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- Natalie “Nadya” Suleman and her kids looked back on the horrific accident that left her dad paralyzed in the latest episode of the Confessions of Octomom
- Suleman said her dad, Ed Doud Suleman, struggled with alcoholism after the death of her mom
- Suleman’s son Elijah, now 23, said Ed “was probably drinking all morning and he fell down the stairs when he was trying to bring down his dishes”
Natalie “Nadya” Suleman and her son are looking back on a horrific accident.
On the latest episode of the Confessions of Octomom Lifetime docuseries, released Monday, April 7, Suleman, 49, and her kids recalled the events that led to her dad becoming paralyzed.
Suleman said her dad, Ed Doud Suleman, struggled with alcoholism after the death of her mom. “After my mom passed, he told me on the phone he’s going to drink himself to death,” she said in the episode.
The reality star said her dad’s substance abuse “deteriorated” without her mom, revealing that he had gone through rehab about seven times, but described it as “fruitless.”
“Although they weren’t even married, they were so intertwined in the fabric of their souls,” Suleman said of her parents’ relationship. “Sometimes when people are together — 40, 50 years — they’re together for so long even if they’re not in a romantic relationship, that’s it. They’re connected at the fabric of their souls forever.”
Recalling the health emergency, the mother of 14 said that her kids were bringing her dad breakfast in bed on a Saturday morning, while her son Elijah, now 23, was gaming in a room upstairs.
“My dad was sleeping and the kids were bringing him breakfast,” she said. “They brought him a plate of food. They asked over and over, it was Jonah, ‘Can I bring that down for you grandpa?’ ” However, she said the elderly man decided to bring the dishes down the stairs himself.
Elijah, who also appears in the docuseries, said that his grandfather “was probably drinking all morning and he fell down the stairs when he was trying to bring down his dishes.”
Suleman said Jonah and Elijah both witnessed the accident, which resulted in her dad hitting his head on the wall and cracking his skull open.
“He broke his neck,” Elijah added.
Her daughter, Maliyah Angel, now 15, recalled watching Elijah help their grandfather before their mom came to assist. “Mom was trying to help him and then she called 9-1-1,” the teenager said. “And then I ran upstairs and I was hiding with all the kids.”
As a result of the fall, Suleman said Ed “ended up quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. And on subacute care for the rest of his life.”
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In the episode, Suleman also spoke about why she went to rehab for three weeks in 2012. “I was just trying to get through the day,” she recalled of the time. “I didn’t want to live anymore.”
“I was not fighting an addiction or alcoholism,” she said on the show. “Turned out I had a psychological full evaluation and diagnosis, my scores were the highest on PTSD and very low markers for addiction and alcoholism.”
The six-part docuseries follows Suleman’s journey to where she is now.
“With her octuplets turning sixteen this January and her other six children ranging from 17 to 23 years-old, Suleman has been out of the public eye for years and now, for the first time, Suleman and her 14 children reveal a much different life than the world has ever been privy to before,” the synopsis teases.
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