Grocery store tabloids have coated a variety of questionable celeb mothers, starting from some tragic “Teen Mother” stars to Patricia Krencil, aka Tan Mother, who got here to fame after being arrested for allegedly putting her 5-year daughter in a tanning sales space, and went on to develop into one of many wackiest member of Howard Stern’s notorious Wack Pack. 

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Then, in fact, there’s Natalie Suleman, aka OctoMom, who earned that media-generated nickname after giving beginning to octuplets. For the reason that 2009 arrival of that veritable litter of youngsters, the mom of 14 (she already had six) grew to become a cultural oddity whose exploits the place breathlessly recounted by the tabloid press.

At a sure level, although, a girl who grew to become a ubiquitous pseudo-celebrity pulled again, deciding to exit the general public eye. She stopped chasing the highlight and saved beneath the radar for greater than a decade earlier than re-emerging in 2025 with a brand new agenda and teenage octuplets. Whereas most individuals will definitely keep in mind her, how a lot do we actually find out about this pop-culture phenomenon — or how she got here to develop into who she is now? To search out out extra about her wild journey, buckle up and hold studying to expertise the transformation of Natalie Suleman, aka OctoMom.

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Natalie Suleman was born as Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman in 1975, the one youngster of California couple Angela Suleman and Edward Doud Suleman. As she recalled in an interview with NBC Information, she was a lot nearer to her father than her mom. “I used to be very unconditionally cherished and accepted, I felt, by my father,” she mentioned. “My mother, we had a relationship. I knew she cherished me … She did not, brazenly or overtly, categorical, , affection and love.” 

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Being an solely youngster led to a lonely childhood. “I simply would lengthy for siblings,” Suleman mentioned. “I needed that vast household, simply to encompass me, be surrounded by.” 

As she grew older, that need reportedly remodeled into outright an obsession. As Natalie’s mom, Angela, advised the Related Press (by way of CBS Information), her daughter developed a compulsion to have youngsters, wishing to have youngsters when she was nonetheless an adolescent, “however fortunately she could not.” Angela grew to become so involved that she consulted a psychiatrist. Whereas that analysis did not elevate any crimson flags, Angela continued to fret about what she believed to be a rising obsession.

Natalie Suleman was simply 19 when she met Marcos Gutierrez, her faculty roommate’s cousin. Suleman and Gutierrez tied the knot in 1996, when she was 21, and she or he instantly launched into a mission to start out a household. These efforts, nonetheless, proved fruitless. After experiencing three miscarriages, she found that her fallopian tubes have been blocked. Medical doctors assured her the one method she’d be capable of have youngsters was by way of in vitro fertilization (IVF) remedies. 

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That revelation in the end led Suleman to an epiphany about her marriage. “I believed at first that I cherished him, however actually I used to be extra in love with having youngsters,” she advised the Each day Mail in 2009, revealing the wedding solely lasted for about two years earlier than they divorced. “We cut up up, however we’re nonetheless pleasant,” she added. Gutierrez later remarried and had youngsters together with his second spouse. Interviewed by Us Weekly, he spoke fondly of his ex-wife, declaring, that she’s “not a nasty individual. She’s an excellent individual with an excellent coronary heart.”

After her divorce, Natalie Suleman did not waste any time in her quest to have youngsters and commenced present process IVF remedies. “I went by means of about seven years of making an attempt — by means of synthetic insemination and thru remedy. And all of which was unsuccessful,” she advised NBC Information. “I had so many reproductive issues from fibroids. I’ve additionally had lesions in my fallopian tubes. It turned out that my tubes have been scarred. So the one possibility left over was IVF.”

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IVF did the trick. Her first youngster, eldest son Elijah, was born in Might 2001. He was adopted by daughter Amerah, who arrived in July 2002 — simply 14 months later. A second son, Joshua, was born in 2003, with a 3rd, Aidan, born in 2005. In 2006, Suleman welcomed fraternal twins Calyssa and Caleb.

