I used to feel sorry for her. She came from a broken, dysfunctional family. She didn't have much parenting or supervision growing up, admits doing drugs, including heroin, during her teen and young adult years. Her desire to adopt so many children in addition to having her own seemed like some kind of desperate attempt to fill a psychological void in her life. She doesn't seem like a good candidate for parenting that many children, unless she was getting professional counseling and instruction.
OTOH, Brad grew up in a typical middle class family, good stable home life. As the kids grow older and more independent he probably is better equipped to parent them, but has probably given in to her, allowing them to run free without much discipline when they were small. If you've indulged children, don't set boundaries when they're young, it's heck to pay when they enter the adolescent/teen years. He's probably trying to instill some structure and stability now and she sounds like she's fighting him on that. Difficult for him to do as he's gone working a lot.
I've had the feeling their marriage has been over for a long time now, even around the time of the birth of their last two children. He's obviously been unhappy for quite a few years. It's probably better for them to split amicably, but he needs co-parenting responsibility to provide a stable environment for the kids. Otherwise they're on track to become Hollywood brats, with all the problems that entails.
OTOH, Brad grew up in a typical middle class family, good stable home life. As the kids grow older and more independent he probably is better equipped to parent them, but has probably given in to her, allowing them to run free without much discipline when they were small. If you've indulged children, don't set boundaries when they're young, it's heck to pay when they enter the adolescent/teen years. He's probably trying to instill some structure and stability now and she sounds like she's fighting him on that. Difficult for him to do as he's gone working a lot.
I've had the feeling their marriage has been over for a long time now, even around the time of the birth of their last two children. He's obviously been unhappy for quite a few years. It's probably better for them to split amicably, but he needs co-parenting responsibility to provide a stable environment for the kids. Otherwise they're on track to become Hollywood brats, with all the problems that entails.