EXCLUSIVE: Octomom Natalie 'Nadya' Suleman's Children Reveal Her Greatest Fear Is Them Being Kidnapped By Sex Traffickers
Suleman makes no apologies for being protective of her brood.
March 27 2025, Published 8:30 p.m. ET
Natalie 'Nadya' Suleman's famed octuplets are now teenagers – and they just want some space, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The former Octomom has defended her "helicopter approach" to parenting her kids, saying she is justified in her caution.
Suleman admits she is worried about outside threats to the octuplets.
In the latest episode of her new docuseries Confessions of Octomom the group discuss how they stay private while living in the public eye.
Maliyah Angel explained: "Our mom is protective where we wouldn’t be able to go in a store alone, even though we are 15.
"And like other times where we would be taking the trash out, even though it was just a few steps away, like five of us have to be watching each other."
But brother Jonah said his mom is riddled with fear something could happen to them: "I feel like she wants us to have each other’s backs, because the crime rate of human trafficking is going up exponentially.
"She wants to protect us and make sure that never happens to us."
The kids have been given a little more leeway as teens.
Suleman, 49, offers no apologies for her parental approach to all 14 of her children, saying: "I’m vigilant. And I know how prevalent sociopathy is.
"I mean, look around us. It’s far more dangerous today than decades ago.
"It’s really providing for my kids in survival mode and protecting them constantly in fear. Always in fear."
Her very first son, Elijah, 23, gets it: "She’s very protective, especially with the eight. But if you had 8 kids I think any parent would be very protective of them, especially with them being in the media."
They have differing opinions on the house rules.
As RadarOnline.com has reported, the shield of privacy extends to their learning, where all eight are homeschooled.
Suleman said that wasn't always the case: "When they went to school they were a little bit shocked that people pretty much perceived them a certain way and they treated them a little differently.
"They were not ever harassed, but kids would make comments. They would treat them a little unfairly. They would treat them like aliens."
So the decision was made to keep them home, something daughter number two, Amerah, 23, said comes with pros and cons: "The pros, I mean, my mom’s protecting them from any negative thing that could happen or negative influence.
"But the cons, they’re not getting that social interaction so when they go out in stores or we take them to a restaurant, they freeze. They don’t really know how to communicate well with strangers."
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Suleman has admitted to sometimes letting her OCD get the better of her, something her sixth son, Caleb, now 18, is all too familiar with: "Whenever I’m out, almost like every five to ten minutes I get a text from my mom asking 'Are you good? You good? You good? When are you going to come back?' And I always have to respond.
"Then if I don’t respond within, like, five minutes she’d call me. Before I would turn 18 she was still overprotective with us. Since then she’s learned to trust me more."
Still, Maliah said the kids know it comes from a place of love: "Everyone says that she’s overprotective, but I say that she’s over-caring. And I’d rather have a mother who obsesses and over-cares than a mother who doesn’t care at all."
