The children of Natalie “Nadya” Suleman, also known as “Octomom,” are breaking their silence.
The 49-year-old’s octuplets, the youngest eight of her 14 kids, have begun to share insight about their mom and family life, just ahead of their 16th birthday Jan. 26 and weeks before the release of Lifetime’s I Was Octomom movie March 8, and Confessions of Octomom docuseries March 10.
“My mom had to sacrifice,” Nariyah Suleman, 15, told People in an interview posted Jan. 25, “sacrifice her life, her friends, herself and her dignity, just so that she can take care of us.”
Speaking while sitting next to her mom, the teen continued, “If any opportunity came that she’d finally be able to tell the truth, of course, I’d want to help my mom as much as I can because she helped us so many years.”
Natalie, who no longer goes by her nickname Nadya to escape the “trauma” of her past, per People, became a tabloid sensation in 2009 after giving birth to Nariyah and octuplet siblings Noah, Josiah, Maliyah, Jonah, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Makai, who were conceived through IVF.
