Proudly sponging welfare to support the 10 kids she shares with five different men, Mandy Cowie – who hasn’t worked in 30 years – is coaching her brood to take advantage of the system so she can become the matriarch of Britain’s biggest benefits family.
In a story that has sparked national debate, 49-year-old Mandy Cowie from Hastings, East Sussex, came under fire after revealing on national television that she has relied on government benefits to raise her 10 children over the last three decades – without holding a single job since she was 17.
“People may be shocked that I’ve been on benefits for so long, but I don’t care. I can’t work because of the kids, and while the pregnancies weren’t planned, I love having a big family,” Cowie told Closer in a 2015 interview. “I probably wouldn’t get a job that would pay as much as I get now anyway. People might judge but if it’s there on offer, who wouldn’t take it?”
Featured in Channel 5’s Benefits Britain: Big Families Special, Cowie openly admitted to living on approximately £22,000 ($29,300 US) a year in state support.
And, according to the Daily Mail, she reportedly spent about £2,000 ($2,600 US) on covering herself with tattoos. That cost does not include the piercings for her and some of her kids.
“Ten kids and full of tattoos mate. So what if I’m on the effing dole mate – don’t like it, f*** off. I had my first one at 18 and my last one at 36,” Cowie said.
Rewards
The mother, whose children are fathered by five different men, caused widespread outrage after shocking footage showed her drinking alcohol and smoking with her 14-year-old daughter, Charlie, who has not attended school for four months.
The cigarettes, she clarifies, are a “reward” for doing household chores.
“I don’t approve of Charlie smoking, but I’d rather she do it in front of me,” Cowie told Closer. “We share packets of cigarettes, and if she’s been good and helps cook or wash up, I’ll treat her to the odd pack as a reward too – I’ve been doing that since she was 13. I don’t care what people think.
“When it comes to drinking, she doesn’t do it all the time. People will criticize me, but she’s doing it in my house, not on the street. And I give her weak drinks.”
‘Kid should be taken away’
Furious over Cowie’s parenting choices, people jumped online and shared their criticisms of the mother offering her child cigarettes as a “reward.”
“My treat was a visit to the shop for some sweets…And they wonder why kids are like they are…I class that as abuse,” writes one netizen on Facebook.
“Disgusting, her kid should be going to school and learning not sitting at home getting drunk off her mother, that kid should be [taken away], people like her should not be allowed to have children in [their] care.”
‘Disgrace’
While Cowie claims she is simply doing her best with what she has, critics argue that her choices reflect a failure of parenting.
“If a parents can’t be responsible, and [provide] a loving and caring home they should not have children,” writes one user on an Instagram post shared by Cowie.
A second writes, “What a bloody disgrace you are.”
“Shocking! Be aware that not every single parent or parents on benefits are like this though…thankfully!” offers a third on Facebook. And another rages, “We pay her for it, those kids should have gone into care. What a vile person. Hate scum like her.”
Coach Cowie
And she’s training her kids to take advantage of the benefits.
Cristal, who was 24 when the TV show aired, already had four children – and having taken her training seriously, she’s learned to maximize welfare payments.
“I’m still with the baby’s dad but he doesn’t live at my house,” she said, per the Daily Mail. “If we were to live together our benefits would get stopped, so we might as well be together and live in different houses.”
Grandchildren
As public reaction continues to pour in, Cowie announced an ambitious new family goal –she now wants 50 grandchildren to cement her legacy as the matriarch of Britain’s biggest benefits family.
The benefits mom confessed that she wants each of her kids to have five children each, making her the grandmother of 50.
“I’ve told them I want 50 grandkids before I die,” she added.
What do you think? Is Cowie just taking advantage of what’s available, or is this the kind of benefits culture Britain needs to crack down on? Let us know in the comments!
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