Octuplets' Grandfather Says He'll Fight for Kids

March 9, 2009 — -- Ed Doud, grandfather of the famous California octuplets and father of their controversial mother, Nadya Suleman, plans to fight to make sure his family keeps the kids and said the family will not call on the taxpayers for assistance in raising them.

"I will stop anybody, I don't care who they are, from taking my grandchildren away," Doud said in an interview with "Good Morning America." "We have a loving home, loving mother and there's no way, no legal right for anybody to take my grandchildren anywhere."

The comment came after reports that the California hospital may not release the children into Suleman's care if it believes she is incapable of caring for the infants.

The state of Suleman's home environment was called into question last week when tapes of a frantic 911 call from last year were discovered in which Suleman, then pregnant with the octuplets, lost one of her other six children and threatened to kill herself.

On Friday, Suleman's publicist Victor Munoz quit representing her because, as he told UsMagazine.com, "this woman is nuts."

But Doud said that if any authority took legal action to take the children from their mother it would be "a waste of [taxpayers'] money."

"Leave them alone," he said.

The taxpayers will also not be on the hook for helping to raise the children, Doud said, despite the formidable financial challenges that raising the large family is likely to entail, including a hospital bill that could reach $1 million and the family's history of financial trouble.

"If we become well enough, we don't need anybody," Doud said. "If we struggle, just like everybody else, we will ask for help. We're not going to ask for help from taxpayers."

In February Doud asked for help from supporters when he appeared on Oprah Winfrey's show.

"You know what? She needs help. I say to everybody now, 'people, we do need help,'" Doud said then. "Do not punish my daughter for what she had done and do not punish the babies, because they were given by God."

Octuplet Mom Brings in the Cash, but Not for Porn

Since its saga began with the octuplets' birth in January, the family has received donations from around the world, bolstered by a Web site that allows supporters to donate money to Suleman. The family also has reportedly received significant payment for rights to photos and interviews.

The family is reportedly planning to move into a much larger home, financed in part by money the controversial birth has already brought in.

But Suleman has not taken every offer. Last month it was reported that she had been offered $1 million to star in an adult film.

"Oh, I know my daughter," Doud said. "It doesn't make any difference, a million, 10 [million], 20 million, she's not going to do that. That is no way in the world."

He also laughed off reports that his daughter tries to make herself look like Angelina Jolie.

"It's funny that she never thought of Angelina Jolie," he said. "I don't think she knew who she was."

Record Octuplet Birth Sparks Controversy

When Suleman gave birth to the history-making octuplets in January, a string of controversies soon followed.

Days after news of the multiple birth spread from coast to coast, it came to light that the 33-year-old mother already had six children who were born, like the octuplets, through in vitro fertilization.

Suleman's mother, Angela Suleman, has been vocal about her disapproval.

"It can't go on any longer," she told The Associated Press in January. "She's got six children and no husband. I was brought up the traditional way. I firmly believe in marriage. But she didn't want to get married."

In February, she said her daughter's decision to impregnate herself again after giving birth to six children was "really unconscionable" and she said her daughter has "no means to support" 14 children.

Thousands of California taxpayers voiced their disapproval on message boards when they learned they could be the ones footing the bill for the octuplets' expensive hospital stay, estimated in February to be in the neighborhood of $1 million.

According to Mike Furtney, a spokesman for the family, the Web site inspired some heated criticism but also a generous outpouring of support.

One farmer in the Midwest even offered to house the family under his roof, Furtney said.

The story took another turn when Denis Beaudoin came forward to say that he had donated sperm three times while he and Nadya Suleman were dating because she asked him to and that he was possibly the octuplets' father.

But after Beaudoin came forward, Nadya Suleman said that he was "absolutely" not the father.