Congratulations are in order for Breaking Amish and Return To Amish star Sabrina Burkholder — in more ways than one! After years of struggling with drug addiction, the 35-year-old reality star seems to finally have her life on track. In addition to being sober for more than three years, Sabrina recently welcomed a baby girl!
The birth was revealed in a wonderful People article that includes photos of Sabrina and her daughter, who is named Kalani.
Here are the details on Kalani’s arrival from People:
Burkholder welcomed daughter Kalani Ariyah via cesarean section on Sept. 7, with the newborn weighing 6 lbs., 9 oz., and measuring 19 inches long. Baby Kalani joins older siblings Zekiah, 2, and Skylar, 1. (Burkholder’s two older children, ages 7 and 5, reside in the loving care of a family member.)
Despite the attention from being on the popular TLC reality shows, Sabrina managed to keep her most recent pregnancy a secret. She explained to People why she chose to not to reveal her most recent pregnancy. “I like to be relaxed and stress-free when I am pregnant,” Sabrina said. “And telling everybody, it’s more stressful on me and it’s not good for the baby.”
Sabrina also spoke with People about her struggles with drug addiction, which includes overdosing and having to be brought back to life by EMTs in 2018.
“I’ve been clean now for over three years,” Sabrina revealed. “I moved out of Pennsylvania and changed my ‘people, places, things.’ I had to change everything in order to become the person that I needed to be,” she added. “When you hang out with the wrong people and put yourself in that situation over and over, you’re never going to get better. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes.”
Sabrina also admitted that being a mom is actually helping her with her sobriety. “They keep me busy and it keeps me focused,” she said of her children. “I don’t have time to go out and get into trouble because I’m busy taking care of my children….Honestly, my addiction was probably the hardest part of my life, so being sober and having children isn’t that hard [to me].”
On October 7, Sabrina celebrated Kalani’s one-month birthday with a Facebook post. Here are the two photos of Kalani that Sabrina shared, followed by her caption:
Hi my name is Kalani and I am one month old today ❤️ Mommy put a bow on my head for these pictures and I’m not sure what I think about it! My favorite activities are sleeping and eating 🥰 And Daddy put the Christmas tree up already (mommy told him not to but he did anyway and then my brother decided to take the ornaments off of it because he thought they were toys he could play with! no more ornaments for us this year😆) so anyway, I like to watch the lights on the tree and I also like to listen to worship music every night with mommy before bed 🥰 Anyway, time to go eat ❤️❤️❤️
And another Instagram update from just a few days ago:
Sabrina Burkholder looks completely different!
In her recent photos, Sabrina looks remarkably different than what fans remember from the show. Despite what could only be described as a glow up, the change in appearance inevitably drew some negative comments online. Sabrina responded with a couple of posts, including this Instagram side-by-side comparison:
On October 13, Sabrina shared another post on Facebook addressing the negativity about her appearance, as well as those trolls saying negative things about her children:
PSA: So, I literally can’t take a picture with full professionally contoured makeup without someone being negative about it. I also use Snapchat photos sometimes as well. Think about this: if I post even a semi bad photo of myself, people right away accuse me of being back on drugs. I can’t win with any of y’all lol.
Also, keep in mind I’ve been pregnant 3x in 3 years. My face changed shapes, a lot. I fill up with fluid when I’m pregnant. If you’re one of the lucky ones that your face doesn’t get puffy and fat when you’re pregnant, congratulations. I wish I had your genes lol.
You know, I had people claiming I was actually a man. That somehow I’m in the Illuminati and I’m just pretending to be a woman. That I stole my uterus from someone else, etc. (which I didn’t even know you could do that?) They claimed they could see my mustache. That “mustache” wasn’t even hair. It’s called melasma. It goes away when I’m not pregnant.
I can handle the bullying and the mocking and the snide comments. It’s so ridiculous sometimes that I wonder if people really think before they type. But what I can’t handle and won’t put up with is when the mocking also includes my kids. Get a grip on yourselves. Pick on me all you want. But my kids don’t deserve the mean cruel words. If you are low enough to make fun of a child that can’t even talk yet, you are the one with the issue. Thanks 🙏
We check in on #BreakingAmish and #ReturnToAmish star Sabrina Burkholder, who gave birth to son Zekiah in early March, and we have nothing but good news to share 🙂 https://t.co/cXIQlxpKGu
— Starcasm (@starcasm) May 16, 2019
Does Sabrina have a job now?
Raising three children is a full-time job in itself, but Sabrina is still hustling to provide for her growing family financially. Following in her co-star Mama Mary Schmucker’s footsteps, Sabrina has released a cookbook!
Titled Sabrina’s Amish Kitchen with a Twist, the cookbook is currently available via Gumroad for $19.95.
However, it appears that the cookbook sales aren’t quite enough. On October 18, Sabrina solicited job suggestions from her followers on Facebook and Instagram:
Curious what everyone does for a living? I am officially looking for a job! Tell me what you do and why you like it ❤️
“And yes before anyone asks, I do get paid to do the show,” Sabrina wrote in the caption to the Instagram post. “However, I do not get paid the rest of my life for being on it. I need to work as much as I possibly can so I can give my babies a good life. 🙏”
I’m going to say it once more: Congratulations Sabrina! The first post I did about Sabrina was MORE THAN NINE YEARS AGO, and I’ve been rooting for her ever since. She has traveled a VERY hard road in that time, including multiple arrests and losing custody of her two oldest children.
I am so proud that she has managed to rise up from what can only be described as multiple rock bottoms. I know that an addict’s struggle is never over, but it sure seems like Sabrina has managed to find some footing, and she appears to be diligently walking in the right direction! I wish her and her family the best, and I hope Return To Amish viewers will get to see this chapter of Sabrina’s life on screen in an upcoming season.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
