When you're an unemployed single mother of six living on food stamps, what do you do? Choose to have eight more children, of course! Despite her financial struggles, Nadya Suleman requested that all six embryos left over from a previous in vitro fertilization be implanted in her at the same time. Two of those embryos split into twins, and on Jan. 26, Suleman gave birth to octuplets (the second full set of octuplets to be born alive in the U.S.). Soon afterward, the nickname Octomom was born, and the backlash against Suleman was swift: knowing the health risks multiples face, who would set so many children up for pain and heartache? Did she do it all in the hopes of getting a reality show? Speculation that Suleman had gotten plastic surgery in order to look more like Angelina Jolie contributed to the anti-Octomom frenzy. Even her publicists received death threats. Recently surprise! cameras trailed Suleman and her 14 children for a British documentary.
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