From “mentally ill” to “abusive,” Natalie ‘Nadya’ Suleman, also known as ‘Octomom,’ is no stranger to cruel labels. As a mother-of-14, her life has constantly revolved around her kids, and the last thing she needs is the media’s unforgiving brutality. She has never quite been given the reins to take control of her own narrative — until now.
Highlights
- A film centering around Natalie Suleman's story finally reclaims her narrative and debuted on March 8, 2025.
- Director Brianne Nord-Stewart aimed to humanize and give Natalie her voice back.
- The film offers fresh context to Natalie's life after years of being under media scrutiny.
The film I Was Octomom: The Natalie Suleman Story has finally been released into the world, as of March 8, 2025, and viewers will now get to see Natalie for who she is, rather than who the Internet claims her to be.
Born in 1975, Natalie initially shot to fame when she gave birth to the first surviving octuplets in January 2009, conceiving them, as well as her six older children, via in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
I Was Octomom: The Natalie Suleman Story will tell Natalie's journey of welcoming the first surviving octuplets while under media scrutiny
Image credits: Brianne
This was made possible due to the work of Dr. Michael Kamrava — but he didn’t exactly give her the results she wanted. After her last pregnancy, Natalie wanted “just one more” baby. Kamrava then implanted twelve embryos inside her, instead of the usual two. He was subsequently stripped of his medical license.
With this jaw-dropping feat under her belt, it’s no surprise people gravitated toward her story. And, just like any other public figure, Natalie was subject to the Internet’s scrutiny.
Readers were curious, and sometimes hatefully so, about how she would support her children. Would they be the ones forced to pay on her behalf? And if so, how was that fair? Did she have the mental capacity to care for them?
Image credits: nataliesuleman
However, no one truly knew what was going on behind the scenes except for Natalie herself. Sixteen years after her life changed, her film now offers a sneak peek into that grueling time.
Brianne Nord-Stewart, director of I Was Octomom: The Natalie Suleman Story, sat down with Bored Panda exclusively to peel the curtain back on what it was like to bear the burden of creating a project that aimed to humanize and give voice to a woman who’s been denied one her whole life.
For Brianne, this movie was a chance to give Natalie agency of her story once more
Since the beginning, Brianne’s main goal was to portray Natalie in a much more balanced light.
“Perspective has been something that I have honestly been aware of since I was a kid,” she shared. “When I see something, I think about who is telling this story? And why are they telling this story? Or, what do they have to gain?”
And that’s exactly what many media headlines lacked back in 2009: perspective. Thankfully, the writers of the project did a great job of “giving context” to the topics that had previously been highlighted, and it made Brianne’s role so much easier.
Image credits: Lifetime
Image credits: Brianne
“I really wanted to humanize this person who people really don’t know,” she said, adding that the questions she wanted to answer were along the lines of: “Who is this person? Why did she make this choice, and what led her to do this?”
At the very end of August 2024, Brianne was brought on to the project. She had approximately three weeks of preparation before shooting began in mid-September. Within 16 days, all of the filming was completed.
“Filmmaking is so great because you’re under these crazy circumstances and even if you plan your heart out, sometimes you just have to make it up on the spot for whatever the thing is,” she gushed.
The film premiered on Lifetime on March 8
Image credits: Brianne
Especially for significant scenes such as “the surgery,” Brianne felt an immense duty to get it right while simultaneously being incredibly excited to be in the midst of it all.
Throughout the process, Brianne was able to work with the writer Kelly Fullerton, co-executive producer Stacy Mandelberg, and cast members, including Kristen Lee Gutoskie, who played Natalie.
“[Kristen] did a fantastic job,” she recalled. “From the moment she stepped on set, she was learning everybody’s names and just putting a lot of care and attention into it. She’d really done her homework in a very, very short period of time.
“It makes a huge difference to have the number one on the call sheet, the main actor, to be such a hard-working, caring individual who cares about the work she’s doing and the work that everybody else is doing.”
Image credits: Lifetime
Image credits: Brianne
And although Brianne wasn’t able to directly interact with Natalie, there were obvious bits and pieces of the 49-year-old’s personality that brought the final script to life.
“From what I know, from her seeing the final project… she’s very happy with it and that just fills my cup,” she recalled.
Not to mention, the fact that the film’s premiere landed on International Women’s Day was something she was “pretty stoked” about. This movie is about Natalie, but more importantly, it’s a love letter to all the women who have been mistreated for something they had no control over.
“The purpose of [these Lifetime movies] was to give these women, who had been treated very unfairly by the media, their story back, their agency, their voice, and I hope that the audience can see that,” Brianne said.
“And then going forward, we’ll look at however women are portrayed and go: I wonder why. Who is that benefitting? What might be the other perspectives here that aren’t being shared and why?”
She concluded, “If women can support women, I think the world would be a better place. If everyone could, quite honestly.”
One thing's for certain: Natalie Suleman's story is "unforgettable"
