EXCLUSIVE: Meet "Octo-Attorney" Stephanie Ovadia
May 13 2010, Published 4:05 a.m. ET
Long before Kate Gosselin and Octo-Mom made headlines as single moms raising
8 kids, attorney to the stars, Stephanie Ovadia, was paving the road.
For 20 years, Ovadia has been proving it possible to raise a passel of normal, healthy children while having a successful career---and all as a single mom.
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“I’ve always had my own practice and I’ve always worked as an attorney, but I made the time,” Ovadia told RadarOnline.com. “People say, 'how do you do it? What’s your secret?’ I hear this from mothers, women, everybody. How do you do it? And I say it’s all about the time you spend with them. You have to make the time for the things that are important to you.”
The Long Island based attorney has 8 children who range in age from 21 to 3 year old twins. Her oldest was just accepted to medical school and her second oldest son wants to follow her into law. That’s a wise decision considering Ovadia’s roster of high-profile clients include Jon Gosselin’s ex-girlfriend Hailey Glassman and Lindsay Lohan. Ovadia is currently representing Lindsay in her $100 million lawsuit against financial firm E*Trade.
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“It’s all a matter of the time you spend with your kids,” Ovadia said. “If you let yourself get frazzled by the media. I think a lot of these celebrity moms are frazzled by the media and you have to put that aside because then you bring it home with you. There are plenty of nights where I’ve brought things home with me and I’m not dealing with nearly as much stress as these celebrity moms who have 200 paparazzi chasing them around just looking for something to go wrong.”
Some might argue that life with 8 kids is easier when you space them out over time as opposed to Kate Gosselin or Octo-mom Nadya Suleman who gave birth to six and eight multiples, respectively. But Ovadia says no way.
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“I actually think it’s harder,” she says. “At least when you’re dealing with everybody at the same age, you’re coming across the same situations all at the same time. I’m running into dating and drinking issues and still changing diapers and dealing with thumb-sucking!”
When she’s not in court or raising 8 kids, Ovadia is also an on-air commentator for a local news station in New York.
Sound too good to be true? Ovadia says it all boils down to one thing. “Don’t get me wrong, we have our knock-down, drag down fights,” she says. “But at the end of the day, everybody knows that family is more important. I just want people to understand that it can work‹if you want it to. It’s just a matter of how you space your time.”
“Just call me Octo-Attorney, ” she laughs. “That’s how I’m going to start branding myself. You’ve heard of Octo-mom? I’m the Octo-Attorney!”