Here’s the rewritten version in English while maintaining the original meaning:
Breaking News: Natalie ‘Nadya’ Suleman Opens Up About Media Pressure After Giving Birth to Octuplets
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Natalie “Nadya” Suleman, the mother who made history by giving birth to the first surviving octuplets in 2009, is speaking out about the intense media scrutiny she endured and the emotional toll it took.
In an interview with Today.com on March 7, the 49-year-old mother of 14 revealed that the hospital where she gave birth held a press conference without her consent, fueling the overwhelming media attention.
“For a while, I thought I wouldn’t survive it,” Suleman recalled. “I didn’t allow myself to feel any emotions. I was just on autopilot.”
She also shared that she was pressured into giving an interview and hiring a PR manager immediately after giving birth—decisions she deeply regrets.
“In hindsight, I would have refused,” she said. “I didn’t even know I had the right as a patient to say no. I wish I had legal support at the time.”
At the time, Suleman was already a single mother of six and unemployed when she conceived the octuplets through IVF. She believes that being single made her the target of harsher criticism.
“If I had been in a relationship and married, it would have served as a buffer against being a target of hatred and social comparison,” she explained.
Now, she is reclaiming her narrative through the Lifetime docuseries Confessions of Octomom, premiering on March 10, along with the biographical film I Was Octomom.
“For 16 years, I’ve tried to share bits and pieces of my truth, but I’ve never had the chance to tell the full story,” she said.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Suleman also addressed persistent rumors, including the widespread belief that she relied on welfare to raise her children.
“That was a lie,” she stated. “I did not use taxpayers’ money.”
She explained that she had saved over $100,000 from her job as a psychiatric technician at a state hospital and used an inheritance of nearly $60,000 to fund her IVF treatments.
“Instead of buying a house, I spent the money on IVF,” she admitted. “I also took out student loans, but I paid for everything myself.”
Suleman is also known for her strict parenting style, which includes no meat, no phones, and no social media for her teenage octuplets.
“For years, I was portrayed as an unemployed mother living off welfare, but that was completely false,” she said.
I Was Octomom premieres on March 8, while Confessions of Octomom debuts on March 10, both on Lifetime.
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