What The Busbys Were Like Before They Got Famous
The Busbys are not your typical family. For starters, their family is big. The family consists of six children: quintuplets Olivia, Ava, Hazel, Parker, and Riley and older sister Blayke. Parents Danielle and Adam Busby have their hands full with the six girls, and they star on the hit TLC show OutDaughtered, which chronicles their life with the first surviving quintuplet girls in the United States. And, of course, OutDaughtered features moments that only parents will truly understand.
Since OutDaughtered premiered in 2016, things have not been the same for the Busby household. They went from being a bustling household of eight to being one of the most popular and well known families in the country. All we have to do to get a glimpse into the busy lives of the Busby family is turn on the TV, but watching OutDaughtered doesn't tell us what life was like before the chaos that came with fame and a reality show.
Were the Busbys always so down to earth? How much simpler were their lives before camera crews started capturing their daily routines? This is what life was like for the Busbys before they got famous.
Danielle Busby went to McNeese State University while Adam went straight to work
One of the things that people love so much about OutDaughtered is that the Busbys are an ordinary family, albeit a family with slightly more kids than average. The couple lives in Texas now, but they first lived and met in Louisiana, where Danielle Busby went to McNeese State University, as noted on her Facebook page. According to Romper, it appears that Adam entered the work force after graduating from high school.
The Busbys have always worked hard, and it's a good thing because, without their work ethic, they might never have met. As many fans know, the couple famously met at Target where both of them were working at the time. "After a few months of working almost side by side together at Target, Adam finally got the courage to say a few words to me," wrote Danielle on It's a Buzz World. "The first words out of his mouth were 'hey beautiful.'"
Little did Adam and Danielle know at the time that working at Target would one day lead to them getting married, raising a family, and becoming successful reality TV stars. Talk about fate!
The Busbys had a low-key wedding
The Busbys have never been what you would call high maintenance. Even though many couples fork over big bucks in order to have lavish weddings, Danielle and Adam Busby kept their 2006 wedding simple and intimate. Danielle told Country Living that their wedding day "was one of the best days of [her] life," even though it was pretty low-key.
"Our wedding was kept small, but boy oh boy was it a challenging one to plan," the OutDaughtered star said. "This was right after Hurricane Rita wiped out Lake Charles and pretty much every venue was damaged. But we were able to find a little chapel to get married in."
To the Busbys, though, the details of their special day didn't really matter. Danielle revealed that they didn't care too much about how fancy the wedding was — the Busbys just wanted to be together. "We were young and in love, so we didn't really care about where and what it all looked like," she said. "We were just looking forward to the day we would officially commit in front of God to be together forever."
Danielle Busby was an office manager
According to an unverified LinkedIn profile that appears to belong to Danielle Busby, after meeting the love of her life at Target, she went on to become an office manager. According to the profile, Danielle worked as an office manager from 2005 to 2007 for Ship to Shore and as an office assistant from 2007 to 2008 for Vital Care Medical.
Both jobs required Danielle to stay organized, something that served her well once she had six children to take care of. As the OutDaughtered star explained to Channel Guide, organization is key when you have quintuplets, and fortunately her career had prepared her well for motherhood and managing a busy household. "I knew how to already make a schedule," she said. "Obviously I had a hard time learning what to do and how to do it with five — but to detail and to plan this and schedule that and to make a system, that I was good at. When I say I was created and made for this, I honestly was. When I was given five babies, I just had to take those skills and adapt it to baby things."
The Busbys worked in petrochemicals
Danielle Busby wasn't an office assistant for very long. According to her unverified LinkedIn profile, she quickly worked her way up the ladder, and, in 2008, she became a project coordinator team lead for AP Networks, a petrochemicals company. The job gave her even more responsibility and even more training (although she didn't know it yet) for life as the mom of quints. OutDaughtered's Adam Busby also worked in petrochemicals. According to StyleBlueprint, Adam's petrochemicals job was in communications and sales. While both of the Busbys worked in the Houston, Texas area, Adam's unverified LinkedIn profile shows that he reportedly worked at a different company, Intrinsic Solutions/Sprint Safety as a key account manager.
