'Octomom' Nadya Suleman tells Oprah she 'lives in guilt'

Oprah Winfrey's show cameras spent 24 hours with octuplets mom Nadya Suleman and her 14 children, giving viewers an up-close peek at one, hectic day in the household.

In the episode, which aired Tuesday, Suleman described the difficulty of raising so many children as a single mother. She acknowledged not being able to provide the children with enough attention and support, though she said "no couple could" either.

"I live with a tremendous amount of guilt...and I'll live with this forever," Suleman said. But she said she has never considered giving any of them up to foster care.

Winfrey flashed pictures of Suleman on magazine covers posing in a bikini. "Why are you doing that?" Winfrey asked.

"Let me tell you why: 14 hungry mouths," Suleman said. "I must feed my children."

The bikini shoot with Star Magazine left her with a $100,000 paycheck. She said she spends $1,000 a month on groceries, buying 20 gallons of milk, 21 dozen eggs and 35 loaves of bread -- all in one week. She also hires three nannies who share shifts throughout the day. Suleman is alone with her children at night.

Suleman described "octomom" as a fictional character, "the antithesis of who I am." She denied getting pregnant to seek fame, never imagining that the in-vitro fertilization would result in "a litter" of children. Octuplets, she said, was something she "never conceptualized."

"It was something based on a selfish, immature decision," Suleman told Winfrey, later explaining that she should have had fewer embryos transferred.

She said she has not dated since giving birth to the octuplets and that having more children is the "farthest thing" from her mind.

"I can't grow hands or eyes," Suleman said. "I'm not an octopus."

-- Kimi Yoshino

Photo: Nadya Suleman in 2009. Credit: Nick Ut / Associated Press

Comments

[the "octo" ber guy]

Looks like whether we like it or not, we're gonna have to keep being exposed to the trials and tribulations of this "octo" pus until she's an "octo" genarian(and then possibly even beyond that!).

[jeanne021556]

Please. Nadya wanted the children purposely for a reality show. SOOOOO many people want quick fortune by being on a reality show. Kate and 8, the Family with 18 kids…, NADYA……. If TV and Cable stations would STOP glamorizing this, maybe we won't see so many train wrecks. I do not want to support people that are selfish and greedy.

[jeanne021556]

Please. Nadya wanted the children purposely for a reality show. SOOOOO many people want quick fortune by being on a reality show. Kate and 8, the Family with 18 kids…, NADYA……. If TV and Cable stations would STOP glamorizing this, maybe we won't see so many train wrecks. I do not want to support people that are selfish and greedy.

[Robin]

Does she live in guilt about bold face lying about using frozen embryos?

http://www.latimes.com/includes/misc/kamravaaccusation.pdf

Not only for the octuplets but for other cycles which resulted in live births also.

Frozen embryos were available.

She didn't use them.

She lied.

[David]

What an immature wack-job. Given her clear lack of intelligence and judgement, those poor children should either be in foster care or adopted out to caring families. Any single normal person without Suleman's impaired faculties couldn't nurture, support, or care for those kids; she clearly cannot.

[Astonished]

My,my, she "lives in guilt." Is that maybe the next town her and her circus will be living in? Because for someone who didn't do this for the spotlight she sure is in the news a lot!

[Fred]

She should be put in prison. My wife and I worked to get advanced degrees until we were too old to have kids. We paid 50k for unsuccessful in vitro and then gave up - this is a cost I am willing to deal with for my career.

I am so angry that this woman feels that we should all pay for her to have children that I am spitting bile.

I used to be supportive of single mothers - this single mother completely changed my attitude towards all - they should all pay their own way or have the kids taken away.

[Gary]

When is she going to pay off Kaiser for
her medical bills?
She makes $100,000 and I have to look at
her in the grocery checkout.

[Blake Fox]

i think she isa great mother and she deserves all the best. god bless her and im always praying for her

[Unomom]

"Octomom told Winfrey via satellite that she feels a "tremendous amount of guilt" when she holds one or two of her children and can't be there for the others."
What I am not understanding is that how come she has not figured out how much work every single baby takes while having 6 kids previously. Did her mom do all the work for her before?
Oprah, why didn't you ask this question?
Anyone with children, even with just one child, would know how much attention a child needs. So how come she would even consider more after her 6 children, while not having her own home and income to provide support or even quality time for those initial 6 kids. The grandma said that they ate in shift even prior to the 8 newcomers.
So how come she was not feeling guilty with the 6 kids not having quality time with her 6 kids??? I feel so sad for her kids - I hear them crying for attention and snuggle time.

[Barbara Sanders]

Oprah sat on her throne drilling Nadya with condescending questions while the world chimed in…isn’t it a bit like Marie Antoinette tossing cake to the starving peasants in Paris from the palace of Marseille?

OBVIOUSLY these children need LOVE, CARE and our ATTENTION and Nadya is certainly not able to provide for these children…who are we to judge? She made a decision…one of those 14 kids might grow up to discover the cure for cancer.
Why don’t we consider each as a gift from God and marvel at the fact they survived in her crowded womb?

