tears and gut-wrenching resentment," she revealed.
"I love my husband, but I often wonder if love is enough to get through this difficult phase in our life's [sic]. Did you know that the divorce rate skyrockets for those who have twins, triplets and more?
"Life usually revolves around our children and most days we struggle to find time for ourselves let alone time together."
A 2012 study conducted in the US proved an association between multiple births and parental divorce, with twins at first birth associated with greater parental divorce compared to single children.
Newshub.
