Octomom on life with 14 kids
Octomom Natalie Suleman on life with 14 kids and the challenges of having a severely autistic son
SHE became known to the world as Octomom, an inyour-face mother of 14 kids who constantly made headlines for the wrong reasons. Critics couldn’t get enough of laying into her. There was the fact that she already had six kids but still gave birth to a set of octuplets while on government welfare. Then came a plastic surgery scandal, followed by a porn saga, then a welfare fraud debacle that landed her in trouble with the law. But these days Natalie Suleman (44) – formerly known as Nadya Suleman – is trying to lead a normal life. Well, normal for a woman raising 14 children as a single mom, that is. Yet the hits just keep coming. She recently revealed one of her
older sons is autistic. She took to Instagram to share a video of Aidan in the park. “This is my adolescent infant Aidan,” she captioned the video. “He’s 14 years old, going on one in his head. Aidan is severely autistic. He requires complete assistance in meeting all needs.”
Aidan doesn’t speak, requires feeding and changing because he’s not potty trained, and needs to be bathed.
But his mom is focused on caring for him – by herself. “This ‘job’ is my life (other than caring for 13 other children singlehandedly),” she wrote on Instagram.
Natalie, who’s raising her brood in a three-bedroom townhouse in Orange County, California, had taken Aidan to the park after dropping 11 of her children off for their first day of the new school year.
Things went south fast. “He had a meltdown (dropped to ground, threw water bottles, took off shoes and propelled those at my head),” she wrote.
“As soon as we arrived home I bathed, changed and fed exhausted Aidan and held him until he fell asleep.”
Natalie, who’s been accused in the past of being an attention-seeker, says she wanted to share the information to show what her real life is like and “not a ‘perfect’ depiction of what I want people to perceive my life to be”.
She also wanted to show her critics and supporters alike what matters most to her, she continued – and that’s her family.
NATALIE probably feels she has a point to prove to critics after being painted as a villain over the years. She made headlines in 2009 when she gave birth to eight babies despite being unable to care for her six older kids without government handouts.
She began IVF treatments when she was just 21 and had her first baby when
she was 25. She resorted to IVF for her next pregnancies, which resulted in three more sons and two daughters. But that wasn’t enough. She later had 12 embryos implanted by Beverly Hills doctor Michael Kamrava, who later lost his licence for medical negligence for implanting them.
The birth was a medical marathon: 46 doctors and nurses had to deliver Natalie’s brood. The six boys and two girls weighed between 800g and 1,5kg.
Natalie, who trademarked the name Octomom, quickly became one of the most infamous parents on the planet.
First there was the plastic surgery scandal when she spent a fortune on a cosmetic makeover, apparently in a bid to look like her idol Angelina Jolie. This included breast augmentation, silicone lip injections and a tummy tuck.
She was on welfare at the time but insisted she’d had the procedures done with her own money.
Then there was the sex scandal after Natalie embarked on a career as a porn star and stripper. She used the first payout from the profits of her adult DVD, Octomom: Home Alone, to pay eight months’ rent upfront on a sprawling five-bedroom property.
“Everything I ever did was for money to put food on the table,” she said to defend herself (YOU, 28 September 2016).
“Everyone thinks I had all these donations and help but I didn’t. I exploited and dehumanised myself with the porn. We were on the verge of homelessness so rather than put my kids in front of the camera I put myself out there.”
But the work left her feeling disgusted with herself. “I was young, dumb, irresponsible, selfish and reckless,” she told Australian journalist Angela Cox of news. com.au recently.
She checked into rehab after becoming addicted to the tranquilliser Xanax and in 2014 she pleaded guilty to welfare fraud. She was sentenced to two years’ probation, 200 hours of community service and a small fine.
Her mammoth pregnancy also took its toll on her body. Her belly was so swollen at the time that it broke her ribs.
“Four out of the five discs in my lumbar spine are ruptured, herniated fully,” she told the New York Times. “I haven’t felt my toes on my foot on the right side for many years, and my fingers are numb all the time every day.”
But she refuses to take traditional medicine. “I’m a raw vegan, and I perceive pharmaceuticals to be poison,” she says. Instead she’s a big believer in prayer and the power of exercise. “If I didn’t climb 40 miles a week on the Stair-Master I’d be completely incapacitated.”
SOMEHOW she’s pulled it all together in recent years and seemingly runs a harmonious, if chaotic, household. When Angela visited their home in December last year when the octuplets turned 10, she found scenes of domestic bliss.
The octuplets, whose father’s identity is still unconfirmed, are thriving.
Noah and Josiah are blond and fair, Nariyah and Maliyah olive-skinned and brunette, and their four brothers – Jonah, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Makai are
somewhere in between.
The younger children moved around the kitchen with practised ease, watched over by their maternal older sister, Amerah (16). Twelve-year-old Calyssa was colouring in while two teenage boys were playing video game Fortnite nearby.
The kids, who also follow a vegan diet, eat in shifts because there aren’t enough seats at the table for everyone.
A few of them sleep on the couch because there’s not enough space in the rooms for beds for everyone and they have to queue for the bathroom.
But the they’re brimming with energy and read two books a month, go on fun runs and don’t argue when it comes to homework.
Natalie, they told Angela, is the best mom ever.
Their day begins about 6.20am and Natalie is a one-woman school run. She drops the kids off in a battered van, which she calls the “dump truck”.
After school, there’s cleaning, chores and homework, then it’s bedtime around 8.30pm. Saturdays are family nights when they guzzle mostly vegan junk food and watch TV.
Natalie says she’s working full time as a counsellor, relying on government help and international photoshoots to supplement her income.
There’s no man in her life and she doesn’t date, she says.
Her family is her world and she’s fiercely proud of her youngest kids. “They’re the only surviving eight octuplets in the history of mankind,” she said, smiling.
“I’ve raised them to be wide awake.”