‘Octomum’ shares her one biggest regret: 'Could’ve made millions’

" I threw myself under the bus to cover for him, and I shouldn’t have."

Controversial mum Nadya Suleman has opened up about her biggest regret, 16 years after she made history for giving birth to the world’s first surviving octuplets.

 

Dubbed by the media as “Octomum”, Suleman now says her biggest regret is not suing her fertility doctor to help with her family’s finances.

Suleman famously welcomed octuplets in January 2009 after undergoing multiple back-to-back rounds of In vitro fertilisation with the help of Dr. Michael Kamrava.

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Despite telling Suleman he had implanted only six embryos, the now-disgraced specialist actually implanted 12 — well above the standard practice of two.

Suleman, who already had six children at the time, was hoping for just one more baby — but ended up with one of the greatest medical undertakings in recent memory.

Thinking back on that time of her life, Suleman, now 49, told People she does not “think [she’d] do too much differently” — aside from taking Kamrava to court.

Nadya Suleman regrets not suing fertility doctor after having 14 kids. Image: nataliesuleman/Instagram

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“I do regret not suing the infertility doctor,” she admitted in an interview published Wednesday. “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.

“I regret that I kind of threw myself under the bus to cover for him, and I shouldn’t have, but I was grateful,” she continued. “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.”

In addition to her eight 16-year-olds, Suleman is the mum of Elijah, 23, Ameerah, 22, Joshua, 21, Aidan, 18, and 17-year-old twins Caleb and Calyssa — all of whom she conceived via IVF from Kamrava.

Although Kamrava did not have to pay for his negligence, he was ultimately stripped of his medical licence.

However, Suleman did take legal action against the hospital where she gave birth “because they breached HIPAA” by sharing her name and medical information with the press.

“They’re the reason why I ended up in the public eye,” she said.

"World's first surviving octuplets"

Suleman was thrust into the spotlight more than 16 years ago for making history as the only person to give birth to the world’s first surviving octuplets: Noah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Josiah, Makai, Maliyah and Nariyah.

Along with the fame came scrutiny and even death threats, leading her to retreat from the spotlight in 2013.

However, she is ready to open back up about her story in her Lifetime’s I Was Octomom and Confessions of Octomom.

This time around, Suleman hopes to change the narrative about her family.

“Natalie Suleman is just a mum of many, and she is very, very, very grateful,” she said, speaking in the third person. “We are a loving family, and we’re there for each other. All of my kids are just very humble, grounded, kind people with good hearts.”

Suleman said she always knew she wanted to have a big family due to her unhappy upbringing as an only child.

“But it’s not enough to say I wanted a big family because I was lonely. There is an amalgamation of factors. I wanted kids to create maybe a safe and predictable little world that I lacked growing up.”

However, Suleman acknowledged she “may have possibly overachieved” that goal.

“Clearly I projected my dream onto my kids and wanting a big — well, not this big of a family — but I did want seven kids,” she explained.

This article originally appeared in news.com.au and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as ‘Octomum’ shares her one biggest regret: 'Could’ve made millions’