http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-02-18-octuplets_N.htm
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NBC |
Her publicist quit because of death threats, and a book agent decided not to handle her story.
Nadya Suleman, 33, who gave birth Jan. 26 to the nation’s first octuplets who all survived more than a week, has not had an easy time making history.
“I don’t think anyone anticipated this response,” says Mike Furtney, partner in the Killeen Furtney Group, a Los Angeles public relations firm that represented Suleman until last week. In the past, he says, the public rallied to families with quintuplets or more.
Furtney says some people have offered Suleman support, including a woman of modest means who said she’d send $10 a month. “We’ve received donations of diapers and wipes,” he says. “We have people offering automobiles and baby furniture.”
Still, he says, he got many nasty comments and even phoned and e-mailed death threats, prompting his agency to withdraw its representation and briefly take down a website seeking donations. The site (www.thenadyasulemanfamily.com), which has pictures of the eight preemies with their names and birth weights, has received more than 65,000 e-mails — mostly negative but some in support of Suleman — and the computer server has crashed repeatedly, Furtney says.
Suleman, who is single and unemployed, lives in Whittier, Calif., with her six other children, ages 2 to 7. Like the octuplets, they were all born through in-vitro fertilization. Los Angeles County property records show the house where they live is under threat of foreclosure.
In an interview with NBC, Suleman said she receives $490 a month in food stamps and, for three of her children, Social Security disability payments. She received disability payments for a work injury from 2000 through 2008.
Suleman could not be reached for comment. She is not giving interviews, says Furtney’s partner, Joann Killeen.
“The outrage we’re hearing in our office is from regular people trying to raise their families in a poor economy,” says California state Sen. Sam Aanestad, a Republican. He says California, which is grappling with serious financial problems, may end up paying her hospital tab and future expenses.
Seven in 10 adults say they are unsympathetic toward Suleman, according to a USA TODAY Poll. Thirty-two percent say California should not do anything special to help her, but 37% say the state should provide special assistance. Twenty-one percent say the children should be taken from her care.
Furtney says Suleman has expressed interest in doing a book about her experience.
I sustained numerous injuries. I was unconscious following the accident. I could not take care of myself for several months 
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