14 DAY TRIAL // Nadya Suleman, the 33-year-old Californian woman who recently gave birth to octuplets after in-vitro fertilization, appeared on the Today show to defend herself against the criticism. Although she has other six children at home (making a total of 14 children under 8), Nadya says that all she “wanted was children,” and that people need to get over their misconceptions and just accept that she’s a single mother who lives an unconventional life.
Nadya lives in a two-room bungalow with her parents and is currently a student, so the issue of whether she is able to provide for her children inevitably came up. Of course she can, she says, once she’s done with school because she is determined to offer only the best for her children. She loves them and she “provides [herself] for [her] children,” she says, therefore the accusation that she’s selfish for having so many babies does not hold water.
“Everything I do, I’ll stop my life for them and be present with them. And hold them. And be with them. And how many parents do that? I’m sure there are many that do, but many don’t. And that’s unfortunate. That is selfish.” Suleman says on Today. This is her best argument for the many critics who have repeatedly said that she would not be able to raise all her 14 children and, at the same time, not ruin their lives completely.
As for what made her want so many babies (apparently, she was the one who asked to have all the embryos implanted), Suleman says the desire stems from growing up as a single child in a “dysfunctional” family. “That was always a dream of mine, to have a large family, a huge family, and I just longed for certain connections and attachments with another person that I really lacked, I believe, growing up. I didn’t feel as though, when I was a child, I had much control of my environment. I felt powerless. And that gave me a sense of predictability. Reflecting back on my childhood, I know it wasn’t functional. It was pretty dysfunctional, and whose isn’t?” the mother explains.
Be that as it may, her interview did not fail to generate mixed reactions in the media. While some have chosen to believe the mother as being genuine in her desire to have a “large family,” several media outlets could not fail to notice that some things just don’t click. As Perez Hilton says, for instance, it’s hard to explain how a woman who reportedly lives for her children also has money to get plastic surgery on her nose and mouth, especially when her own father took a job as translator in Iraq to provide financially for his daughter’s children.
Below is the Today interview. Watch for yourselves and judge.