Where Is 'Octomom' Now? All About Nadya Suleman's Life After Welcoming Octuplets in 2009

Mar. 15, 2025

Nadya Suleman working out in July 2023; Nadya Suleman three weeks pregnant with her octuplets.Photo:Nadya Suleman/Instagram

Nadya Suleman/Instagram

Natalie (née Nadya) “Octomom” Suleman became a household name in 2009 when she welcomed the first surviving octuplets in history.

Suleman was already a mother of six children — Amerah, Calyssa, Elijah, Caleb, Joshua and Aidan — when she gave birth to her octuplets Noah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Josiah, Makai, Maliyah and Nariyah.

Unemployed at the time of their births, Suleman soon turned to various ventures to support her family of 15, including a nude photo shoot, pornography, boxing and an effort to trademark her “Octomom” nickname.

Suleman stepped away from the spotlight in 2013 to protect her children and their privacy. Now with a much older brood, she has decided to tell her story in a Lifetime docuseries titledConfessions of Octomom, which will premiere on March 10.

“Our mom [will] finally be able to say her side of the story, because I feel like it was very unfair how she was terrorized and hated for just being a mother. And she had to sacrifice so much just for her children,” Suleman’s daughter Nariyah told PEOPLE in January 2025.

From caring for her family to working part-time, here’s everything to know about where Octomom is now.

Who is Nadya Suleman?

Nadya Suleman, rear center, poses with some of her children at their former home in Palmdale, California, in October 2012. From left, back row, are Makai, Noah, Suleman, Nariyah, on her lap and Isaiah; from left front, Jonah, Josiah, Maliyah and Jeremiah.AP Photo/Antelope Valley Press, Ron Siddle

AP Photo/Antelope Valley Press, Ron Siddle

Born in Fullerton, California, on July 11, 1975, Suleman is the first person on record to have surviving octuplets.

“I was pretending to be a fake, a caricature, which is something I’m not, and I was doing it out of desperation and scarcity so I could provide for my family. I’ve been hiding from the real world all my life,” shetoldThe New York Timesin 2018.

“I was spiraling down a dark hole,” she told the outlet. “There were no healthy opportunities for Octomom. I was doing what I was told to do and saying what I was told to say. When you’re pretending to be something you’re not, at least for me, you end up falling on your face.”

How did Octomom have eight babies?

Nadya Suleman with her mom and eight babies when they were infants in 2009.Polaris

Polaris

Suleman claimed she was implanted with octuplets without her knowledge, while her doctor says she pushed for the implantations, perThe New York Times.

In 2008, Dr. Michael Kamrava, a fertility specialist who previously performed in-vitro fertilization to help Suleman have her previous six children, implanted her with 12 embryos simultaneously. Out of that dozen, eight resulted in live births. It reportedly took 46 doctors and nurses to perform a C-section on Suleman when she went into labor at 31 weeks of pregnancy. While the babies were underweight (the smallest weighing in at 1 lb., 8 oz., according toThe New York Times), they all survived.

Suleman toldThe New York Timesthat she wanted to have twins, not octuplets. She alleged that Kamrava “misled” her and told her while she was on narcotics and on a gurney that they lost the first six of her embryos he’d implanted and that he needed to implant another six. A friend of Kamrava denied the allegations and said Kamrava was merely complying with Suleman’s wishes.

In June 2011, Kamrava’s medical license was revoked,Reuters reported, with the California state medical board accusing him of “gross negligence” in Suleman’s case, as well as with two other patients.

Who is the father of Octomom’s kids?

The father of Suleman’s 14 children, including her octuplets, is a sperm donor whose identity hasn’t been revealed publicly. The children haven’t yet met him, she toldThe New York Timesin 2018, noting, “Maybe the kids will meet him at 18, the donor. I don’t know.”

She previously told PEOPLE that she paid “a certain amount of money” for the donor’s sperm.

“Not too much, but just enough so he knew that there were boundaries there,” she explained. “I wanted those boundaries to be really firm and know that this is a business arrangement.”

How does Octomom support her family?

Prior to becoming a mom, Suleman worked at a mental hospital until 1999, when she injured her back during a patient riot, theAssociated Press reported. She used some of her subsequent disability payments to afford her IVF treatments.

After having her octuplets, Suleman worked as a stripper and appeared inCelebrity Boxing, an X-rated video and a nude photoshoot to make ends meet for her kids, as well as a $5,000 PETA ad supporting spaying and neutering animals. In April 2012, she filed for personal bankruptcy after her home was foreclosed,The Los Angeles Timesreported, asserting she had $50,000 in assets and $1 million of debt; the petition was later dismissed for incomplete paperwork.

In January 2014, Suleman was charged with welfare fraud for not reporting $26,000 of income she earned in 2013. She pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor charge,CNN reportedthat July, and was sentenced to two years of probation and 200 hours of community service, as well as to pay back the $26,000 in restitution.

While she previously courted fame to provide for her kids outside of public assistance, Suleman’s current job is much more low-key: In 2018, Suleman toldThe New York Timesthat she was working as a counselor full time while also occasionally doing “international photoshoots” and using public assistance to make ends meet.

Suleman added that she’s open with her children about her past sex work.

“They know, they went through it with me,” she said. “It’s a huge weight lifted off of all of them when I went back to who I was. We were struggling financially, but it was such a blessing to be able to be free from that. Those were chains.”

How old are the octuplets now?

Nadya Suleman and her children celebrating Mother’s Day in May 2023.Nadya Suleman/Instagram

Suleman’s octuplets celebrated their 16th birthday on Jan. 26, 2025.

“Happy Sweet 16th birthday to Noah, Isaiah, Nariyah, Maliyah, Jeremiah, Josiah, Jonah, and Makai! You are loved, valued, and appreciated more than words can express!” the mom of 14 wrote onInstagram. “I am so blessed to have you all in my life.”

Where is Octomom now?

Nadya Suleman celebrating her birthday with her children in June 2023.Nadya Suleman/Instagram

Suleman and her 14 children live in Orange County, Calif., in a three-bedroom townhouse with their cats Penelope and Mimi.

She spends most of her time at home with her kids, who help cook vegan food and do chores, and she spends extra time caring for herdisabled son, Aidan. She also works out regularly.

Sulemanexercises regularly to relieve her stress and chronic pain, opting for weight lifting three to four times per week along with four to five days of cardio workouts.

“My family’s life literally revolves around God, food and fitness,” shewrote on Instagramin 2022. “In that exact order.”

In September 2024, Suleman shared that she had become a grandmother for the first time in a post onInstagram. One of her sons welcomed a daughter, but she didn’t specify who.

After over a decade out of the spotlight, Suleman has decided to tell her story in an upcoming Lifetime docuseries.Confessions of Octomomwill premiere in March and include interviews with the octuplets.

“[I want] to help women in particular who are struggling with one child or none … to maybe inspire them to pull out the strengths inside that they didn’t know they had to progress forward,” Suleman told PEOPLE.

Ahead of the release of the docuseries in March 2025, Suleman told PEOPLE that she does “regretnot suing the infertility doctor” after he implanted twice as many embryos as he said he would.

“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 said. “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. No one else in the world did this type of procedure so I didn’t have it in my heart to sue him.”

source: people.com