‘Big City, Big Family’: Meet the de la Motte Family From TLC’s New Special

Alyssa Norwin February 24, 2025, 1:27 pm

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Marc and Amber de la Motte talking on park bench at Morningside Park — TLC

TLC viewers will get to meet the de la Motte family as part of a new special called Big City, Big Family. The family of 13 is led by parents Marc and Amber de la Motte, who have 11 children ranging in ages from one year to 22 years old.

Aside from the two youngest, the de la Motte children all play instruments and can often be found busking on the streets of New York City.

“Recently relocating from the peaceful suburbs of San Diego to the vibrant streets of Harlem, NY, Mac and Amber have quickly discovered that raising 11 kids in the Big Apple is not for the faint of heart,” a press release for the special reveals. “As they juggle their growing family, a new lifestyle, and the challenges of busking together on the streets, the de la Mottes are finding that the fast-paced city life is both exhilarating and overwhelming. With worldly influences at every corner and mounting pressure to make it in the city that never sleeps, they’ll have to adapt fast—or risk losing the closeness they’ve worked so hard to build.”

Scroll down to learn more about the de la Mottes.

How did Amber and Marc de la Motte meet?

Amber and Marc met in 2000 at an evangelical church in San Diego, according to The Cut. While Marc is a freelance graphic designer, Amber is a full-time stay at home mom who edits social media footage of the family for their The Happy Caravan account.

Are the de la Mottes Mormon?

The family is not Mormon. Amber addressed questions about the family’s religion in an October 2022 Instagram post. “As a mom of 10 I get asked what religion we are from time to time,” she shared. “We’re just born again Christians. Nothing fancy.”

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A post shared by Amber de la Motte (@the.happy.caravan)

The de la Mottes attend a church in Chinatown. “It’s a standard Christian nondenominational church,” Marc told The Free Press. “We go every week but we never get there on time.”

When did the de la Mottes move to New York?

The family moved to New York during summer 2022. At the time, Amber and Marc had 10 children, with the nine elder kids all participating in the family’s music group. The family lived in San Diego until 2019 when they briefly relocated to San Francisco before taking their Airstream east.

The decision to move to New York came after one of Amber and Marc’s daughters, Pearl, was accepted to Juilliard on full scholarship. Her brother, Josiah, the eldest child, was attending the Manhattan School of Music as of 2023, while siblings Naomi and Noah eventually got accepted into Juilliard as well.

The de la Mottes live in a 4.5 bedroom, 5 bathroom home in Harlem, paying around $10,000 in rent. Their lifestyle is not lavish, as they rely on income from their social media accounts to pay the bills.

Who are the de la Motte kids?

In April 2023, nine of the de la Motte children were part of the family’s busking business, which pays for their music lessons. At the time, the youngest child, Moses, was a bit too young to partake, but he was already learning the cello at under two years old. They welcomed baby No. 11 in December 2023.

TLC

The kids were all homeschooled before being accepted into various music programs.

The de la Motte children play string instruments. Josiah, Naomi, Chloé, Enoch, and Melody all play violin, while Pearl is the viola prodigy. Elijah, Anna, and Moses are trained on cello, and Noah plays the double bass. Baby Neta is still too young to have a specialty just yet.

Amber and Marc haven’t written off the idea of having more children. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, why not?’” Marc told The Free Press (although that was a few months before Neta was born).

Big City, Big Family, Premiere, Tuesday, February 25, 10/9c, TLC