The Untold Truth Of 7 Little Johnstons Star Emma Johnston
TLC fans come to seriously love the families that have a series on the network. There are so many families that have brought laughter and tears over the years. One of the most beloved of those families are the stars of "7 Little Johnstons." The series follows Amber and Trent Johnston and their five children, all of which live with achondroplasia dwarfism, per ABC News. Amber and Trent welcomed two children, Jonah and Elizabeth, before growing their family through adoption with three more children — Anna, Alex, and Emma.
Emma is the youngest of the Johnston family. She was adopted at 5 years old from China. "She had a meltdown when we left the orphanage, but as soon we got home she fit right in," Amber told People of Emma's adoption.
Emma Johnston has had to work on boosting her confidence
Emma Johnston seems like a fun and free-spirited girl, but she's struggled to express it around people outside her family. Viewers have seen Emma take steps toward independence and asserting herself. In 2020, mom Amber Johnston took her to a speech therapist to help her gain the confidence needed for a fun summer job (via Us Weekly). In working with the speech therapist, Emma learned she has a neurological speech disorder.
"It bothers me when I take forever to answer," Emma tells the cameras during a session. "I know what I want to say, but I just don't know what the right word is" (via Us Weekly).
She got the chance to put her new skills to the test by stepping in for sister Anna as a summer camp counselor. At summer's end, Emma started high school virtually, according to her Instagram. Like any high schooler, Emma's loving spending time learning all the new TikTok dances out there.
She has her own Etsy shop
Despite being busy with schoolwork and starring alongside her family in a popular reality show, Emma Johnston also runs a successful Etsy shop, through which she sells handmade jewelry. Rings n Things boasts tons of 5-star reviews, and even has a dedicated Instagram account with over 56,000 followers at the time of writing. To date, Emma has made more than 1,300 sales, with customers raving about the high quality of her products and how helpful she was when they had minor issues.
"These earrings are even cooler in person! I love them. Can't wait to show them off," enthused one reviewer, while another shared, "Love, love, love my earrings I purchased!! Will be purchasing more!" As Reality Titbit notes, if Emma typically charges around $40 a pop for each statement piece, she stands to have already earned over $45,000 for her side hustle alone. Emma is quickly gaining on her sister Anna, whose own Etsy jewelry shop, Fizz4Passion, is even more popular.
She was a cheerleader
Longtime fans of "7 Little Johnstons" have followed the central family for years, through various trials and tribulations. Emma Johnston's love of cheerleading was widely discussed, and indeed documented on social media too, with the show's official Twitter account sharing a post-practice shot of her in 2018. As Meaww reported, after serving on the squad for about a year and impressing everybody, Emma was even made co-captain, to her surprise and delight. Emma initially considered herself too shy to aid in leading the team, but her teacher believed she was more than capable.
However, in 2022, the reality star was forced to take a step back from her passion. Per Showbiz Army, during an Instagram Q&A session, fans asked whether Emma was cheering again during that school year. She confirmed she wasn't, alongside a shot of her looking despondent and giving a thumbs down sign. Emma clarified she still really enjoys cheerleading, but it would be "too much to explain why" she had to take a step back from it. Fans wondered whether filming the show was taking up too much of her time, or if Emma simply wanted to focus more on her studies.
She has an autoimmune disease
Emma Johnston isn't one to back down from a challenge and, in Season 8, fans learned she was struggling with even more than they'd realized. Distractify reports that, during a Season 8 episode of "7 Little Johnstons," it was revealed that Emma was secretly battling an autoimmune disease when her elder sister, Elizabeth, who's studying to become a nurse, was given permission to administer her medication. "A few years ago, Emma was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and she has been undergoing injections," mom Amber Johnston explained.
Emma admitted she was nervous about Elizabeth handling her injection, but thankfully she did a great job. Little else was revealed about the autoimmune disease itself, meaning it could be anything from type 1 diabetes to lupus, but suffice to say Emma is taking it in her stride just like everything else in her life. Moreover, the ambitious teenager certainly isn't letting it slow her down.
She doesn't tell people her family has a TV show
Plenty of kids would love it if their family was featured on their very own reality show, but Emma Johnston would rather separate the Johnstons' fame from her regular, day-to-day life. According to TV Shows Ace, during an Instagram Q&A session, Emma refused to answer questions about where she and her family were traveling at the time because, as the Etsy store owner reasoned, it would eventually be chronicled on the show and fans would find everything out then.
Moreover, the "7 Little Johnstons" star shared that she doesn't know how her teachers or classmates feel about her being on a TV show, or if they even watch her, because she doesn't talk about "7 Little Johnstons" with them. "I don't let anyone know that I have a TV show at my school," Emma confirmed, explaining, "I keep things to myself at school because I came to get educated too."
To be fair, it would be tough trying to concentrate in class with everybody peppering you with questions about what it's like to have a film crew in your house the whole time.
She caused chaos after hinting that 7 Little Johnstons was ending
Could Emma Johnston be so hesitant to share her show with friends in school because she's secretly eager for it to end? As Reality Titbit notes, Season 11 of "7 Little Johnstons" kicked off in March 2022. Around that time, Emma conducted one of her regular Q&A sessions on Instagram, during which a fan asked whether she knew how many seasons they were doing total. The jewelry maker confirmed the family was in the process of filming twenty more episodes, and that's it. Twenty episodes is around two seasons' worth, so fans were immediately concerned there were only a couple more installments of "7 Little Johnstons" to come.
As Distractify clarified, however, it may just be that the Johnstons don't know what's happening either way beyond these episodes. The show hasn't been cancelled or renewed at the time of writing, but Emma's answer did give longtime viewers pause. Neither TLC nor any of the other family members have confirmed either way, so there's no real reason to panic just yet. And it's unlikely Emma intended to cause any distress with her response, either.