Over the weekend the news came out that Octomom Nadya Suleman had signed a reality show contract that guaranteed that her children would receive $250 a day each for filming. It was unknown how much Suleman would be compensated, but it sounded like her children’s money was safe as it was being placed in a trust for them until they turned 18. The money was estimated at $250,000 total for all the kids over three years. The only problem was that just 15% of that money would be placed in a trust, as several of you pointed out in the comments. That’s only $37,500.
Nadya’s kids might get to attend college without going into debt after all. A guardian has been appointed by the court to oversee the money her children earn, essentialy keeping it out of Suleman’s greedy paws:
Child star-turned kids activist Paul Petersen filed suit asking that the court appoint a guardian to protect Nadya Suleman’s children’s “potential business opportunities” and he succeeded Monday in making his point with an Orange County (CA) judge.
Petersen, who was represented in court by an attorney, claims that Nadya – better known as Octomom – has used her 14 kids for financial gain.
Not so, said, Suleman, who told reporters: “I have the right to decide what is in my family’s best interest without undue interference by Mr. Peterson.”
Superior Court Judge Gerald Johnston disagreed and is appointing a guardian.
[From Radar Online]
Suleman also told E! online that she’s “indifferent” about the judge’s ruling, although that contradicts her other statements about the matter. Is it in her “family’s best interest” for Suleman to spend all her children’s money on whatever she sees fit? This is the woman who had to declare bankruptcy and was supporting her family on student loans, food stamps and disability – despite having multiple plastic surgery procedures. She opted to undergo invitro fertilization while she had six young children at home she couldn’t support. She absolutely needs someone looking out for her children’s money. In Suleman’s mind, it’s in her “family’s best interest” for her to buy designer clothing and luxury goods while her kids are left to figure out how to pay for college. She’s undoubtedly getting a ton of cash for the show, but she’ll blow through it quickly and go on to waste her kids’ money if no one is there to stop her. After all, she gave birth to those kids and has the right to all their earnings right?
I wrote all that wanting to hate on Suleman, but then I saw these recent photos in which she’s carrying a Guess bag which retails for $130. That seems downright practical for her. Who am I kidding, she probably has 13 more at home.
Nadya is shown out on 7/25/09. Credit: INFphoto.com.
Well I guess it pays to get knocked up with a load of babies.
i think all child stars should have an independent guardian to oversee their finances.
I have no intention of ever watching her reality show, but if it means she can live off that income instead of the State of California, I’m all for it.
Who needs to go to college ???
She didn’t. It’s better to be a stripper then jump directly to an extra-large family in no time (and no dad).
Too bad she is pissed off! The woman would use that money for herself and still try to live off of the state if not for someone else keeping an eye on the children’s finances.
The real key here is for people to stop watching these shows like Jon and Kate plus 8 and this Octomom nonsense. There are many people in this world who raise large families and they do not make money off of their large broods, they have to stuggle. Why do these people get the priviledge of making money off their families. We need to stop watching this stuff and send these people back into obscurity where they belong.
The only good that can come out of them making money is the fact that Octomom, for the moment, will not be bleeding California dry, of course I am sure she will still try to any way.
that bag is worth 125??? i think my one purse i’ve had for a couple of years was 30 bucks
Unfortunately guardianships are not risk free.
Nadya should realize by now that because California has been footing the bill for her family for the past decade, every single tax payer in California has the right to comment or “interfere” with her family. At this point we’re all responsible for shutting down her crazy house and helping those poor poor children in any way possible.
I’m sure this might chafe even the brightest parent which she ain’t. Great idea though. She probably gets a salary also and I’m sure she’ll never have to raise these kids without help.
A $130 purse is not practical for someone who is living on government assistance.
Good it’ll keep her grubby 130 dollar purse buying claws out of it !!
I feel that all of this is ridiculous. People seem to feel that Nadia is their personal dumping ground for all of their grudges against government overspending. 20 yrs. of social work has certainly proven that there are far worse cases, and far more money spent on 4th and 5th generation welfare individuals and families. I am curious as to why there isn’t more objection to the medical system spending millions of dollars on research to be able to provide services such as in-vitro etc. With thousands of children who need loving homes and parents, it is sad that peoples’ egos override each of our responsibility to care for our fellow human beings. The money spent so that people can have their own “natural” child, could possibly be better directed to AIDS and cancer research, and various other life-threatening diseases. Oh .. and that purse? better that than a needle full of heroin, or a bag of crack … which has been what I have been witness to with the mothers I have had to deal with.
uhh domestic goddess, Maybe the issue is that people like crackheads and Octumoms have kids at all. Even if they are adopted out or put into foster care they still have major issues stemming from lack of prenatal care, neglect, abuse, and so on. Having a baby shouldn’t be reserved for the slum of society, people who have the money to should be allowed to have their own children.
I support sterilization for cases such as these. Take out the Octo’s ovaries they have overstayed their welcome.
I disagree with domestic goddess as well, there is no denying that there is a prenatal life, some in-utero actions have important consequencies regarding the whole futur of the kid (example of the problem of the alcoholic syndrom that people face when they adopt kids from russia or else), and the kids will always wonder or be looking for their parents. I also beleive part of one character is enherited.
