Annette and Cécile Dionne Turn 90 On May 28, 2024

Turning 90 is still considered a feat of longevity and cause for celebration.

But for two Canadian women, Annette Dionne Allard and Cécile Dionne Langlois, turning 90 on  May 28 will still be a bittersweet day. Their siblings are dead and much of their early lives were lived under constant scrutiny.

Annette and Cécile, are each one fifth of what were the world’s most famous sisters.

When it was announced that five baby girls were born to Oliva-Édouard and his wife Elzire Dionne on May 28 1934 in rural Callendar, Ontario Canada, the world went into Dionne Quintuplet-mania.

The Dionne’s were the first known set of quintuplets to survive infancy.

The five identical girls were born prematurely weighing a combined thirteen pounds. In order of birth Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie, and Marie Dionne overcame staggering odds to survive. Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe delivered the babies and would help them to thrive. The Dionne home did not have electricity and incubators had to be located that did not run on electric. To add to the complex situation the Dionne parents already had five children (another child had died in infancy) to care for and were very poor.

Exploitation

Logistics on keeping the quintuplets alive continued for four months until custody was signed over to the Red Cross, which paid for the quintuplets care. Within a year the Ontario government intervened, passing the Dionne Quintuplets’ Guardianship Act, which made the Dionne quintuplets wards of the Crown until the age of 18.

Across the road from the Dionne home, the Dr. Dafoe Hospital and Nursery was built for the five girls and their caregivers lead by Dr. Dafoe. The girls were moved from their farmhouse in September 1934 and would be living in the nursery until they were nine years old.

The Donne quintuplets were put on display where visitors came three times a day to view them from an observation gallery. It is estimated that over three million people visited the quintuplets. The area became known as “Quintland.” Merchandise abounded and the quintuplets life in the spotlight never dimmed. The souvenirs with the Dionne girls likeness ranged from things like photographs, dolls, plates, books and postcards, puzzles and hundreds of other items. Other revenue from advertising, film features and photography rights  of the Dionne’s was meant to help provide for their future.

None of this lead to particularly happy childhoods, but the public did not know this. Dr. Dafoe grew rich by his association with the Dionne’s and was probably the best known doctor in the world.

The Dionne’s were returned to their parents in 1941 after Dr. Dafoe resigned his guardianship, though he remained the girl’s physician until February 13, 1942.  At the time of his death at age 60 on June 2, 1943 the “poor country doctor” had accrued over $180,000, mostly invested in stocks.

In the meantime a huge trust fund was supposedly building up for the girls. The girls continued to be exploited and their parents and others would spend the money the quintuplets were earning. That Dionne quintuplets would never see most of the trust and eventually file suit for an apology and some of the money they were supposed to receive.

It Should Have Gotten Better

After reaching adulthood the girls had little contact with their parents. When reunited with their family the quintuplets said that they were not integrated into the family and looked upon as a unit rather than individuals. The quintuplets would speak French while their siblings would speak English. There were also later claims that when they were teens they suffered physical abuse from mother Elzire and sexual abuse from their father Oliva-Édouard. The girls said “they dwelt at the center of a circus.” Despite all the happiness portrayed during their childhood and adolescence, the sisters led lives tinged with unhappiness and tragedy that would continue into adulthood.

Émilie Dionne entered a convent and died of a seizure in 1954 at the age of 20. Marie died in 1970 age 46 from a blood clot in her brain.  Yvonne died of cancer in 2001.

Both Annette and Cécile would marry but end up divorcing their husbands. Today the sisters live in Montreal. Annette is reportedly not in good health. When media comes calling, Cécile will occasionally do an interview or attend an event relating to the quintuplets lives.

In 2019 when reflecting about her life, Annette told the Toronto Star “It is a story that is a very sad story, but through that I found very sweet moments, and I’m very grateful,” she said. “I realize that it was a gift to have my sisters, because we love one another very fondly.”