ABC News(NEW YORK) — Fifteen years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, a new documentary is focusing on the lives of five teens who were born shortly after their fathers perished on that day.
Those children are the other victims of 9/11, and their stories are told in the documentary The Children of 9/11: 15 Years Later, from the new People/Entertainment Weekly Network.
“People” has been following many so-called 9/11 babies since birth, and one of the teens featured in the documentary is Robyn Higley, of Brookfield, Conn. who was born seven weeks after her father Robert was killed in the south tower.
Now 14 years old, Robyn says she’s just a regular teen. Calling herself “a daddy’s little girl,” she says she takes comfort in knowing that her father, an insurance executive, helped get his co-workers to safety before he was killed.
“I know his death was not in vain,” the teen told ABC News, adding, “He’s a hero … that’s all I can say, he’s a hero. He’s my hero.”
She still struggles with how to mourn her father.
“I wish I could grieve. I was too young to grieve, I didn’t know what was happening, and now that I’m older and I’m starting to realize it, I am now going through the grieving process,” she said.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists commandeered passenger aircraft that crashed into the twin towers as well as in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
Others who, like her, lost their own fathers have become their own special support group.
“They’re like a family to me,” Robyn said.
Liz McNeil, the east coast editor of “People,” reflected on the teen’s lives over the years.
“Often times your first feeling might be ‘Oh, poor kid or what’s their life like?’ and it’s true, they’ve had this incredible loss … but I found these kids to be incredibly resilient,” she said.
The teen’s full stories are highlighted in this week’s issue of “People.” Watch the full documentary on the new People/Entertainment Weekly Network, premiering Sept. 13. Click HERE for more information.
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