Natalie “Nadya” Suleman — also known as Octomom — has spoken about her biggest regret after welcoming 14 children.
The single parent first made headlines in 2009, after she was implanted with 12 embryos by a fertility specialist in Beverly Hills. The implantation resulted in the first-ever successful birth of octuplets: Noah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Josiah, Makai, Maliyah, and Nariyah.
Before receiving her signature moniker, Suleman was already a mother of six children: Amerah, Calyssa, Elijah, Caleb, Joshua, and Aidan.
Now, Suleman — who faced backlash for having eight children when she was already a busy parent — is looking back on her last pregnancy. During that time, she was actually only hoping for one more baby. However, Dr. Michael Kamarava later confessed to implanting 12 embryos in her, despite saying he’d only implanted six, and lost his medical license as a result.
Still, Suleman said that while she wouldn’t change the family she now has, she regrets that she didn’t take legal action against Kamarava.
“I don’t think I’d do too much differently,” she told People in an interview published on Wednesday. “I do regret not suing the infertility doctor. I definitely regret that because his insurance would’ve been the one paying, and it would’ve been some millions, and it would’ve been helpful for my family.”
She shared that when she was expecting her octuplets, she was living with her parents and struggling financially.
“I regret that I kind of threw myself under the bus to cover for him, and I shouldn’t have but I was grateful. I wouldn’t have had any of my kids if it weren’t for his innovative technique,” she explained. “No one else in the world did this type of procedure, so I didn’t have it in my heart to sue him.”
She said that she did sue the hospital for breaching HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which protects patients’ medical records and information. According to Suleman, the hospital was the “reason why [she] ended up in the public eye.”
Back in 2009, Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Bellflower, California, was fined $250,000 for unauthorized employee access to Suleman’s medical records. At the time, 25 employees had inappropriate access to those records, with 15 of them either terminated or resigned. Eight other employees faced other disciplinary actions.
Suleman is now back in the limelight with her documentary Confessions of Octomom, and a movie based on the criticism she got when she welcomed her eight children, I Was Octomom, premiering on Lifetime this week. In 2013, after years in the spotlight, she opted to raise her children privately.
“I had stopped wanting to do it from day one. I was violating my boundaries and my value system and my own self,” she said at the time. “I didn’t think of it at the time because I was in survival mode, and I was doing whatever I possibly could to provide for my kids. There was definitely a catalyst — my girls, particularly my oldest daughter, Ameerah. She was about 10, and she started integrating my traits and behaviors.”
Last November, Suleman celebrated a new milestone: Becoming a grandmother. On Instagram, she posted a photo showing a baby girl’s tiny foot peeking from underneath a pink blanket. Without revealing which of her 10 sons the daughter belonged to, Suleman gushed over the latest addition to her huge family.
“Thank you my son and my lovely daughter in law for giving us this beautiful gift!” she wrote in the caption. “We are so blessed that she is a new addition to our family! Baby girl you are so very loved and we can’t wait to watch you grow!! 8/30/24.”
