Friday, November 13, 2009

OctoMom In The New York Times


I never thought I would see Nadya Suleman in the pages of The New York Times. I guess somewhere in my head I thought the only time I would see her in there would be looking at the tv guide listings. Well, not only is Nadya Suleman in the pages of New York Times Magazine, I think she is also their cover and there is a huge article about her and they sent a reporter to her house and it just goes on and on.

You have to read this article. It is really long but the reporter was there while the television crew was there and so you get this slice of reality television.

"McLeod and Campbell began with Jonah, the octuplet with the cleft lip. The moment he was placed on the inclined board, he began to squirm and slide downward. Then he started to cry. McLeod began shooting. But a kid turning away from the camera, crying and sliding out of frame? Not so hot. The grown-ups looked pained. A strip of Velcro was attached to the board, and Jonah remounted. It helped. For a few seconds. It was hard to know whether the shot would be good enough, but the show had to go on.

Nariyah came next, a willing and even performer, looking up and smiling as if on cue. She was followed by pure pain. Jeremiah, swaddled in blue, was something of a wiggler. Evidently, he was having a hard time connecting with what a Method actor would call his motivation. He began to cry. Violently. Isaiah, the next, was equally dispiriting, and on it went. One by one, each baby was placed on the slippery, uncomfortable board, secured — or not so much — with the Velcro swatch and filmed. One by one, the babies cried.

The exertions of the grown-ups became more and more strained. As each crying baby failed to love the camera, Campbell, McLeod and Suleman gathered around the lens, each time imploring the baby to look up, even if just for two seconds."

Nady Suleman says she hates doing it but it is the only way to make enough money to take care of her kids. The reporter seems to sympathize with her decision, but also seems determined to bring us every last gritty detail involved in filming 8 kids. The other six kids are generally ignored.


21 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:23 AM

    They seriously are VELCROING these kids to a board? WTF?

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  2. We're supposed to feel sympathy for her that this is the only way she can support the 14 kids she chose to bring into this world without a co-parent to help? Yeah, cry me a river. The only ones who deserve any sympathy are those poor kids themselves.

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  5. As a single mom, and a human being, Nadya makes me sick. I feel extremely sorry for all of those kids, especially the older six who are acting out their pain in front of the camera.

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  6. Anonymous10:28 AM

    What Caroline said.

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  7. And social services is ok with this???

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  8. This is just tragic. Nadya is a horrible person for doing this to her children, and having them so irresponsibly in the first place for such selfish reasons.

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  9. I feel pure disgust towards her and the Dr. who did this- he should have some responsibility for ALL of those kids!

    That house looks pretty nice though... this is just a campaign for donations.

    What a twisted *itch!

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  10. Despite the fact that I'm sure this whole article was supposed to sway us into feeling some sort of sympathy for this woman...

    I don't feel any. For the tragic train-wrecky lives her children will have, sure.

    But for her?

    I just can't.

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  11. Can't someone forward this article to California DFACS? PLEASE???
    Surely there's some child protection/exploitation/endangerment law being broken?
    Or something?? Anything?
    The best thing in the world would be for the authorities to step in and make sure those children are actually being taken care of 24/7, not just while the cameras are on.
    And this comment absolutely turns my stomach: "Nady Suleman says she hates doing it but it is the only way to make enough money to take care of her kids."
    Yeah, and just whose idea was it to have those 8 innocent lives brought into the world anyway, in hopes of "fame and fortune" while they already had 6 who probably weren't being taken care of properly in the first place and now have been relegated to the status of extras while their biological (I refuse to use the terms mother or parent) exploits the infants ?

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  12. I apologize for the run on sentence.
    I'm just that pissed.

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  13. I cannot wait for the day when these types of reality shows go away...any of them that exploit children or even the drug addicts of the world....Why oh Why cant this day be today....Mind you, I love the competition shows though.

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  14. I so hoped we had seen the last of her. Those poor children.

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  15. Did anyone else think of the scene in "Scrooged" when they need to attach antlers to mice? Bill Murray: Have you tried staples?!

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  16. Don't give her any ideas, RJ! LOL!

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  17. so...this appears a to be the precedent into the things she'll resort to to support these innocent babies. i know they have to eat...but eep. exploitation for the rest of their lives. :(

    so did the dr. that implanted all the embryos finally get his license revoked?

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  18. "Baby on Board" is NOT a literal translation, brood sow.

    What happened to, "I'll get a job" or "I'll go to school and finish my master's degree"....now it's all about "this is the only way to make enough money"?

    Womb selling fame-whore.

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  19. Ha! I guess this is the phase where the famewhore realizes its not that easy to make a lot of $$. And it will go as quickly as it comes...and she will have all of those children to raise for at least the next 18 years. Truly tragic.

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  20. wth were they doing on a board?

    I feel bad for all of her children.

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  21. @Merlin D. Bear

    It wouldn't do any good to forward this to the child welfare officials in CA. They are so overwhelmed as is...

    http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/14/local/me-childabuse14

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