Inside Octomom's Home Raising 14 Kids | Entertainment Tonight

Inside Octomom's Home Raising 14 Kids | Entertainment Tonight

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Inside Octomom's Home Raising 14 Kids | Entertainment Tonight

Natalie Suleman -- who was famously dubbed "Octomom" when she gave birth to octuplets in January 2009 -- is speaking candidly about what it's like raising 14 kids. Suleman, 43, opens up her home to The New York Timesfor a new interview, and the outlet describes a typical day for the family. The 9-year-old octuplets are seemingly model children -- they help cook, they're polite and do their homework without any complaints -- and are also vegan. Not surprisingly, it's also a tight fit in the home with the octuplets and their six older siblings. The children eat in shifts and some have to sleep on the couch. Suleman addresses the past tabloid stories about her, including her highly publicized brief forays intoographic films, stripping and boxing. She now says she was playing up a character in order to make money.“I was pretending to be a fake, a caricature, which is something I’m not, and I was doing it out of desperation and scarcity so I could provide for my family,” she says. “I’ve been hiding from the real world all my life.”“I have PTSD from all the reporters coming in over the years," she continues. "I would take whatever I could back in the days, and I would let them in. I was spiraling down a dark hole. There were no healthy opportunities for Octomom. I was doing what I was told to do and saying what I was told to say. When you’re pretending to be something you’re not, at least for me, you end up falling on your face.”Although Suleman doesn't admit fault for having 12 embryos implanted into her uterus at once -- even though medical guidelines suggest a limit of two for a woman in her 30s -- she does call herself "selfish and immature" at the time. Her doctor, Dr. Kamrava, lost his United States medical license in 2011 and she claims she was "misled" by him, which he's denied. Some of her children do have health complications -- according to The New York Times, one of her children is autistic, another is on the spectrum and many are small for their age. Suleman says she also has a variety of health issues stemming from giving birth to octuplets.“My back is broken because of the last pregnancy,” she says. “Four out of the five discs in my lumbar spine are ruptured, herniated fully...