Danielle wrote on It's a Buzz World that she loved her job as a project manager. While she had always dreamed of being a stay-at-home mom, after having Blayke, she decided that she wanted to keep working. "Something I never really thought I would do but things change and I did go back to work," she said.
The Busbys had a very comfortable lifestyle before the quints came along
While starring on a hit reality show has helped the Busbys to live a comfortable lifestyle, they were already doing pretty well for themselves before they were the famous stars of OutDaughtered. Before the quints were born, both Adam and Danielle were working full time, and both of them had well-paying jobs. "Both Adam and I were doing great at our jobs, providing for our family of three and began to live a lifestyle of 'what we want, we get,'" wrote Danielle on It's a Buzz World in 2015. "Though we had some ups and downs through our years with finances, especially when infertility started when trying to have Blayke, we got back 'on our track' and got to do the things we wanted to do. This may have been fun for us but I don't think it was actually what God wanted for us."
Once Danielle was pregnant with the quints, though, she decided to become a stay-at-home mother, even though she and Adam knew money would be tighter with just one income and so many mouths to feed.
The Busbys started a blog to help others dealing with infertility
While the Busbys are now beloved by millions thanks to their TLC show, OutDaughtered, they initially had a much smaller audience in mind when they went public with their story. Danielle and Adam weren't seeking fame when they started the blog that sent them down the path to fame. They just wanted to share their story and hopefully help others who, like them, had dealt with infertility.
"Blogging about your infertility journey was something I never thought I would enjoy," Danielle wrote on the family blog, It's a Buzz World, in 2015. "I'm not a writer, I always hated English and Literature..."
The Busby matriarch revealed that, in spite of her hesitation to become a blogger, she was happy she had started the blog because it captured the couple's memories of their growth and their infertility journey. She was also happy about being able to help others. "I love how OUR story has reached thousands of people who have similar struggles and how so MANY woman have reached out to me with their infertility struggles," she wrote. "What a blessing to be a 'mentor' to so many women."
The Busbys kept the news that they were filming OutDaughtered a secret for a long time
Life has changed the most for the parents of the Busby family, Danielle and Adam. Daughter Blayke was only a few years old when OutDaughtered began, and the series showed the end of Danielle's pregnancy with the quints, so the Busby kids have pretty much grown up on camera. For Adam and Danielle, though, things have changed a lot.
Fortunately, they had some time to adjust to being filmed and having six little girls before they got famous. According to Today, the quints were born on April 8, 2015, but the Busbys didn't share the news that they were going to be on TLC until August. The couple made the announcement on their blog, It's a Buzz World. "We have been working with them since before the birth of these very special quints and are so excited to have documented this incredible story of God's grace poured out on our lives," they wrote.
While their blog presumably had a healthy amount of followers even before OutDaughtered aired, it wasn't until the show premiered the following year that the Busbys became truly famous.
The Busbys lived in a modest home
As viewers of OutDaughtered have seen, the Busbys have a pretty nice house today, and it has plenty of room for all of the quints and their big sister, Blayke, to run around and play. Before they were famous, though, the Busbys lived in a far more modest home. After the quints were born, ABC News reported that the Busbys were living in a three-bedroom home. That's not tiny by any means, but it is a bit on the small side when you have eight people living in one house!
After the Busbys landed their own reality show, they decided to start looking for a new home. In January 2016, a few months before the premiere of OutDaughtered, Danielle announced on It's a Buzz World that the family had moved to a bigger house that gave them more space for their large family. "Though it was sad to leave our first home, it feels so amazing to not be stepping over babies, literally," she wrote. "We are in awe over our new home and excited to start our new memories here."
Danielle Busby dreamed of blogging full time
Although Danielle Busby wasn't convinced that she would be good at blogging when she first started out, she quickly hit her stride and fell in love with sharing her story with the world. In a 2014 post on It's a Buzz World, she made a wish that would come true in ways that she never expected. "Within one day our Facebook page has reached 1000 'likes,'" wrote Danielle. "HOW AWESOME ARE ALL OF YOU!!!! I love being able to blog about what is going on during this journey and I LOVE seeing and reading everyone's comments. (Can I do this as a full time job, lol.)"
