When Natalie Suleman (formerly Nayda) fell pregnant with octuplets via IVF, it propelled her to worldwide fame and she became known as the Octomom.
But with that persona came darkness, desperation and drug addiction. Things were so grim Natalie believes she had no choice but to kill off ‘Octomom’ before it killed her.
“The media created the character and I shamefully embraced it in 2009, out of scarcity and desperation to survive,” she told The Daily Mail.
“This is not something I ever wanted, but I think every single mother can understand the challenges we face.”
Still, few have challenges on Natalie’s scale. Fourteen kids to support alone, including eight seven-year-olds, and one child severely disabled with autism.
The 41-year-old says there were no donations, just her own pocket and all those mouths to feed. So she cashed in on her newfound fame with lucrative shoots for men’s magazines and even a stint in pornographic films. All, she claims, just to put food on the table.
“I fully exploited and dehumanised myself with the porn and the stripping. I was so desperate. We were on the verge of homelessness, so rather than put my kids in front of the camera I decided to put myself out there,” she said.
“The consequence of exploiting myself was deep toxic shame and self disgust. To continue I had to numb and that’s when I started with the prescription drugs.”
Suleman has since ended her dependency on Xanax and is leaving a healthy, active, vegan lifestyle. She’s also returned to work as a counsellor, an income she supplements with welfare payments.
“I’ve been helping drug addicts and alcoholics, so I’m doing the hard work not the easy exploitative work,” she said. “I’m back to who I am.”
The turning point in Natalie’s life was when she returned from a high-paying bikini shoot in 2013 to find her then-10-year-old tottering around the house in a pair of her spike heals.
Later, when the kids had long gone to bed, Natalie found the shoe on the stairs.
Top Comments
...never intended to have eight more children (she and doctors expected just one of the 12 implanted embryos to survive)..."
Rubbish. I recall it being acknowledged as deliberate. A single mother - of 6 children - undergoing IVF. And I seem to recall at the time she was unemployed and living with her mother with her 6 kids as well? Totally unethical. Then transfer 12 - 12! - embryos.
In Australia the practice is one at a time, at least the first few transfers and that embryos has a higher than average case of splitting to become twins as it is. Putting in more than two embryos was a psycho and deliberate move. She was aiming for notoriety from the get-go. Now she's trying to spin it differently.
Agree. Totally unethical. A mother of six with no means to support them was allowed to go through IVF to have more children? So wrong! Worst! To implant 12!! Just because you can doesn't mean you should!!!
My (much younger, I'm 36) half-sister was conceived via IVF just a few years prior to Octomom - it took 3 tries. The first time, my stepmother had 6 embryos implanted. None took. The second, 10 embryos, one took, and miscarried after 8 weeks. The third, they used 14. Only one, my sister, took. You have to understand that even 7 years ago, IVF was a different ballgame. Higher numbers were the only way to boost the odds. Even now, very few doctors in the US want to do one at a time, most of my friends have had 3-4 at a time, and that's with extremely improved techniques. Many moms only have the money for one round of IVF - it costs between $10,000 and $25,000 per round. Insurance doesn't pay for any of it here.
At any rate, it's done. She's had the kids and they're 7. They didn't ask for this, and going crazy criticizing their single parent only destroys THEM - they hear all this from school and the public. Taking them away is not in their best interest, come see the US foster system and you will realize it's NOT a place you want a child to end up. All we can do is consider the ethical implications in future cases and hope she's able to handle the challenges of raising 14 children.