The Tale of Octomom: Nadya Denise Suleman
Posted on March 10, 2009
When 33-year-old Nadya Denise Suleman gave birth to octuplets on January 26, 2009 everyone was relieved that all the babies were well. Nadya's eight babies - Nariah, Makai, Jeremiah, Jonah, Josiah, Noah, Isaiah and Maliah - were healthy although one of the babies weighed just 1.5 pounds at birth.
Nadya's name was not released at first and it was initially thought that she wanted her privacy. As it turns out Nadya - who has become known as Octomom in the blogosphere - appears far more interested in being a celebrity than in maintaining her privacy.
Public opinion of Nadya began to sour when it was learned that Nadya was an unemployed single mother who already had six children at home. Octomom's resemblance to actress Angelina Jolie (allegedly due to plastic surgery) also raised concerns that she was unstable. There were questions as to why Nadya had gone through in vitro fertilization to get pregnant when she already had six children at home. Nadya appeared on the Today show and defended herself saying she was judged unfairly because she was a single mom.
Nadya's mother, Angela Suleman, did not approve of the latest pregnancy and says her daughter was obsessed with having children. She says that she has been the one taking care of her daughters other six children. Angela also says her daughter has no more frozen embryos so there will be no more pregnancies.
Octomom is now a celebrity. Most people have heard parts of her story. There have been jokes and YouTube music parodies. Nadya has been offered everything from book deals to an adult film role. There has also been some very negative reaction including death threats against Nadya.
Octomom has already gone through two publicists. Victor Munoz was the most recent to depart.
"Nadya got real greedy. This woman is nuts," Victor Munoz told Us Magazine. "This I can say: what ultimately destroyed the business arrangement was personal reasons."
Octomom will stay in the news because the plight of her babies and children is of interest to people. She'll stay in the news because Octomom is also a curiosity herself and the public can't help but read about her strange behavior. She stretched the limits of in vitro fertilization - which helps a lot of women get pregnant - further than it should have been stretched. She can't possibly take care of all of her kids. Some of Nadya's other children are reportedly (and understandably) upset by the impending arrival of yet more siblings.
Nadya has received sufficient donations through the mail that she was able to purchase a house. A group called the Angels of Waiting have reportedly donated round-the-clock nursing care. It's amazing there are such generous people even during such bad economic times. There have been allegations that Nadya is mentally ill and that government agencies may not release the newborns into her care because she is not fit to raise them. It seems difficult to see how this story will have a happy ending. But for the sake of those children, we certainly hope it does.
Here's a video about Octomom and the chaos of caring for 14 children from OWN.