Octomom Talks Reality Show, Dough & Donor

Nadya Suleman spills about doing a TV series, how she paid for the babies and their father's reaction

By Breanne L. Heldman Apr 08, 2009 4:21 PMTags
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The Octotale just keeps unraveling.

Nadya Suleman took a break from her 14 children to sit for a cover feature in Life & Style, where, among other things, she answered the question of doing a reality-TV series.

"Absolutely not," she said. "I have no interest in being famous. I'd love to vanish from the public eye as soon as I can."

However, sister magazine In Touch sings a different tune about the Octomom's future being beamed into homes nationwide, claiming her upcoming show will follow her quest for love. In fact, editor Kim Serafin describes it as Jon & Kate Plus 8 meets The Bachelor.

The multimom also offers a few choice roses (or thorns?) on how she paid for the in vitro fertilizations—and what the donor dad thinks of it all.

"I'd just been saving my money," Suleman says. "I was a psychiatric technician—almost every day I was working 16-hour days. For years, I worked nonstop until I saved for the first four in vitros."

She claims those four cost her $6,000 each, then she used some of a $30,000 inheritance to conceive her set of twins. At the time of that procedure, she had leftover eggs frozen that were eventually used for the octuplets.

Suleman also claims she made $165,000 in state disability payments after a work-related injury.

The father of 14 has remained private, but is someone Suleman knows well.

"Years ago, I said, 'Hypothetically speaking, would you ever help a friend have children?' He said he would. And I said, 'Then help me.' And he did. I kept going back to him, and year after year, he kept helping me."

When he found out she was pregnant for the sixth time, he was none too pleased.

"He was upset when I did it again. He said the same thing everyone else did: 'You have six beautiful children—why do you want more?' "