S'pore Mum, 36, Has 7 Kids, Says She Intentionally Had Her First Child At Just 17

Seven kids by the age of 36? That's quite a feat, especially in Singapore, where couples are increasingly choosing to have fewer children — or none at all.

But Singaporean mum Pearlyn has always loved kids. So much so that she deliberately got pregnant with her first child at just 17.

Appearing on Popping SG's So $crewed podcast, Pearlyn revealed that she has seven children with four different partners, three of whom she married.

Her current husband, whom she married in 2022, is the father of her two youngest children, a son and daughter aged five and six.

Her other five children comprise three sons and two daughters, the eldest of whom is 17.

Pearlyn dropped out of school as a teenager and met her first boyfriend, who was a year older, on Friendster.

She became pregnant about four or five months into the relationship.

"It was on purpose. I told my ex to purposely 'shoot' in," she said candidly, leaving the podcast hosts stunned.

Pearlyn explained that she had always loved children and had a strong maternal instinct.

However, the relationship didn't last, and her eldest son was subsequently raised by his paternal grandmother, who doted on him.

At 20, Pearlyn met her second partner while studying at a private school.

The couple had two children, a son and daughter, and got married, but she left him after three years due to his alleged infidelity and drug use.

Pearlyn later met her second husband, a navy serviceman, at the nightclub where she worked.

They had two children, a son and daughter, but the marriage ended after he hit her son from her previous marriage. Her ex-husband now cares for their two children, as Pearlyn felt he could "give them a better life".

She subsequently met her current husband, a former army warrant officer, at a pub.

When one of the podcast hosts asked how she managed to find four serious partners when some Singaporean women struggle to find even one, Pearlyn had an interesting take.

She believes women today are too afraid to take chances in relationships and have overly high expectations, which she thinks contributes to Singapore's low birth rate.

"You never try, you never know," she said.

She added: "Now the girls are so scared of this, so scared of that. Even so scared to give birth. I don't understand why."

One of the hosts joked that she had practically solved Singapore's low birth rate problem.

Indeed, Pearlyn has no regrets about having seven kids.

"My parents always say I'm very clever at giving birth," she laughed.

One of the podcast hosts even dubbed her "Singapore's most fertile woman".

"Yeah, a lot of people say that," she replied, revealing that she became pregnant again just three months after giving birth to her seventh child.

As she has anaemia, Pearlyn said she consulted a doctor before deciding what to do about the pregnancy.

She did not elaborate on what happened afterwards, but made it clear she has no plans to have more children.

Husband bankrupt, family struggles financially

Pearlyn's current husband left his army job two years ago at her urging so he could spend more time with their young children.

However, he struggled to find stable employment and eventually declared bankruptcy after accumulating around S$70K in debts.

He was also jailed for slapping Pearlyn's son from a previous marriage, who has ADHD, after the boy repeatedly hit his younger sister.

Pearlyn now works as a private-hire driver, earning around S$3K a month after expenses, while her husband makes another S$300 to S$700 from part-time work.

The couple, who need around S$4K a month to support four of her children, also receive S$890 in government financial assistance and live in a one-bedroom HDB rental flat costing S$50 a month.

Still, money is tight. They sometimes have to borrow from friends, and Pearlyn admitted that she can have as little as S$50 in her bank account.  

Despite their struggles, Pearlyn remains remarkably upbeat.

"Because this is life. No point dwelling on the sad things, right? Have to be positive," she said.

Asked to rate how "screwed" her life was on a scale of one to 10, she gave it a nine.

However, after spending much of her adult life pregnant or raising young children, she's ready for a break.

She even has one request for her kids.

"Please, don't make me a grandma so soon," she recalled telling them.

“I've spent the past 17 years getting pregnant, giving birth and raising my children. I want to rest."