Life happens and we should do all we can to help her raise those kids, who have become the mockery of the century. Shame on you Oprah….you, who survived against all odds.

[BLESSINGS14]

Nadya you finally got a fair chance to show the world you have more brains than they give you credit for. YOU GO GIRL!!! May God provide all that you need. There are more people praying for your success than your failure. Everybody on this earth are not haters. TO GOD BE THE GLORY FOR THE THINGS HE HAS DONE. God and God alone, is the only one who can give the breath of LIFE. Embrace your 14 blessings, AND LIVE LADY, LIVE!! Live for the Lord Jesus Christ. IF GOD BE FOR YOU WHO CAN BE AGAINST YOU?
As for the HATERS, well, there is a place for them too!
THANK YOU OPRAH FOR GIVING NADYA A FAIR CHANCE TO BE HEARD.

[lili dauphin]

I can't help but feeling for her. I think she's doing her best under the circumstances. One thing is clear; she truly cares about her kids and that's what matters the most.

[sad reality]

somebody trained her well. I thought she was too delusional to do interviews.

[Kate]

Ms. Suleman is my hero, proud, brave and centered- a true warrior for her children. She needs to know that large families become a cooperative and it will get easier. If only the greater village would stand and help this young mother without judgment. Nadya is an uncompromising survivor who values the lives of each and every one her children and there are clearly issues that require immediate attention, an autistic child and another with a cleft lip, for example.

Oprah and her audience's gluttony for free cars and '$stuff$' is the true story here, as is the Dr.Phil's Family's gift of free gas from Shell, hotel accommodation, etc. for Alexandra, a very different, selfish and irresponsible young mother and what an iatrogenic ratings grab that mess is.

There is an abundance of resources for Ms. Suleman's unique situation on her proud terms and those wee souls require our help. Now.

[Stephen]

I guess she wasn't asked how much money the taxpayers are kicking in through welfare, WIC, and college grants that were used for fertilization treatments instead. She represents the United Welfare States of America at it's worst.

[Anoymous]

I truly feel sorry for those children. Nothing else to be said here.

[Jeff]

Ms. Suleman should get in line behind Kate Gosselin. Both are using the media to get ahead in the world. (What happened to the deal she made with that British documentary producer? Did that show ever air on the telly there?)

[Burnadette Demochet]

I think that most people dislike her for bringing those children into the world. However, you can not blame those children and they need help. Remember, it's about the children. So I support any effect to help pay her bills.

Bern

[JAllen]

So nothing has changed. She is still a selfish narcissist. She admits that she can't give her 14 children the individual attention they deserve, but rather than find loving homes for some of them, where the kids will get the attention they deserve, she selfishly refuses. And she's still lying about what she thought would happen when she had embryos implanted when she already had SIX children and was a single mother. Having ANY more children was completely selfish and irresponsible. If she wants to be a sane, grown-up, she'll find loving homes for those eight children and concentrate on the original six.
It's sick.

[TheBigPicture]

She is very scary...

[Deb]

Hee-hee. All the religious extremists on these online threads are out of their gourds. The only thing that's gonna help Nadya is about 14 jobs.

Oprah is gone soon. In her entire career, I've watched one episode of her show. Giving attention to Octomoron for the sake of ratings does not a truly successful and powerful woman make. But I digress. Oprah can interview a talking cat for all I care.

Nadya is feeling guilty alright. Guilty because her spawn are teething and she can't handle the pressure enough to be in the house for more than an hour. She did this for the fame. She got it. Now it's time for her to be responsible. And all I can say is, yuh-huh, good luck with that.

I feel sorry for neither for Princess Nadya nor her brood. I'd rather focus on the children in the world who are genuinely screwed.

[Tom, Long Beach, California]

she made her bed, now she must lay in it........our actions do have repercussions would be the big lesson she is learning now....

[Seriously]

With all her newfound "knowledge" Nadya remains a selfish individual. When you become a mother--it is all about your children. If I were in her position, with no means of financial support and more important -very little if any time for the emotional support so necessary (due to the sheer number of them) - I would give them up to loving families who would let me remain in touch. THAT is the unselfish thing to do. I would certainly not want to do it, but if it can greatly improve the lives of my flesh and blood - I would do it in a heartbeat. Because it would be the best for them. It's supposed to be what is best for them. Too bad Nadya still just "wants" for herself. She says over and over that she is thinking only of the children--NOT!

[mia]

I don't see how anyone can say she is a good Mother unless they do not know the whole story. There are many people out there more deserving of help who have children than this selfish woman who put herself in this situation thinking she was going to make a lot of money because she has 14 children. She has lied from the being claiming she used frozen embryos when court documents show this as a lie to her appearance on Oprah. Why should anyone believe her now? I do feel for the children and unfortunately there will never be enough money to care for them properly, through donations or Nadya getting paid foran interview once in awhile. She's so caught up in her fantasy world.