She became one of the most criticised parents in the world after giving birth to eight babies at the same time and after her life unravelled, Nadya Suleman went into hiding
Nadya Suleman notoriously became the mother of the first surviving octuplets in history back in 2009 – a result of having 12 embryos implanted in IVF.
Already the mother of six children, the mum hit the headlines when she give birth to eight babies – Noah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Josiah, Makai, Maliyah and Nariyah – following just one unconventional pregnancy.
When Nadya, who now goes by her birth name Natalie, became famous she embarked on ventures as diverse as pornography and boxing, being careful to trademark her “Octomom” nickname. The mother-of-14 had been unemployed when she fell pregnant.
By 2013, Nadya had stepped away from the spotlight in a bid to protect her children and her privacy before returning in a US documentary series called “Confessions of Octomom”. Here, we take a closer look at her journey since finding fame…
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Born in Fullerton, California, a fertility specialist called Dr. Michael Kamrava had performed in-vitro fertilization to help Suleman have her previous six children. In 2008, the Beverly Hills doctor implanted her with 12 embryos simultaneously, with eight of them resulting in live births.
Nadya later told The New York Times that she had wanted to have twins, not octuplets but her doctor, whose medical licence was later revoked, insisted his patient had pushed for the mass implantation. The number of embryos implanted in “Octomum” was highly controversial, due to the significant medical risks they posed to both mother and the babies.
The controversial figure even claimed her pregnancy had “zero complications”, although her swollen stomach was so big it broke her ribs before she went into labour. It was reported that 46 doctors and nurses performed a C-section on Suleman when she went into labour at 31 weeks.
Thibault Monnier, PacificCoastNews.com
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Nadya’s babies were all underweight when they were born, with the smallest weighing 1lb 8oz. Nadya soon went public with her controversial journey to motherhood and faced an intense backlash.
“Octomum” was quickly branded “America’s most hated mother” but she went onto gain commercially too, signing up for a reality show in the UK which never aired and posing semi-nude in magazines. By 2012, she had progressed to starring in an X rated movie, a nude photoshoot, a celebrity boxing match and work as a stripper.
Now 50, Nadya filed for bankruptcy the same year and checked into rehab for exhaustion, anxiety and stress and by 2013, she had removed herself from the spotlight. “I was pretending to be a fake, a caricature, which is something I’m not, and I was doing it out of desperation and scarcity so I could provide for my family,” she would later tell The New York Times. “I’ve been hiding from the real world all my life”.
In January 2014, Nadya was convicted of welfare fraud for not reporting nearly £20,000 of income she earned in 2013. She was sentenced to two years of probation and 200 hours of community service in addition to being ordered to pay back the money.
“Octomum” now works as a counsellor and says she is open with her children about her past sex work. Her octuplets celebrated their 16th birthday in January and the family live in a three-bedroom townhouse in Orange County, California, with their cats Penelope and Mimi.
“My family’s life literally revolves around God, food and fitness,” Nadya wrote on Instagram in 2022. “In that exact order.”
The father of all of the mum-of-14’s children is a sperm donor whose identity has never been publicly revealed. Nadya said she paid him for his services, calling it a “business arrangement”.
Last year, Nadya revealed she had become a grandmother. And she told People.com she regretted not suing the infertility doctor she insists implanted her with more embryos as he said he would.
“I regret that I kind of threw myself under the bus to cover for him and I shouldn’t have but I was grateful,” she said. “I wouldn’t have had any of my kids if it weren’t for his innovative technique. No one else in the world did this type of procedure so I didn’t have it in my heart to sue him.”