While Danielle isn't exactly a full-time blogger, that blog did lead to her being able to share her journey as a mother with six with the world and to make money doing it. She went from blogging a couple times a month to becoming a household name and a bona fide celebrity thanks to OutDaughtered. Even though she found a bigger outlet to tell her story, It's a Buzz World is still updated regularly. That's not too shabby for someone who never thought that she would enjoy blogging!
Danielle Busby always wanted to have a big family
While Danielle Busby couldn't have predicted she'd become the mother of quintuplets, she always knew she wanted a big family. Seeing Adam's parenting skills in action convinced her that he was the right man for her. "My heart has always been drawn to kids and I know I have been given a special gift with children," she wrote on It's a Buzz World. "When I saw Adam had this same gift, I knew I would marry this man. We both knew we wanted to have kids but never imagined being faced with the challenges it would take to actually have kids."
While the family ended up being slightly bigger than the Busbys had planned, they're grateful for all their kids. "I used to tell everybody I would have five kids if I could, but in today's world, they're so expensive!" Danielle told KPLC TV a few months before the quints' birth.
When the Busbys first found out they were having quints, they thought it was a joke. "Well then it turned out that we're having our large family all at one time, so I kind of take it as God's humor," Danielle told StyleBlueprint.
The Busbys were and still are rooted in their faith
Any fan of OutDaughtered knows that the Busbys' Christian faith is at the center of the family. That's something that hasn't changed over the years. Adam and Danielle have always been religious and their faith has only grown stronger over time.
"I try to remind myself each day that God has a perfect plan for my family and none of this is about Danielle and I," wrote Adam on It's a Buzz World in 2015. "This journey that we are on is all being orchestrated to give himself the glory. Sometimes we get scared of things that the doctor tells us, but it just causes us to lean on his understanding even more and to be more specific about our prayers. I truly believe that he is using Danielle and I for something pretty big. We get glimpses of what it may be from time to time, but still do not know fully or why he chose us."
The Busbys credit God with pulling them through their infertility struggles, as well as their uncertainty of how they'd provide for so many. "He will provide," Danielle told KTRK before the quints were born.
The Busbys have always been passionate about fitness
Another thing that has remained a constant with Adam and Danielle Busby is their love of fitness. Both of them have kept in excellent shape over the years, and their fitness journey started long before they were famous. "Both Adam and I have a passion for fitness and we keep it a priority in our daily life," wrote Danielle on It's a Buzz World. Sounds like they're a couple of celebs that know more about fitness than most!
Even after they landed their own reality show, OutDaughtered, the couple made sure to prioritize not just their personal fitness journeys, but they also launched a fitness business. According to StyleBlueprint, Danielle and Adam became part owners in a spin cycle studio in 2017. Danielle also co-owns a fitness apparel line, CADi Fitness, with her two sisters, Crystal and Ashley. "We grew to rely on and support each other through every phase of life," reads the CADi Fitness website. The site also reads, "Our passion for fitness has been a constant between us and is a reminder of our strength as sisters, wives, mothers and business owners."
The Busbys' lives were a lot quieter before they were famous
When you have six kids, things are bound to get pretty loud. That's especially true when five of those kids are the same young age. Needless to say, things were a lot quieter in the Busby household before OutDaughtered — one of the best shows on TLC, airing on the same network as entertainment like Little People, Big World, Breaking Amish, and The Little Couple — made them famous. Not only did having the quints add to the general hustle and bustle of the household, but having a film crew around also contributed to the volume level.
When asked by StyleBlueprint how their lives had changed since being on OutDaughtered, Danielle said that the Busby house became a lot less peaceful. It seems that the family adjusted pretty well, though. "Since we've had the babies, we've been surrounded by people, people, people in our house," she said. "So it's not much of a shock — it's just camera people versus friends, family and volunteers from church or something. It's kind of weird when the crew isn't around."