I Was Octomom: The Natalie Suleman Story (2025 Lifetime Movie)
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Cast: Kristen Lee Gutoskie, Caitlin Stryker, Anita Wittenberg
Director: Brianne Nord-Stewart
Writer(s): Kelly Fullerton
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
I Was Octomom stars Kristen Lee Gutoskie (The Handmaid’s Tale, Chicago Fire) as Natalie Suleman; Caitlin Stryker (A Million Little Things) as her best friend Beth; and Anita Wittenberg (Cruel Instruction) as her mother Angela. Told from her perspective, the movie follows Suleman’s journey starting from her decision to have one more IVF procedure to complete her then family of six, to becoming a mother of 14, having survived her life being torn apart by the tabloid media.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie starts with the REAL Natalie Suleman, AKA Octomom, telling the viewers that they don’t know her, okay!? Back off!
Onto the Lifetime Movie version of Natalie Suklman, we see Octomom delivering eight babies. She is the first person to deliver so many healthy babies at once. It is in her hospital bed that she hears the name that will haunt her for the rest of her life, OCTOMOM!
One year earlier, we see Octomom presenting to her class in college. (This actor has the voice DOWN!) She is going to school while raising six kids from IVF. Octomom felt called to be a mother, not a wife. (DON’T JUDGE HER! The real Natalie Suleman comes back on the screen to interject. It is good she is involved in telling her story.) Octomom’s parents think she is WILD for raising six kids she can’t afford; the relationship between Octomom and her mother is strained, to say the least.
Octomom decides to try for one more kid because seven is her lucky number! One more baby, and she is done for good. She asks her ex-husband to use their frozen embryos, but he is reluctant to give permission. (Like, does he have to pay child support?) She finds a doctor who is willing to do the IVF, and he implants more embryos than planned to make sure it REALLY sticks. (Oh, and it does!)
Her OB breaks the news that she is about to have eight babies and says the IVF doctor should lose his license for putting Octomom and her unborn babies in an extremely dangerous situation. When complications arise, the OB asks her if she wants to terminate some of the babies to increase everyone’s chances of survival. Octomo says it is her body, her choice, and like Madonna in “Papa Don’t Preach,” she is keeping her baby. Octomom’s mother is PISSED, and they get into an argument, but Octomom insists she knows what she is doing.
At six months, Octomom is HUGE. Strangers stare at her at the store, and her friend Beth is genuinely concerned for Octomom’s well-being. Octomom is on disability for a back injury and ends up in the hospital for observation on bed rest for the rest of her term. Octomom’s mother judges her daughter and thinks her daughter is insane. The mother agrees to what the six kids do while Octomom is in the hospital but refuses to see Octomom or be involved in the eight children’s lives. She is done.
The hospital decides to do a press conference after the birth, seeing the potential of some great PR for them. Octomom reluctantly agrees to the interview, and the life she knows is over. Octomom is a media sensation before even leaving the hospital. She gets a call from the IVF doctor, who wants to keep their appointments on the DL. (Specifically, not mentioning the six embryos.) Natalie Suleman interjects and gives us some background on Dr. Kamrava’s indiscretions and lets us know he has since lost his medical license.
The hospital needs to do damage control, and they distance themselves from the IVF and insist on another press conference. If Octomom doesn’t go along with them, she will be vilified in the press. The PR rep has to sneak Octomom out of the hospital in the middle of the night and can’t go home with the paparazzi outside her home.
Eventually, Octomom does an interview with Anne Curry, but she doesn’t turn out well. Octomom speaks ill about her parents, who have been watching her other children. It is a slap in the face to her parents, who are done babysitting. Octomom’s mother sells her story to the tabloids to make some money she feels she deserves.
Octomom feels controlled by the PR and just wants to be with her kids. The public opinion isn’t great of her either. They call her a welfare queen, an immigrant using her kids for citizenship, and many other outrageous claims. The PR rep is insistent on getting Octomom to sign a contract, but she refuses and just wants a normal life. That isn’t possible; the public threatens Octomom’s life.
To make money, Octomom realizes that she is going to have to hit the talk show circuit. This makes Octomom look more fame-hungry, and she is hounded by people outside her house while trying to take care of eight babies. Then someone (actually a lot of people) calls Child Protective Services on Octomom. Octomom’s mother returns to help and tells her daughter to do whatever it takes to care for her family.
Octomom doesn’t want to do a reality show with her kids, and she is offered a million dollars to do an adult video. She declines the offer in favor of small gigs with even smaller fees. Octomom is becoming the media’s version of herself, taking sexy modeling photos, boxing, and acting parts in bad movies. These gigs don’t pay the bills, and Octomom has to go on welfare and can’t pay her bills.
Beth, Octomom’s best friend, talks some sense into her friend. Beth tells Octomom that how she is living her life is not sustainable. Then, her agent drops her because he is receiving death threats for repping her. The more desperate Octomom gets, the worse her gigs get. Octomom finally agrees to do a solo adult film. (The pay is nowhere near what she was once offered.) Octomom also pops anti-anxiety medication and becomes addicted. Even that doesn’t bring in enough cash to pay her bills.
Octomom goes to her mother and asks for advice. She understands she can’t just move 15 kids into her parents’ house. Octomom apologizes to her mother for making a rash, selfish decision. It isn’t enough to make amends with her mother. Octomo’s typical stories aren’t selling, so she goes to rehab and leaves her kids behind. (I don’t know how this makes things better, PR-wise.)
At rehab, Octomo sleeps for three days straight and then starts therapy. They tell her that she suffers from PTSD and gets into her childhood trauma. Octomom works to forgive her mother’s neglect and realizes that her kids serve to fill the hole she felt in her relationship with her mother. The rehab facility offers Octomom a job. (Damn, maybe I should go to rehab? I need full-time work. With insurance!)
No longer Octomom and just Natalie, she tackles raising her kids and ensuring they don’t feel neglected like she did when she was young. Natalie invites her mother to live with her and wants to take care of her while she is being treated for Stage 4 cancer. She seems happy caring for her kids and spending quality time with her mother. They mend their relationship and end on good terms.
CPS visits, and they are pleased with Natalie’s progress and happy that she left the Octomom persona behind. Natalie seems more well-adjusted and less desperate. Natalie is cleared to raise her family and leaves the spotlight behind. (Except for now, with this movie.) The End!
Stray Thoughts
I’m not sure this movie did much to rehabilitate the public perception of Natalie Suleman, but I’m glad she was able to tell her story. And I hope Lifetime paid her well!!!
When I found out a six-part series would be coming next, I wasn’t interested, but get that money, Natalie!
Overall rating
Number of Kills: Not that kind of Lifetime Movie (0 knives)
Lifetime Tropes: IVF, Pregnancy, Based on a true story, Mother/Daughter relationship.
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷 (2 Glasses of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Pour it Up (Give it a shot!)
Put a Cork in it! (Skip it!)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media at @LifetimeUncorked and @patrickmiguel.
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*Photo Credit: © 2025 A&E Television Networks, LLC
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