10/18/2026
At 90 years old, Brazilian farmer Luiz Costa de Oliveira made headlines with a family story that was difficult to believe.
He said he had fathered 50 children with four women connected through marriage and family relationships.
According to a 2011 report from Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte region, Luiz had 17 children with his first wife before she died. He later had another 17 with Maria Francisca da Silva, who helped raise the younger children.
The story took an even more unexpected turn from there.
Maria’s sister, Ozelita, reportedly began a relationship with Luiz and had 15 children with him. Their mother, Francisca Maria, was also reported to have had one child with him, bringing his claimed total to 50.
Not all the children survived, according to the original account.
Luiz also said he had around 100 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. Those numbers were not independently verified, and he admitted he could not remember all their names. He even suggested he might have descendants he did not know about.
Reports said the extended family lived across two homes in Campo Grande, Brazil.
Although the story continues to circulate on social media, it dates back to 2011. There is no reliable information in the account about Luiz’s current circumstances, so the figures should be understood as claims reported at the time, not independently confirmed records.
It remains an unusual snapshot of one man’s reported family history, and a reminder that viral stories can resurface long after the original reporting.
This post is for informational and human-interest purposes. Some details in the original report were not independently verified.