00:00I have 10 children and I became a grandma at 36 years old.
00:03My daughter is younger than her nephew.
00:05She was born an aunt.
00:06This is my normal.
00:07All I know is chaos and shenanigans.
00:09Not those, not those.
00:10Why you in here?
00:13People question that whether I'm the dad of all my children.
00:16They said I'm contributing to overpopulation
00:18and also like stop opening your leg.
00:19Would you like to have any more kids?
00:24We're doing French toast.
00:25Someone did want pancakes so if I feel like this at the end
00:28I might make four or five pancakes as well.
00:31Don't want to but I will.
00:33Usually I try to cook at least three times a week.
00:38Breakfast is usually more like a weekend thing.
00:46That depends.
00:47For breakfast everybody is usually good with eggs, pancakes, grits,
00:52bacon, the typical breakfast.
00:54Dinner is when things get a little interesting
00:57because not a lot of dinner things come in big enough sizes for everybody.
01:03My name is Ashley Cousins and I'm 38 years old.
01:05I'm Jerry Cousins Jr. and I'm 40.
01:07The Cousins dozen, yes, because there's two of us.
01:10I'm 10 of them so that's 12 and we are a dozen.
01:13We have 10 kids total.
01:14I think they all were surprises along the way.
01:16I personally thought I was going to be the next Britney Spears or in the WNBA
01:20so I'm not sure what happened here.
01:21We have six girls total.
01:23Alexis, she's 21.
01:25Ashlyn is 19.
01:27Ava is 15.
01:28Adaya is almost 11.
01:31Isla is 9 and our baby Amora is 1.
01:34We also have four boys.
01:37The oldest being Jerry Cousins the third, we call him Trey.
01:40We have Jersey, Jet and what's that little boy?
01:45His name's Drew.
01:46Drew, the little guy, little guy.
01:48Drew, yeah.
01:49We spend a ton of money on just eating out alone and I feel like for me
01:53that's the best way to go.
01:55I've seen my eating out bill be $1,300, $1,400 per month.
02:00Groceries, probably about the same.
02:03It should just stop.
02:04We got to figure out what's going on with that.
02:07All right, you get that taken care of, okay?
02:12You want some eggies?
02:14You want fruit, strawberries, bacon, grits?
02:16All right, great.
02:17You guys can get it how you get it.
02:19Do you have many responsibilities as the second oldest?
02:23Do I have a lot of responsibilities as a second oldest?
02:27See, look, see, yeah.
02:29Yes, I do.
02:30I have a lot of responsibilities.
02:32What are they?
02:34Everything.
02:37We're very close as a family.
02:39They all support each other from the oldest to the youngest.
02:41Whenever anyone has an activity outside or inside, they're their number one fans.
02:46How would you describe your parenting style?
02:49I'm the hammer.
02:51Yeah, he's way more strict.
02:52Our parenting style, he's way more strict than I am.
02:55Let's bring it in, y'all.
02:56Can I give you a kiss on the cheek?
02:58Okay.
02:58I'm kind of like, okay, if they want a Popsicle at 8 a.m.,
03:02for the love of God, give them a Popsicle at 8 a.m.
03:05Bless you.
03:06All right, could you tell us how you broke up, then you got back together?
03:08In 2016, we separated for a few years.
03:12And as time went by, we just kind of started re-acting like we were together.
03:17So yeah, we had two more kids very quickly after that.
03:21And then we actually just recently got married two months ago in June.
03:24How did you feel when Alexis told you she was pregnant?
03:27When I found out that my oldest was pregnant,
03:29there was a split second there that I was taken back like,
03:32oh my gosh, why would she do this to me?
03:35But that quickly went away and we jumped in as Mama Bear and Papa Bear
03:39to help her be the best mom that she could be.
03:41How old were you when you became grandparents?
03:44When we became grandparents, I was 36.
03:46Don't say this too loud. I was 38.
03:48Yeah, it's crazy.
03:51So this is Cash's clothes.
03:53He has two huge buckets of clothes.
03:58I like to do yellow.
03:58I think we're doing yellow today to match with these cute shoes.
04:02So Cash is my two-year-old son.
04:05That's my wuggy.
04:06That's my everything.
04:08Yeah, it's like my happiness in a bundle.
04:11He's a good boy.
04:12Like, he's very sweet.
04:14I got pregnant with Cash when I was 18,
04:16but I ended up actually having him when I was 19.