So I think the desire to have your own kids, and therefore helping conceive is only natural and justified.
I respect different opinions. I can only speak from my experience and if the worst that Nadia has committed is having 14 children, 3 of whom are disabled for which she receives payment I am not going to judge her. I have seen ie: government supported foster homes where children are not receiving monies for their care but rather to support the owners of these homes in their various habits (alcoholism, drug abuse). Perhaps funding can be directed in supervising these homes, and shutting down the ones that clearly out for profit and not the least interested in the children they are mandated to care for. More so, that there are so many of these children that no one wants for various reasons, to bring more children into the world specifically by means that nature did not intend, to satisfy “those who can afford it” but not everyone … hmm. Again, money talks, bullshit walks.
of course octomom is pissed…someone watching her finances means less money for her to have plastic surgery.
I wouldnt be so quick to judge Frenchie. My boyfriend is an adopted child. As in, He was put up for adoption the moment he was born and when he was ten days old he met his mom(the woman who raised and loved him). She told me that when she saw him ‘she just knew’ but didnt actually get to take him home until he was almost 2. Formal adoption is long and costly. But as faw as he is concerned, he never wanted to find his ‘birth mother’. She somehow got our address a few years ago and sent a card to contact her but he threw it away. He doesnt want to know her or care to. I’m sure his case isnt unique either. Alot of adopted kids feel that way.
I went to college and now struggle to pay my student loans. I have a child with a serious neurological disability and not only do I not receive any assistance from the goverment for his care, my husband and I pay more a month for his care than we do on our mortgage and car notes combined. Stupid, stupid, stupid! This woman needs to write a self-help book for young women to teach them how to get through life like she did. She is in a much more comfortable place right now for her irresponsible choices than I am for my supposedly responsible ones!
BTW, Nadya! I would give anything, anything in the entire world to know that there was a fund somewhere with money to care for my child when I am gone. Most women that have children feel the same way. Anyone with a child with disabilities feels that way. As a mother with disabled children, having a guardian overseeing your children’s money should feel like you’ve won the lottery and not a burden. The most terrifying feeling in the world for parents of children with disabilities is that they will outlive us and have no one to care for them the way we do. The fact that you don’t feel that way makes my heart break for your children. Especially your special needs children that won’t be able to grow up and get away from you as easily.
What I can’t understand…is…..Why don’t we ever hear about the investigation of the Doctor who inseminated this woman?? Maybe. he is the father. I thought that he would be held accountable.
I figured that was an expensive purse I”m glad that you told how much it cost.
I have one child and the only bag I carry is a diaper bag!
Forget going to college. I’m making an appointment in the meantime someone help me think of a name for my reality show.
I don’t see why she would take out student laons when she probably gets pell grant.
The judge was absolutely right in appointing a guardian for the kids’ money. There has been a long history of parents squandering their kids’ money in Hollywood. Even Shirley Temple’s dad, reputedly a sensible banker, squandered most of her money, too. We don’t hear about it because Shirley decided to keep it quiet and maintain a good relationship with her parents (especially her adored mom). The temptation is often too much for normal parents, and Nadia is a far cry from that from the get-go.
Aside from the fact she needs a lobotomy, she also needs a nipple lift! Just saying…
See kids, this is what we call “karma”. Can you say it with me? “Kar-Ma”
Btw, Domestic Goddess, I do see your point. Even though I find her manipulative and irresponsible, I think saying that the kids should be taken away is going too far. There are kids in truly deplorable living situations. Nadya is an idiot, not a crackhead.
I hear that Wresa. Though a calculating idiot 🙂
The Domestic Goddess,
You stated that “I am curious as to why there isn’t more objection to the medical system spending millions of dollars on research to be able to provide services such as in-vitro etc.” Nadia is a walking in-vitro advertisement. Part of what makes me so ill about her. I’m adopted. I had my one child and I got sterilized. This kind of lab animal, egg-sperm over-indulgence really grosses me out. And I have NO idea why I should be expected to have $50-80 a check plucked out of my every paycheck to support it. I’d rather pay that money to get a crack-head in rehab, than see another woman have 8 premature, disabled kids on purpose. A woman who lights up a crack pipe is an addict. A woman who SAVES money to have EIGHT children at one time in one womb and KNOWS she risks their lives and their futures to mental and physical disabilities is beyond all evil.
Yae – mmm … what I meant to say! is that the money that has been spent investing in the research to make in-vitro possible, WOULD have been better spent on the issues we have already created on this earth ie: crack addicts, single parents who need a helping hand (parents generally really) and the like.
Just an fyi: Just read an article in the Mirror (UK) about a woman who has 13 children, all of whom have all been taken away at birth, and now she is pregnant with her 14th!
Nadya is the least of our worries!
Aww so bad too sad she can not touch her kids money, it is not like they are going to make much anyways, the show will get pulled the first season because none will watch it.
There are actually several petitions going on to stop the show from filiming
I don’t know it I am crazy in saying this, but doesn’t it seem that the most evil of exploitation is that in which your victims are your own innocent children. What a wicked individual.