Suleman recognized the sperm donor for her youngsters as David Solomon, but in addition confirming that wasn’t essentially his full title. “We went out on one platonic date, however it by no means grew to become something as a result of I noticed he was younger and preferred relationship plenty of ladies, and I wasn’t concerned with that,” Suleman advised the Each day Mail in 2009, revealing that when she later approached him about donating sperm he agreed. On the time, she mentioned that Solomon performed no half within the lives of the kids he fathered and had no real interest in assembly them. “Perhaps some day sooner or later he’ll be concerned with seeing them, however it’s not my alternative,” she mentioned. “I can not say whether or not he desires to play an element of their life.”

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Whereas there have been numerous stars who’ve frozen their eggs on account of being pregnant difficulties, Natalie Suleman’s quite a few IVF remedies had left her with a number of fertilized embryos that she froze for future use. Desirous to have yet another youngster, she enlisted the companies of a fertility specialist, Dr. Michael Kamrava. Leaving nothing to probability, Kamrava implanted all six embryos (regardless that greater than two at a time is not beneficial). Suleman, nonetheless, was satisfied that solely two of these embryos might end in being pregnant. “However I knew there was a restricted timeframe by which I might have youngsters and I had simply six [frozen and stored] embryos left and I used to be decided to make use of all of them,” she advised the Each day Mail. “I’d have been very pleased with only one extra child,” Suleman added.

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That, in fact, did not occur. As a substitute, two of these six embryos cut up, with all eight rising to fruition. Upon discovering she was anticipating octuplets, Suleman advised the Mail she understood what she was dealing with. “With the six I’ve no issues,” she famous, “however I am anticipating 14 to be extraordinarily difficult.”

At about 30 weeks, one of many infants had stopped rising. “Blood movement from the placenta to him had stopped. Utterly stopped,” Suleman mentioned throughout her NBC Information interview. On January 26, 2009, all eight infants have been delivered by way of C-section, an advanced process that wanted to be accomplished with the utmost pace and precision. “They’ve every little thing ready,” Suleman recalled. “And every little thing A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Shade-coordinated. And so they had totally different — respiratory therapists prepared. And nurses prepared. There was about possibly 46 or so.”

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After the beginning of her octuplets, Natalie Suleman grew to become the only mom of 14 youngsters and one of the crucial notorious individuals in America. Whereas the beginning of surviving octuplets was deemed to be a medical miracle, Suleman — dubbed OctoMom by the media — discovered herself on the receiving finish of backlash from the general public, hit with criticism of selfishly bringing youngsters into the world that she had no hope of having the ability to afford. “I must marvel why, as soon as she had six, she would wish to have extra,” psychoanalyst Ruth Jaffe advised NBC Information. “It is a harmful course to go in.”

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For Suleman, her newfound fame proved to be uncharted territory, and she or he struggled with being each well-known and extensively despised. “At first it was an unbelievable pandemonium,” she advised Folks about getting into the highlight after the beginning. “I used to be combating for my survival.”

In determined want of cash to help her youngsters, Suleman was pushed right into a take care of the satan, pressured to commerce on her celeb standing to do issues she would not have in any other case even thought-about. “I needed to sacrifice my integrity repeatedly. There wasn’t something I would not do to offer for my household,” she advised the journal, including, “I’ve by no means needed fame.”

To discipline the requests for interviews and handle her public picture, Natalie Suleman employed a publicist, Joann Killeen, of Los Angeles-based Killeen Furtney Group. Killeen navigated Suleman’s first main interview, with NBC’s “In the present day,” which can not have been among the many most uncomfortable “In the present day” present interviews ever, however nonetheless attracted a variety of eyeballs.

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The agency’s illustration of OctoMom, nonetheless, didn’t final lengthy. After receiving about 100 threatening emails and voice messages, Killeen felt the necessity to give up. “They’d put me within the wooden chipper and throw me within the backside of the ocean and hope I die,” Killeen advised NBC Information, describing among the extra violent messages she acquired. “We have gotten her by means of the worst a part of it and now they’re placing their venom and anger towards us.”

