To her detractors (and there are many), Nadya Suleman represents everything that is wrong with American culture, in vitro fertilization and the so-called Golden State. As details trickled out about the California woman who gave birth to octuplets in January that she is single, lives with her parents, has six other children and receives food stamps and disability payments congratulations quickly turned to outrage. That Suleman, now commonly referred to by the villainous-sounding moniker Octomom, bears a striking resemblance to Angelina Jolie, herself a mother of six, made the questions about her parenting choices even more troubling. Octomom fascination has spawned thousands of websites, an Octo-doll (complete with eight detachable babies), a disturbingly sexy Halloween costume, a musical and a two-hour Fox documentary. In April, Suleman inked a $250,000 deal with a British production company, granting it exclusive access to her home for 11 days. But she insists her decision to put her children on TV is survival, not a stunt. "It's a catch-22," she told the New York Times in November. "I'm damned if I do what I need to do with the media to support my kids, and I'm damned if I don't. If I don't, I can't take care of them."
The Top 10 Everything of 2009
- Top 10 Albums
- Top 10 Animal Stories
- Top 10 Apologies
- Top 10 Art Exhibitions
- Top 10 Awkward Moments
- Top 10 Best Business Deals
- Top 10 Breakups
- Top 10 Buzzwords
- Top 10 Children's Books
- Top 10 Crime Stories
- Top 10 Editorial Cartoons
- Top 10 Facebook Stories
- Top 10 Fashion Faux Pas
- Top 10 Fashion Moments
- Top 10 Feuds
- Top 10 Fiction Books
- Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities
- Top 10 Gadgets
- Top 10 Green Ideas
- Top 10 Heroes
- Top 10 iPhone Apps
- Top 10 Late-Night Jokes
- Top 10 Magazine Covers
- Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
- Top 10 Movie Performances
- Top 10 Movies
- Top 10 New Species
- Top 10 News Stories
- Top 10 Nonfiction Books
- Top 10 Oddball News Stories
- Top 10 Pariahs
- Top 10 Pictures of the Year
- Top 10 Plays and Musicals
- Top 10 Political Gaffes
- Top 10 Quotes
- Top 10 Religion Stories
- Top 10 Scandals
- Top 10 Scientific Discoveries
- Top 10 Songs
- Top 10 Sports Moments
- Top 10 T-Shirt-Worthy Slogans
- Top 10 TV Ads
- Top 10 TV Episodes
- Top 10 TV Series
- Top 10 Tweets
- Top 10 Underreported Stories
- Top 10 Untruths
- Top 10 Video Games
- Top 10 Viral Videos
- Top 10 Worst Biz Deals
TIME charts the highs and lows of the past year in 50 wide-ranging lists