04:19And how did you feel telling your parents that you were pregnant?
04:21Parents aren't like, they're more on the chill side, I guess you say.
04:25Like obviously growing up, I had what I think was strict parents,
04:27but by the time I was 18 out the house, it wasn't like super scary to tell them.
04:32Yeah, I think my mom, like being a teen mom too,
04:34she definitely had some sort of understanding with me.
04:39Did you experience any judgment around that time,
04:41kind of becoming a mom at 19?
04:44I feel like the only judgment would probably be on social media.
04:48And I'm not gonna say I condone, you know, having kids young.
04:51Honestly, I would say it's not easy.
04:52Like, I'm not promoting that by any means,
04:55but I think we do a really good job at it.
04:57We've definitely received some judgment about our daughter having her son.
05:00Basically saying, oh, you're just repeating the cycle.
05:03You had her at 17.
05:05She was a teen mom, you know.
05:07What kind of example are you setting for her type thing?
05:10My daughter is younger than her nephew.
05:12She was born an aunt.
05:15I love being a young grandparent, man.
05:16I get to enjoy the little dude.
05:18I get to hang out and play with him and stuff.
05:20I really don't feel like a grandparent to him.
05:22A lot of the times he just is like just one of the other kids.
05:25He actually calls me mom.
05:27That's only because, you know, everyone else is calling me mom.
05:29He knows I'm not his mom.
05:31Stuff I like doing with my family is I like to draw with them,
05:34play basketball, of course, football, you know, and just anything really.
05:38Because, you know, when I'm just with them, it's like cool, I guess.
05:40But yeah, mostly outside though.
05:42I like going outside with them.
05:43Ready?
05:44One, two, three.
05:47How did you decide to start sharing your experiences on social media?
05:50It kind of became for me like a little competition thing.
05:53And I just started sharing.
05:55Once I put on there that I had eight kids, then nine kids, then ten kids,
05:59that people were just like, whoa.
06:00And they just tune in for sure.
06:02People love it, man.
06:03It's entertaining for me to see how it's entertaining to people.
06:06So it's just everyday life to me.
06:08I feel like when we do share some personal things there,
06:10the majority of it is great feedback.
06:12People are excited.
06:13They're happy for us, you know.
06:14But then there are a lot of some people who are more negative and
06:18controversial, trolling, if you will.
06:22Some negativity I've received was that I've been accused of
06:26receiving a lot of money from the government because we have so many children
06:29that I'm just having children to receive money from the government.
06:32Another negative feedback I received was that I'm like a like a hoochie mama.
06:38They would think I have a bunch of boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, baby daddies, etc.
06:42When I only have just one.
06:43Not that I'm knocking other women, but I only have just one.
06:46Some things people have said to me, they said I'm like a dog, like a breeder.
06:50And also most recently, like a week ago,
06:52someone told me that having this many kids is like a form of child abuse.
06:56They said I'm contributing to overpopulation.
06:58And also like, stop opening your legs.
07:00Like, oh, she's going to be pregnant within a year.
07:02It's exhausting.
07:04Stop having kids.
07:05It's disgusting.
07:07The list goes on and on.
07:08What I would tell people that have judged my family is
07:11they don't know what it's like, you know, to walk a day in my shoes.
07:14And this to me is normal.
07:16This is my normal.
07:16All I know is chaos and shenanigans.
07:19Yeah, I don't, the judgment doesn't bother me at all.
07:22What people have to say really don't matter.
07:23If they catch it down here, they bring it up.
07:27I love playing sports with my family.
07:28I do it all the time.
07:29Every day right here.
07:30There you go.
07:30Oh, he put that up there for real.
07:32If I had to describe my family in one word, I would probably, um.
07:36I want to say extraordinary to be, you know, cliche.
07:40Definitely extraordinary.
07:41We're great.
07:42Like, I really think we're elite, if you will.
07:45We're just great.
07:47What I see in the future for my family is not hopes.
07:50I'm going to go ahead and speak it to existence.
07:52Success, family, togetherness, a lot of smiles and good times.
07:58I agree.
07:59Would you like to have any more kids?
08:01I personally do not want any more kids.
08:03I think 10 is plenty enough.
08:05I want more kids.
08:06No, I'm kidding.
08:07I don't want any more kids.
08:08I don't want any more kids.
08:09No more kids.
08:10I love them all.
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