Issues didn’t go any higher for Suleman’s subsequent publicist, Victor Munoz. He additionally give up, however supplied a really totally different cause for his choice. “It simply bought to be an excessive amount of,” he mentioned in an interview with Us Weekly, providing a far less-generous evaluation than his predecessor. “Nadya bought actual grasping. This girl is nuts,” he continued, including, “This I can say: what in the end destroyed the enterprise association was private causes.”

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Whereas Natalie Sulemon was dealing with the life-changing scenario of caring for eight infants and her different six youngsters beneath the tough glare of the media highlight, consideration shifted to the doctor accountable, Dr. Michael Kamrava. Kamrava was subsequently expelled from the American Society for Reproductive Drugs, which proved to be only the start of the issues he would expertise on account of Sulemon’s controversial being pregnant.

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In 2011, Kamrava’s license to apply drugs within the state of California was revoked on account of negligence. “Whereas the proof didn’t set up [Kamrava] as a maverick or deviant doctor, oblivious to requirements of care in IVF apply, it definitely demonstrated that he didn’t train sound judgment within the switch of 12 embryos to [Suleman],” the California Medical Board concluded, as reported by CBS Information. He tried to get his license again, blaming unfavourable media consideration; he was in the end unsuccessful.

Whereas Suleman continued to help Kamrava, she later got here to want that she hadn’t. “I form of threw myself beneath the bus to cowl for him,” she advised Folks. “I undoubtedly remorse not suing him as a result of his insurance coverage would have been paying, and it might have been useful. However I did not have the center to. I would not have had any of my youngsters if it weren’t for him.”

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To maintain herself and her 14 youngsters afloat, Natalie Sulemon leaned into her celeb as OctoMom, turning to the tabloids providing to pay her for tales. Whereas an OctoMom actuality present ought to have seemingly been a no brainer, expectations that Suleman would develop into the subsequent Kate Gosselin (shady as she could also be), A&E and TLC — the networks that may predictably have jumped on that mission — determined to take a move. “What I think is that they do not need to take an opportunity on her as a result of she’s nearly a little bit too loopy for actuality tv,” mentioned Elayne Rapping, SUNY Buffalo professor of American research and media research, in an interview with the Related Press. Any hopes of a profession in actuality TV have been quashed later that 12 months when a two-hour Fox particular, “OctoMom: The Unimaginable Unseen Footage,” proved to be a scores dud.

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Finally, Suleman moved on to different ventures, together with a number of celeb boxing matches in 2011. Her opponents in these low-rent occasions ranged from a Philadelphia information anchor to notorious “Lengthy Island Lolita” Amy Fisher.

In the meantime, public outrage towards Suleman continued unabated. This led to a extremely tough interval in her life. “I used to be on autopilot, simply shifting, shifting, shifting,” Suleman recalled in an interview with E! Information. “And I used to be additionally residing in a state of palpable nervousness and worry, all of the dying threats after which the stalkers.” Trying again at what she went by means of, Suleman does not suppose she would have acquired the identical stage of concern if her being pregnant with octuplets had occurred in 2025. “I do not imagine I’d have been the goal of such misplaced hate,” she mentioned.

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Virtually instantly after the beginning of Natalie Suleman’s octuplets made her the mom of 14, questions started to come up about how she might ever presumably afford to deal with so many youngsters. In December 2010, it was reported that she confronted the specter of her and her youngsters being evicted from their dwelling on account of being behind on a $450,000 cost.

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By 2012, her monetary scenario had grown much more dire. That Might, she filed for chapter, citing money owed in extra of $1 million. “I’ve needed to make some very tough selections this 12 months, and submitting Chapter 7 was one in all them,” Suleman advised The Orange County Register.

