‘Octomom’ Nadya Suleman Blasts Ann Curry NBC Interview: ‘I felt Under Attack’

Martin Holmes March 11, 2025, 9:25 am

Nadya Suleman has opened up about her controversial decision to sit down with NBC News journalist Ann Curry for an interview just days after giving birth to octuplets back in 2009.

In Lifetime‘s new reality series Confessions of Octomom, Suleman reflects on the interview, noting she was “in a state of shock” and “not there” when talking with Curry about welcoming eight babies conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF).

“[The hospital] let me pick what interviewer [I wanted], so I opted [for] a news anchor and I didn’t know who she was. I never watched anything she did,” Suleman said in Monday’s (March 10) episode, per Us Weekly. “So I picked Ann Curry. She was one of the only women. I thought I’d feel comfortable talking to a woman.”

Suleman explained she was stressed ahead of the interview, sharing, “I felt horrible about myself. I gained 150 pounds during the whole pregnancy, so at that point, I was still about 100 pounds heavier than normal… I had no idea what she was going to ask me. I had never done an interview before.”

The interview, which aired on Today and Dateline in 2009, saw Curry asking questions many viewers wanted answered, including asking for a response to those who called Suleman “irresponsible and selfish” for having so many children. Prior to welcoming the octuplets, Suleman was already a mother to six kids.

“I was foggy in my head. I really wasn’t lucid. I was also ripped open, and I was on Vicodin for pain,” Suleman stated. “Can you imagine being interrogated and interrogated while you have just given birth, all those hormones? You’re very, very depressed. You’re in a state of shock. I was not there.”

Suleman said she “felt under attack” and so went into “survival mode,” explaining, “When a human is under attack psychologically, they’re not in the frame of mind to be transparent or honest. They are going to protect themselves, and I utilized every coping mechanism.”

Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

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The Lifetime reality star noted that the hospital set up the interview so she could “set the record straight,” but she wasn’t in the right frame of mind and just wanted to be at home with her children.

“It’s a blur to me,” she said of the NBC interview. “I just don’t even remember. I just know I was in constant defense.”

She returned to the Today show in 2011 for a follow-up interview with Curry.

Confessions of Octomom is a six-part documentary series that follows Suleman as she provides an intimate look at her history and her life today as a mom of 14 and her newest role as a grandmother. With her octuplets turning sixteen this January and her other six children ranging from 17 to 23 years-old, Suleman has been out of the public eye for years. For the first time, she and her family reveal a much different life than the world has ever been privy to before.

Confessions of Octomom, Mondays, 10 pm et, Lifetime