Octomom Natalie 'Nadya' Suleman Reveals the Truth About Her Finances for the First Time: 'I Did Whatever I Needed to Do' (Exclusive)

They say money talks, but now Natalie 'Nadya' Suleman is ready to talk money.

Sixteen years ago, the single mother of 14 was plastered across the media. What started as a frenzy over her history-making maternal feat — giving birth to the world's first surviving octuplets — turned into a nightmare for Suleman, who was maligned for being financially unstable and living with her parents while undergoing IVF treatments to grow her non-traditional family.

"There were so many false narratives that the public didn't know what to believe," Suleman, 49, tells PEOPLE this week, opening up ahead of the premiere of new Lifetime biopic I Was Octomom and docuseries Confessions of Octomom. "They were fed erroneous information," she says.

For starters, "At the time, I was not unemployed. I was on disability."

Related: Octomom Natalie 'Nadya' Suleman Shares Biggest Regret After Having 14 Kids: 'I Should Have Sued My Fertility Doctor' (Exclusive)

When details of her many procedures coupled with her precarious financial situation first made headlines, she was accused of receiving and using government assistance to conceive her many children.

"That was a lie," she says. "I did not use taxpayers' money. I'd saved so much money working as a psychiatric technician at a state psych hospital. I saved well over a hundred thousand dollars. I used all of that money. Instead of buying a house I bought in vitros. I also had an inheritance close to $60,000 that paid for it too, which I'm not proud of. It should have gone for my older kids. I also got student loans, but I paid for everything, period."

After the octuplets were born and she had 14 mouths to feed, money was even more scarce. Public outrage only grew as Suleman played into the frenzy for much-needed income, participating in numerous paid interviews, photo opps and even a solo adult film to help afford her family's expenses.

"I've never wanted fame," she says. "That's a number one biggest misconception ever. I sued the hospital because they were the reason I ended up in the public eye." That said, "I did whatever I needed to do to make ends meet. And that was shaming myself, sacrificing my integrity. The life I was leading was not only destructive, it was dark. It was the antithesis of who I am as a person."

Related: Octomom Natalie ‘Nadya’ Suleman Reveals ‘I’ve Been Celibate for 25 Years’ as She Opens Up About Asexuality (Exclusive)

In 2013 she left the spotlight to find peace. "We were always struggling financially but in 2013 that was more than ever.  I went right back to my old profession as a therapist working 40 hours a week," she says. "I used my education. For years I was typecast as the welfare recipient, unemployed mother, all of which is wrong."

After working to support herself and her kids for five years, in 2018, "I had to leave my job," she says. "Aidan's needs were becoming overwhelming."

Suleman's older son Aidan is profoundly autistic. "I've always been his only provider, but I never got paid. So in 2018, that's when I started to get actually paid. It's decent money, but it's still nothing compared to what we need to make to be comfortable in life."

Today Suleman and 11 of her kids (her eldest three are adults who've moved out) live in a three-bedroom townhouse apartment in Orange County, Calif. and receive additional support from friends in their community. One couple in particular, "offered us to live here half the rent just because they're good Christian people," she says. "People at church have made a positive difference."

In all, she says her story was far from a get rich scheme gone bad. "It's really a woman's story," she says. "Of strength, survival, and success despite all the odds against us."

I Was Octomom premieres March 8, while Confessions of Octomom premieres March 10, both on Lifetime.

Read the original article on People