In line with her chapter submitting, she reported simply $50,000 in belongings towards a debt of 20 instances that quantity. Interviewed by HLN (by way of CBS Information), she admitted that the staggering amount of cash she owed was untenable. “I do not suppose you will get farther, deeper down into the all-time low than we’re at this level,” she acknowledged. The case was in the end tossed out of courtroom when Suleman did not file quite a few paperwork and monetary statements required by regulation.

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A number of months after Natalie Suleman declared chapter, she ventured into an sudden nook of present enterprise together with her first grownup video, “Octomom House Alone.” The video, launched in July 2012, was a solo characteristic. Whereas pornography wasn’t her preliminary endgame, she admitted that her tough cash issues pressured her hand. “I would be mendacity if I did not say producing income wasn’t a serious cause why I did it, however I discovered the expertise was empowering and liberating,” Suleman mentioned in an interview with HuffPost. “This was a really totally different scenario for me. I have been celibate for 13 years and avoiding my very own sexuality.” That very same month, she additionally made her debut as a stripper, dancing round a pole at a Miami gentleman’s membership.

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She adopted that up by taking a stab at a music profession with the discharge of her first (and solely) dance single, “Attractive Celebration.” She additionally endorsed a payday mortgage scheme, OctoLoan, providing rates of interest of as much as 800%.

Suleman capped off the 12 months by checking into rehab, however not for substance abuse. As a substitute, she spent 28 days to take care of all of the stress, exhaustion, and nervousness she was experiencing. In a subsequent look on “Oprah: The place Are They Now,” she admitted that each one the strain she was beneath had taken its toll. “I really was beginning to crack,” she recalled. “After which it bought worse!”

Ever since getting into the highlight, Natalie Suleman has worn a variety of hats, starting from reviled celeb to grownup movie star to celeb boxing contestant. In 2014, she added one other entry to her resume: convicted felony. In late 2013, ABC Information reported she was beneath investigation for welfare fraud, on account of claims she lied about her revenue with a purpose to obtain authorities help. In line with Suleman’s rep, Gina Rodriguez, Suleman’s stint in rehab sucked up most of her financial savings, and she or he solely supposed to depend on “state help for a quick time period.”

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In January 2014, she was formally charged, with prosecutors claiming that she filed for federal help the earlier 12 months, but had uncared for to report nearly $30,000 in revenue she introduced in from stripping and her grownup video. If convicted, she confronted serving greater than 5 years in jail. An extra cost adopted, claiming that she falsely acquired greater than $10,000 in California state medical advantages as a result of she lied in her utility.

Suleman in the end entered a plea of no contest. She managed to keep away from jail time when the decide within the case sentenced her to 2 years’ probation, along with 200 hours of group service. She was additionally ordered to pay $26,000 in restitution.

After narrowly avoiding jail, Natalie Suleman eliminated herself from the general public eye. As she advised The New York Occasions in 2018, she was then working as a counselor, having retreated from the limelight for the sake of her youngsters. “We have been struggling financially, however it was such a blessing to have the ability to be free from that,” she mentioned of fleeing her personal celeb. “These have been chains.”

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In 2025, Suleman re-emerged to inform her personal story — however this time on her phrases. The outcome was the Suleman-sanctioned Lifetime film, “I Was OctoMom: The Natalie Sulemon Story,” and a companion documentary collection additionally broadcast on Lifetime, “Confessions of Octomom.” Talking with Folks about why she went quiet, Suleman echoed what she advised the Occasions all these years earlier. “The life I used to be main was not solely damaging, it was darkish. It was the antithesis of who I’m as an individual,” she defined. In line with Suleman, the more severe that her monetary struggles grew to become, the extra prepared she was to compromise herself. “It was a really poisonous time the place I used to be sacrificing my integrity,” she added. “It took a toll and began consuming away at my soul.”

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In the meantime, it was clear that OctoMom’s youngsters have been rising up quick. Curiously, she credited her 16-year-old octuplets for her return to the limelight. “My entire household desires us to share our reality, to take our narrative again,” Suleman advised ABC Information, noting her youngsters had “been urging me, strongly encouraging me, , for years, to share my reality.”