Nadya Suleman Reflects on Media Pressure After Giving Birth to Octuplets: ‘I Thought I Wouldn’t Survive It’
Natalie “Nadya” Suleman, famously known as “Octomom,” is opening up about the intense media scrutiny she faced after giving birth to the world’s first surviving octuplets in 2009—and the emotional toll it took on her.
In a recent interview with Today.com published on March 7, Suleman, 49, revealed that the hospital where she gave birth held a press conference without her consent, sparking a media frenzy that she felt powerless to control.
“I thought for a while I wouldn’t be able to survive it,” she recalled. “I didn’t allow myself to process any emotion or feelings. I was just on autopilot.”
Pressured Into the Spotlight
Suleman also shared that she was pressured into giving an interview and even hiring a PR manager immediately after childbirth—decisions she regrets.
“In retrospect, I would have refused. I didn’t even know I had that right as a patient to refuse,” she admitted. “I wish I had some legal assistance at that time.”
At the time, Suleman was already a mother of six and unemployed when she became pregnant with the octuplets through IVF. She believes the public backlash she faced was amplified because she was a single mother.
“If I were in a relationship and married, it would have acted as a buffer to being a target of that hate,” she explained.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(666x0:668x2):format(webp)/Octomom-Natalie-Nadya-Suleman-2009-030425-fc21bd17fcaa4596ac8391e990162f5e.jpg)
Setting the Record Straight
Now, Suleman is reclaiming her narrative in the upcoming Lifetime docuseries Confessions of Octomom, premiering March 10, alongside I Was Octomom, a Lifetime movie based on her life.
“I’ve attempted for 16 years to share bits and pieces of my truth, but I’ve never had the opportunity to tell the full story,” she told Today.com.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Suleman also addressed one of the most persistent misconceptions about her: that she used welfare and government assistance to support her growing family.
“That was a lie,” she said firmly. “I did not use taxpayers’ money.”
Suleman explained that she had saved over $100,000 from her job as a psychiatric technician at a state hospital and used that money for IVF instead of buying a house. Additionally, she used a $60,000 inheritance and student loans to cover costs.
“I paid for everything, period,” she emphasized.
After years of public scrutiny, Suleman is finally telling her story in her own words—on her own terms.