16-Pound Baby Who Was Born in 1983 Is All Grown Up

A file photo of a baby's feet Christiana Bella/Pixabay

A giant, 16-pound baby made headlines when he was born in 1983. Now, as a 35-year-old man, he’s still big.

Kevin Robert Clark was born at 16 pounds, 6 ounces in Toms River, New Jersey, triggering a media frenzy and a torrent of headlines that said he was the largest baby born in the state, reported the New York Post.

Clark told the New York Post last month that he is now 6 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs about 300 pounds.

READ MORE

• Record-Setting 13-Pound Baby Girl a Big Surprise (Video)

‘‘He’s a real bruiser,’' said his mother in a 35-year-old New York Times article, which said he was born healthy. In the report, his parents said they were both large babies upon delivery.

“Walking down the street, people are constantly stopping ... asking how tall I am,” Clark recently told Inside Edition, which reported that he can’t fit into most doors, shower heads are too short for him, and he can’t fit inside many cars.

“There isn’t a day that goes by when someone doesn’t ask me how tall I am. I like to joke that I’m 5-foot-21. When people ask if I play basketball, I ask them if they play miniature golf,” he told the Post.

READ MORE

• Jasleen, Big Baby, Born 13 Pounds, 4 Oz. in Germany

When he was in school, Clark said he didn’t play sports despite pressure from coaches. Later, he joined the U.S. Air Force and became a military police officer in Texas.

“There’s a natural tendency for people to think that because you’re tall, you’re in charge. I always say, ‘Everyone looks up to me,’” he joked.

“I was a police officer for a while and everyone instantly would ask me questions, like I was in charge. I’d be in the same uniform as them, sometimes with less stripes,” Clark added. “Conversely, though, I was never able to hide in a crowd.”

The Post noted that when Clark was born, “Saturday Night Live” poked fun of his size during its long-running “Weekend Update” segment. “Their headline was, ‘We found where Jimmy Hoffa has been hiding!’ They were saying it was me — and I’d been hiding inside my mom,” he explained.

Now, he lives with his wife, who is 6-feet-tall, and a Great Dane in North Carolina.

15-Pound NY Baby Born

Recently, a 15-pound baby was born in Elmira, New York, and Clark has some advice for the child.

“Be prepared because at social gatherings, and at almost every family reunion, people are going to want to talk about it,” said Clark. “Nobody is going to believe that it’s true— that your mom could [survive] that,” he added.

Clark said that if the New York baby girl, named Harper, grows to be tall, it won’t always be easy.

“She’s probably going to be embarrassed at some point. It’s part of the territory,” he told the newspaper. “I’d tell her: Just be yourself and have a sense of humor.”

Harper’s mother, Joy Buckley, said she didn’t expect it.

“I knew she was going to be big but I didn’t anticipate no (sic) 15-pound baby,” Buckley told WETM last month.

On March 12, she gave birth to Harper via C-section, describing the feeling as like being “hit by two tractor-trailers simultaneously,” she told the Washington Post.

READ MORE

• Japanese Baby Who Went Viral Over Big Hair Gets Big Modeling Job

Harper’s weight is that of an average 5-month-old baby.

After the birth, the child was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital.

“It’s definitely hard, but I know she won’t be here forever,” Buckley added to Today.com. “She’ll be coming home soon. She’s in good hands. I trust the doctors, they know what they’re doing.”