In the age of social media, captivating stories often spread like wildfire, touching the hearts of millions worldwide. One such tale recently surfaced, claiming that a young mother gave birth to an astonishing 17 children at once, capturing the attention of global audiences. However, upon closer investigation, the story has proven to be false and originated from a satirical website.

The posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram featured a composite image, seemingly showing a heavily pregnant woman and a man in a hospital uniform surrounded by babies. The text above the image declared Catherine Bridge as the record holder for giving birth to 17 babies, all boys.

Despite the heartfelt sentiment expressed in the Sinhala text, the claim is entirely baseless. An image search quickly revealed the original photo of the pregnant woman, posted on a social network for artists back in August 2015. The image in the misleading post was digitally manipulated to make the woman appear more pregnant than she actually was. Similarly, the picture of the man in a green hospital uniform was traced back to a Facebook page belonging to a doctor named Robert Biter in August 2012.

Further research into the text’s origins led to a satirical article published by the World Daily News Report in February 2014. The article humorously stated that an American woman named Catherine Bridges broke the world record by giving birth to 17 babies in just 29 hours at a hospital in Indianapolis. However, the website clearly disclaimed that its content is purely fictitious and meant for satirical purposes.

Sadly, hoaxes and fake stories about record-𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 childbirths have circulated on the internet before, leading to widespread confusion and misinformation. The Guinness World Records website confirms that the current record for “the most children delivered from one pregnancy and surviving” is held by American mother Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to octuplets in January 2009.