A woman who spent 12 years of her life pregnant, and had given birth to nine children by the age of 28, has earned a huge social media following for her inspiring lifestyle and age-defying looks. People cannot believe she is older than her kids, the eldest of whom is now 21 years old.
Kora Duke, a mom of nine and a full-time digital creator living in Las Vegas, Nevada, is 39 years old. She moved to the United States from India with her family as a toddler and married her high school sweetheart, 42-year-old David Duke, on Feb. 11, 2002.
Kora and David went on to have nine children together: Elijah, 21, Sheena, 20, Yuna, who passed away in her sleep at seven days old from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Zhaan, 17, Cairo, 16, Saiyah, 14, Avi, 13, Romani, 12, and Tahj, 10.
“It’s always been, ‘You don’t look old enough to have that many!’ ‘You’re lying,’ ‘You don’t have kids’ ... I think the shock that everybody has on their faces is the thing that stands out,” Kora told The Epoch Times, claiming she has “no idea” how she maintains her youthful looks.
“I exercise, I eat moderately healthy, I just take care of myself, so I guess genetics ... I’m always on the go, always doing something,” she said. “I love it, I love my kids, but [it’s] very busy. When they were younger it took a lot more work ... now they’re kind of independent, they can do a lot of things on their own.”
A typical day for Kora begins at 5:30 a.m. when she wakes and prepares for the work and school run; she still drives her kids everywhere. Between 8 a.m. and noon, Kora is free and spends this time attending the gym and cleaning the house. She then picks her kids up from work and school and begins dinner prep at 5 p.m., cooking “large meals” that demand up to three hours in the kitchen.
Kora said of home life: “My kids are siblings, so they love to hate each other. They’re a pretty tight-knit group. They might fight all the time, but everybody loves each other.
“They all have jobs every day that rotate daily. A lot of them love video games, so my husband and I try to play with them ... my kids love anime, so my husband watches that with them. Other than that, we love go-karting, working out; they’re all different personalities, so there’s not one thing we all love to do together.”
When her kids were young, the constant activity and lack of sleep took a physical toll on Kora. As mom to so many teenagers, Kora’s role is now more emotional.
“They’re going through so much. There’s a lot of questions, so you just have to be patient with them,” she said. “As a parent ... I want to be completely open with them, and not really hide anything from them.
“I want them to know that I’m here for them, regardless of how they are, what they like, or any of that. I keep a completely open relationship with my children.”
In 2013, Kora decided that nine babies was enough. Her body was exhausted.
“I was getting sick a lot and I just said, ‘I can’t have any more children; it’s basically killing me if I have any more,’” she said. “My mental [state] was fine, I was perfectly happy with all my kids. Physically, in my body, I had a lot of back problems, I was pre-diabetic after I had my last child, and then my thyroid I was having issues with, so there was a lot of things I needed to get back in order.”
Kora had tubal ligation surgery in 2013 and shifted focus to taking care of her body. When cardio didn’t work for weight loss, Kora’s husband suggested she try weightlifting, and over a few months of trial and error she noticed a difference.
“My body started changing and I kind of fell in love with it. Now, it’s a lifestyle,” she said. “I’m at a comfortable stage in my life where I’m not really focusing on the scale, on the weight, it’s just more maintaining things.”
“I mean, it’s a thankless job! I just love watching them grow their personalities, who they’re becoming as a person. It’s interesting.
“I love my kids, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
