I Was Octomom: The Natalie Suleman Story Blames It on The Hormones In Shallow Dive into Complex Infamy

Critic’s Rating: 2.7 / 5.0

2.7

There comes a point during I Was Octomom: The Natalie Suleman Story where the titular woman wholly blames her misunderstandings and mishaps on her hormones.

It’s a consistent pattern throughout the film, as her story fixates more on showcasing what it was like for Natalie during the height of the Octomom craze rather than trying to dispel some of the worst that derived from that era.

The film sums up so much of Natalie’s story with a shrug: “I was hormonal.” It’s easy to presume that in stating that, one is skirting around accountability, but in the same breath, it’s as if Natalie is simply taking her criticisms to the chin.

Octomom Controversy Touched on Hot Button Issues

The Octomom craze was out of this world. Many heralded this woman in the Infamy Hall of Fame overnight because everything she embodied was the culmination of things Americans, in particular, often critique.

She was a beautiful, single daughter of immigrants and a mother of 14. We know how much America loves to hate women and dictate their choices.

It’s no wonder many criticized her for being just pro-life enough to bring eight new babies into the world when she already had six of her own alone.

Naturally, as a child of immigrants, there was the xenophobic component of people assuming she was securing her spot in the country with enough anchor babies to form three basketball teams.

Natalie was in a rock-and-a-hard place. If she continued to stay at home with her children, collect disability checks, and even sniff in the direction of government funding, she would be immediately considered a mooch who drains the system and lives off “hard-earning taxpayer dollars” to support her brood of children.

Natalie Couldn’t Win in This Scenario Playing Into Both Poor Perceptions of Motherhood

However, as most working mothers know, if she went to work to support these children, she was negligent and did not give them the attention they deserved.

Additionally, if she pursued work in the form of capitalizing off her infamy via television appearance deals or that godforsaken sex work, well, throw her in the chair!

The conflicting messages that always surrounded Octomom were fascinating, particularly because they showcased how people’s values and morals are such a sliding scale and mishmash of things that they can’t even fully submit to themselves.

Octomom managed to garner the ire of Pro-life and Pro-choice people.

The life individuals ironically casting death threats at her selfishness endangering the lives of children (yes, I know, that doesn’t make sense laid out, right?) while the pro-choice people couldn’t accept that her choice involved bringing so many children into the world whom she couldn’t afford to take care of at the time and falling victim to the spectacle of media.

Natalie’s Narration of Her Own Story Does Little to Provide Context (Shockingly)

Octomom’s story is certainly one of those polarizing tales that pushes at all these groups and stances and challenges the positions, but Lifetime’s version of this story barely scratches the surface of her infamy and why she became a sensation to explore how she felt amid all of that.

Natalie’s narration of her own film is a vehicle to add more context to everything. However, her offerings feel more like she’s mildly making her case but without substantial context.

Regardless of where you fell on the spectrum regarding Octomom, you’ll likely walk away from this story feeling as if I don’t know. This woman is simply a flawed human who desperately wanted and needed love and found that in her children but got in over her head.

The film glosses over the root of many of her issues. I’d even go as far as to say that flashback references to this lonely childhood she had, or even her initial decision to have children at such a young age, resulting in the first six, would’ve been a great way of filling in some of the gaps and adding more context.

Instead, we get Natalie, played incredibly well by Kristen Lee Gutoskie, as this seemingly naive, anxious, perpetually flustered woman who keeps accidentally making questionable decisions.

I Was Octomom Outlines Natalie as Victim of Circumstance with Little Context on Controversy

Her doctor was wrong for allowing her to sign medical documentation while still drugged, and the hospital staff were vile for selling her information to tabloids. PR mostly protected the hospital’s image, while her entertainment lawyer or manager felt too much heat and had to quit.

She was making money, but not enough to support herself, and no one was helping her with business.

Again, outlining this sounds like I’m bemoaning the film for making Natalie a perpetual victim of circumstance, but it’s not so much that all of these things weren’t true or were damaging; they’re just so thinly covered without nuance.

Truthfully, after watching the film, I still can’t say that I have any better insight into Natalie. The little we learn about her motivations or what shaped her and led to her landing in this position is so shallow that it’s hard to hold onto any one thing and make it stick.

She was a lonely child, and her childhood was dysfunctional, but we don’t know in what way. Natalie had a strained relationship with her mother. Still, it didn’t feel unlike any complex mother/daughter dynamic, especially when they were both raising children at different times and under different cultures.

Natalie alludes to how her mother’s PTSD and experiences surviving a WWII encampment may have shaped her, but it just hangs there and never goes anywhere.

I Was Octomom Struggles Balancing Accountablity and Sympathy

Perhaps it was just a way of highlighting that Natalie was a very smart, bright woman with a genuine interest in sociology and psychology, even if she simultaneously lacked understanding or the ability to manage her own issues regarding anxiety, impulsivity, and other things.

I Was Octomom, tries to balance holding Natalie accountable while also garnering sympathy for her, and I don’t have any strong feelings about the situation either way.

She acknowledges that she was selfish and reckless. Still, she doesn’t regret her children, has a childhood backstory to justify her sentiments, and sums up so many of her choices during that specific time frame to her being hormonal, sleep-deprived, anxious, post-partum, or suffering from PTSD.

But they also gloss over some of the internal workings of how she transferred her loneliness and issues onto her children when she had a brood of them, and they didn’t explore how too many children in a hospital can leave many feeling as if their emotional needs aren’t met or result in other identity issues.

The focus was more on how Natalie was a great, resilient mother who defied the odds given her circumstances and successfully raised happy, healthy, well-adjusted children without issue. At the end of it, we can conclude that she genuinely loved all of her children, and did everything for them.

But we’re also balancing that against the undue burden she places on those around her. Frankly, I found her mother, Angela, to be the most sympathetic in this piece.

I Was Octomom Barely Touches on Natalie’s Selfishness in Relation To Her Village

It takes a village to raise children, and Natalie went headlong into repeatedly having so many children and then relying on her village to support her.

What sucks about that is that no one anticipates being responsible for that many children at once, especially when they aren’t yours. Angela’s frustrations were valid, as it seemed like Natalie was so fixated on filling some void that she didn’t think about the effect she had on everyone around her.

Natalie’s mother and best friend were saints for the aid they provided, and while there was constant media everywhere, Natalie was falling apart and overwhelmed, and they were battling their own issues.

In some ways, they emerge as the story’s heroes, but only Angela is treated as such as the film nears conclusion and Natalie and Angela make peace with one another ahead of Angela’s tragic death.

Perhaps Lifetime anticipates the docuseries special featuring Natalie Suleman to fill in the blanks or be the real draw here. And if so, that’s perfectly fine.

However, to explore the human side of Octomom, the film barely scratches the surface. It leaves her feeling like many empty tropes cobbled together without making us feel like we actually got to know or understand her, good, bad, or ugly.

How did you feel about the film Lifetime Fanatics?

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