‘WE'RE THE KIWI KARDASHIANS... but with talent!'

Life is an actual circus for the Weber clan, who are set to be New Zealand’s next big reality TV sensations

Hayley McLarin

Having eight children would make anyone’s life a circus, but for Rotorua woman Marie Weber, it’s literal!

The 42-year-old is married to Harry Weber, a seventh-generation member of the Weber circus family – and yes, they have eight kids, although there’s an 11-year gap between the older four siblings and the younger ones.

“We thought we were done having babies, then all of a sudden… surprise!” Marie tells Woman’s Day. “I love being pregnant. I love babies. I thought if I’m having one, I have to have another one straight away.”

“And then there was another one – and another one after that,” chimes in her eldest child, daughter Kiarnna.

Kiarnna, 21, Dalton, 20, Dylan, 19, Kaleah, 17, Ryder, six, and Rosie, five, were all born in Australia, while D’Artagnan, three, and Diesel, one, arrived in Aotearoa.

“But once you join the circus, you become part of a wider family – there are about 40 of us, including children,” explains Marie, who will be at the heart of the clan’s upcoming reality TV series, pitched as a Kiwi version of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, but with circus tricks.

Joining the family and their camera crew on tour are a nanny and a teacher, with the ticket sales trailer transformed into a classroom during the day. The older Weber children did long-distance learning, although Marie and Harry do not push higher education.

“Our children can carry on through school or they can leave,” she says, sitting on a circular stage under the big top at Auckland’s Ellerslie Racecourse, where they’re currently performing. “They are learning life skills. If they wanted to be doctors, we would have supported that.