Oprah Condescends to Interview Octomom

Oprah Winfrey began her Octomom show by explaining why she deigned to take an interest in the controversial Octomom story. The talk show queen read a letter that Nadya Suleman wrote, explaining how she would like to have the opportunity to show the world who she really is. Oprah said she had "real reservatons" about putting herself in the "media swirl" that surrounds Octomom, but changed her mind after reading the letter. Suleman, she said, "invited me to come and stay but I said 'I'll send a crew, I'll see it on tape ...'" Oprah's audience laughed while Oprah made faces and used a tone of voice that was intended to make sure her audience knew she wasn't in Suleman's corner. Oprah didn't even want to be in the same room as the Octomom.

Oprah and Nadya talked a lot about what led to her current situation, but since I'm just giving you my personal impressions, I'll skip that. I don't really care how she got in her current situation. My interest in the show was to see what solutions, if any, Oprah might want to suggest.

But a platform to talk about who she really is was all Nadya asked for and that's pretty much all she got.

The filming began at 5:14 a.m. at the embattled mom's La Habra CA home. Nadya uses 3 nannies during the day but is alone with the 14 kids at night. I really hope her life isn't as disorganized as they made it look.

Before the birth of the now 14-month old octuplets, Nadya Suleman already had these six children: Elijah, 8; Amerah, 7; Joshua, 6, Aiden, 5 (who is autistic); and twins Caleb and Calyssa, 3. Of course, adding 8 kids all at once to that begs an explanation and they spent a lot of time on that with Nadya taking responsibility for being selfish. Once again, I don't care. I'd rather hear what Oprah said about her after the show when she wasn't around.

Nadya said she originally found the media nickname "Octomom" hilarious but has come to detest it since it has brought her nothing but ridicule. Now she feels like a carnival attraction. "Octomom -- seeking fame -- having 8 babies to be famous ... I did not even know one would grow ... who could imagine having a litter ...," Nadya said.

She blames the media for constantly connecting her name with lies, like saying she is obsessed with Angelina Jolie. Octomom received $100,000 for her Star magazine photo shoot with the bikini. The reality of the situation is she can make much more in 20 minutes with these types of opportunities than she could in a 9 to 5 job and it takes less time away from the children but, Suleman insisted, she would never do a porn film or a reality show.

She thanked Oprah for allowing her to speak the truth about herself because "thus far, the media has been feeding people erroneous rumors and lies because sensationalism sells."

Octomom expressed a tremendous amount of guilt over not having enough time for each child but flatly rejected Oprah's suggestion that she might consider letting some of her children be adopted or fostered with some sort of arrangement whereby she could still be their mother. Suleman is also convinced that there is a respectable way for her to earn sufficient "revenue" (she kept using that word) to support her brood.

Oprah made it a point to let everyone know that Nadya got no revenue for appearing on the show. "I want you all to know we did not pay Nadya a dime for this interview, neither have we ever paid in 25 years," Oprah says. "I don't believe in that." This is something Oprah has proudly declared throughout the years. I've yet to figure out why she is so proud of it with all the revenue she makes. Share the wealth, woman!

Nadya Suleman was quite an articulate person with a good command of an extensive vocabulary she was intent on showing off. I was thinking perhaps she could train herself to do voice-over work which I hear pays quite well. She could do that at home and there's really no limit to the unique sound bytes she could record with all those kids: 6 kids screaming at one time, 10 kids laughing ... the possibilities are endless. Nadya did state emphatically that she would never do anything to exploit her children, but that's not exploitation. It's harnessing your natural resources. You don't have to be that Octomom fictional character, Nadya. In voiceovers, you can be any fictional character you want.

Octomom also appeared on American Idol Gives Back on 04/21/2010, where she participated in a Jonah Hill and Russell Brand "telethon" skit, with a few of her older children who Brand called "Octos" Nadya was playing her fictional character Octomom. They had impersonators of Woody Allen, Marilyn Monroe, two Tom Cruises, the real Slash (Guns 'N Roses) and a short appearance by comedian Jim Carrey who ran out when he found out who the other telephone volunteers really were. Hopefully, the American Idol producers were not as cheap as Oprah and Octomom got paid.

Sources:
The Oprah Show (watch clips) (4/20/2010)
Idol Gives Back (4/21/2010)