Octuplet Grandma Calls Daughter 'Unconscionable'

She says daughter wants to write a book on single motherhood.

ByABC News via logo
February 4, 2009, 6:23 PM

Feb. 9, 2009— -- The grandmother of the California octuplets calls her daughter Nadya Suleman's decision to impregnate herself again after giving birth to six children "really unconscionable" and says the 33-year-old single mother has "no means to support" 14 children.

Angela Suleman said Sunday that she's been housing and supporting her daughter Nadya Suleman and her six grandchildren by a previous in vitro fertilization procedure in a "cramped" apartment for years.

Watch Angela Suleman's interview with Radaronline.com on "Good Morning America."

Angela Suleman said that her daughter "spent a lot of money on toys" but never contributed rent or food money and failed to tell her mother about more than $167,000 that records show she received from worker's compensation claims.

"I did hear that she received money from her insurance,'' Angela Suleman told Radaronline.com in an interview that was aired on "GMA." "She never told me. But I've never seen any money, not for house payments or for feeding the kids."

Angela Suleman filed for bankruptcy in March 2008, according to court documents.

"Unless [Nadya] starts working, earning money, I don't know, she may have to go on welfare, which she said she never would do,'' her mother said.

Last week Nadya Suleman defended her biological decisions in an interview with NBC's Ann Curry, saying that they were a "gamble" she was willing to take.

Though Nadya Suleman said that she intends to return to school to complete a master's degree in counseling this fall, she also told Curry that she loves her children "unconditionally" and will "stop my life for them and be present with them. And hold them. And be with them. And how many parents do that?"

An NBC representative has said the network did not pay for the Curry interview.

Angela Suleman said her daughter has given the octuplets biblical names, including one boy named Noah, according to Radaronline.com.

The birth of the octuplets last month has dominated news cycles for nearly two weeks, drawing a range of reaction from curiosity and concern to unambiguous condemnation, all of it animated. Only one other woman in the United States has successfully given birth to eight children. One of those babies later died.

Nadya Suleman had three miscarriages before the embryo implantation that produced the octuplets and has been prescribed antidepressants to deal with "powerful and uncontrollable emotions associated with her pregnancy," according to state records reviewed by ABC News.

Joann Killeen, a spokeswoman for Suleman, said last week that the mother of 14 has been inundated with offers for book deals and business proposals like television programs, but has not decided on any one project yet.

"She's the most sought-after mom in the world right now," Killeen told NBC. "Everyone wants to talk to her."