WE LOVE OUR LITTLE LIVES
Imagine never being able to wash your hands in a public bathroom because you just can’t reach the basin. Or unable to reach the table at a restaurant without a heightened chair.
Such is the reality for mum Jen Arnold, just 96.5cm high, and her businessman husband Bill Klein, who stands at 122cm.
‘Hey, I drive a great sports car and I have a beautiful, sexy and highly intelligent wife and two wonderful kids. What could be better?’ beams Bill, 43.
Further, he and Jen, 44, a physician, are now celebrities with millions of followers worldwide – they’re the stars of the hit reality television show The Little Couple.
In it, viewers follow the highs and lows of this lovable couple and their two cute children Zoey, seven, and Will, eight, also ‘little people’.
The show quickly became so popular, another season followed and it’s now been going for nine years.
‘We’re enjoying the experience of being on the show while it lasts,’ Bill tells New Idea from his home in Florida. ‘And yes, I think it has helped make others understand what it is like to have a physical disability.’
From Long Island, New York, Bill was born with a rare form of dwarfism – also known as skeletal dysplasia.
‘I’m the only one in my family
who has this condition – everyone else is average height,’ he explains.
Over the years, he’s had to have more than 20 operations. His childhood was difficult – he was frequently bullied at school by those mocking his height. ‘I had hoped that by the time I went to college all that would be behind me,’ he reflects. ‘Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.’
At times, Bill admits he has been depressed, even suicidal, but now thanks to his adoring wife and bubbly kids, business success, and admiring fans, he is in a much happier place.
Jen, a respected neonatologist, also had her challenges growing up. Born with the bone growth disorder spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, she’s had surgery more than 30 times (her earliest memory is of being in an ambulance!) and was also teased at school. But with her high IQ, she overcame all obstacles and achieved her dream of becoming a doctor. And thanks to the internet, she ‘now finds it much easier to source clothes that fit than when I was growing up!’
‘Yes and I just carry hand wipes with me wherever I go, so it doesn’t matter if I can’t reach the taps,’ says Jen cheerfully.
The tiny twosome are used to dealing with any unexpected challenges that come with being ‘little people’ and say nothing is insurmountable – besides, they have each other to share the load.
Jen and Bill, who have been married for 10 years, began dating in 2006, after meeting online. But, Bill reveals, they first met as children when they were at the same hospital being treated by the same medical expert.
‘We were 10 years old. I remember Jen very well, but she doesn’t remember me!’ Bill reveals.
‘I even recall being very happy when I first saw her – but she was not in a good mood, because she’d just had surgery a day or two earlier. That was our first meeting – I remember it very, very, well.’
‘I don’t remember him at all from that time, but I know he’s telling the truth because he described everything else that was there so accurately!’ Jen says, giggling.
They now know their paths crossed many times over the years. They even had mutual friends who wanted to set them up on a date, but this never happened.
One day Jen, in her early 30s and still single, decided to try to find a partner online.
‘I went to a dating site for little people,’ she recalls. ‘I’d been open to dating an average-sized person, but this hadn’t happened, so I thought I may as well try this site, datealittle.com.’
When she saw Ben’s profile online, she was captivated.
‘He had a handsome face, he looked smart, he had a great job and he wasn’t “married looking for love,”’ she laughs.
A few weeks later, they met up at a cafe and were soon inseparable.
Bill still has fond memories of the day he got down on one knee and proposed to Jen.
‘We were enjoying a longdistance relationship, and one day I flew in early to see her without her knowing. I broke into her apartment and filled it with rose petals and candles. Then she came home and I was there!’ he recalls. ‘Thankfully she said “yes” right away!’
The couple married in April 2008, about two years after their first date.
‘Even before the wedding, we’d begun registering with adoption agencies,’ says Jen.
They knew they wanted to adopt children who had skeletal dysplasia, as they were well equipped to understand and guide them through the challenges that would lie ahead.
It felt like Christmas for them both when little Zoey, from India, and Will, from China, came into their lives.
‘Our family is just wonderful,’ says Bill proudly.
If the children ever need surgery for their delicate bones, he and Jen always organise something special in advance ‘so that they associate a trip to hospital with something positive and fun, not something to worry about’.
He and Jen, now regularly recognised by fans when they go out, are also proud that providing a window into their family’s lives has helped audiences be more understanding of what it means to be a ‘little person’.
Adds Bill: ‘Thankfully attitudes are really changing for the better, and hopefully my kids will never be bullied the way we were.’