Inside Little Couple Jen Arnold and Bill Kleins struggles including cancer, depression and tragic

FANS of hit TLC show The Little Couple are used to Dr. Jen Arnold and her husband Bill Klein bringing positivity and an optimistic attitude to life, no matter the circumstance.

But it hasn't always been easy for the pair, who are living their lives with their two adopted children like any other American family - except they’re both under 4 feet tall.

Bill has a rare variation of a skeletal dysplasia called Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia (or SED) and has had more than 20 surgeries in his lifetime, while Jen stands at just 3' 2" and has a similar, and also rare, type of dwarfism called Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia Type Strudwick.

As you can imagine, the pair both found growing up with their disabilities hard, with Bill, in particular, admitting that he was bullied and beaten throughout his early years and into college.

He revealed in their 2015 memoir Life Is Short (No Pun Intended) that as a child he "was called m*dget, I was teased, I was ignored, I was threatened, I was chased, I was beaten up."

It didn't get any easier when he went to college either, writing about how one evening eight fellow New York University students threw objects at him and called him derogatory names.

The bullying led to Bill drinking heavily, and he wrote how he would often spend nights in the city's East Village downing beer.

"I would always arrive home alone and often fairly intoxicated," he wrote, "even then, I might extend the party a little bit longer in the dorm and inevitably wake up feeling miserable."

Bill's mental health got so bad that at one point, he considered suicide.

"I was really feeling defined by my stature, and I felt interior," he shared, writing that he stepped out of the window of his dorm room and stood on the ledge.

"I stood up and leaned against the wall next to the window," he recalled.

"I looked down to the place where I might die."

The dad-of-two made the decision not to jump, and admitted that "things got better after that night on the ledge", including meeting his first girlfriend.

Jen, a neonatologist, wrote in their autobiography that her school friends in Florida were kinder but that she was often in and out of school due to surgeries, which left her feeling lonely.

"I would be out of school for two to three weeks for the surgery, then up to three months to heal in the cast at home, and then six to eight more weeks for inpatient physical therapy at the hospital," she wrote.

Jen had undergone 22 surgeries by the time she was 18; she has now had over 30.

The young mom always knew she wanted to be a doctor, but her stature did pose a problem, particularly at the University of Miami, where she claimed she was "grilled" about her disability and that "the interview quickly became focused on my size, or lack thereof."

However, Jen was accepted into The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, one of the best in the country, where she thrived.

Bill also dealt with further tragedy in 2001 when his uncle died in the Twin Towers attack on 9/11.

He revealed the news on an episode of the show, when he took his children to the memorial.

"Today we’re at the F.D.N.Y. Fire Zone because I have two uncles that worked in civil service. One was a cop, the other was F.D.N.Y. for 20 years," he said.

"It’s great for my kids to see what the F.D.N.Y is all about because my uncle, the fireman, passed away on 9/11."

Jen and Bill met in 2006 after meeting online, and they dated for two years before Bill dropped down to one knee and proposed.

They married in 2008 in a fairytale wedding ceremony, and a year later, they began filming for their TLC docu-series The Little People.

In 2013, however, Jen and Bill were hit with the best and worst news possible as they were approved to adopt two children but Jen was diagnosed with stage three choriocarcinoma, a rare form of cancer that occurred after she had a miscarriage.

The pair adopted son Will - now 10 - in 2013 from China, after they met him at an orphanage.

"It was instant, our connection. My relationship with Will is something I didn’t expect,” Jen said at the time.

Months later, they adopted eight-year-old Zoe from India; Will and Zoe both also have a form of dwarfism.

But that same year, Jen was confirmed to have cancer, which began in the cells that would have become the placenta for the baby.

Dr. Concepcion R. Diaz-Arrastia said at the time that it was "a very rare cancer, rare that it was found in a little person … a very rare situation."

Treatment for the disease was difficult due to her skeletal dysplasia and her difficulties with past surgeries.

Jen faced weekly intensive treatments of chemotherapy between the end of 2013 and 2014, all while taking care of her newly adopted children Zoe and Will.

“It actually got harder as more time went on,” she said. “Some weeks were more difficult than others with different side effects. I had a lot of fatigue and nausea and some days it just felt like my hands and feet were very heavy.”

The road to recovery was a long, intensive journey and after she went into remission in 2014, she remained closely monitored by her doctor, as 85 percent of recurrences happen in the first 18 months after chemo.

Six years on, Jen remains healthy and cancer-free.

To celebrate their love for each other, in 2014, Bill proposed to Jen a second time, and they had a big celebration honoring their love later that year.

Now, Jen, 46, and 45-year-old Bill are living the American dream, having recently moved back to Florida from Houston, Texas to be close to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital where Jen is now working.

most read in entertainment

The family moved into a $2 million waterfront mansion where they've been quarantining amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Their 5,441-square-foot home has six bedrooms, 4.5 baths, three storeys, and an elevator - and outside there's a heated saltwater pool and spa, a built-in fire pit, and lush landscaping to enjoy the views.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEZqqupl6YvK57xKernqqklravucSnq2hxaWyDcYWOoqWsoZSaeq21062jnmWTpMKxuMRmoZ6mXZa%2Fr7vLnWSboZyheqy4xKKlrGWjqb%2B2s8alnKxn