Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Mandy Allwood has died.

29 replies

DanteThunderstone · 04/02/2022 07:26

What a sad series of events her life was. In many ways a victim of media exploitation . Apologies for Daily Mail link. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10474651/Octomum-Mandy-Allwood-lost-eight-babies-1996-died-cancer-aged-56.html

OP posts:
MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 04/02/2022 07:35

God,some people just have the shittest livesSad That poor woman.

LoseLooseLucy · 04/02/2022 07:45

Aww I remember her pregnant in 1996.
What a sad life she's had 🙁

Hugasauras · 04/02/2022 08:10

A v sad life, and not surprised that piece of shit Max Clifford had a hand in it.

Changedmane · 04/02/2022 08:47

I was thinking this. All she did was get pregnant and she received so much hate for it because she didn’t selectively terminate some. Maybe she couldn’t bear to. I feel really sorry for her living mg out her life alone.

EishetChayil · 04/02/2022 08:50

That poor woman.

ButterOllocks · 04/02/2022 09:01

Yes I remember her story, taken advantage of and exploited - no one to mourn her - so sad

Growbean · 04/02/2022 09:04

So many lives destroyed by Max Clifford.

Tinyhorseshoes · 04/02/2022 09:05

I remember her. Why anyone would send hate mail is appalling. So sad that none of her family would attend her funeral.

ShirleyPhallus · 04/02/2022 09:10

I’ve never heard of her, what a sad story

I feel really sad for her remaining children who effectively lost their mother twice

MrsLargeEmbodied · 04/02/2022 09:15

i am sure people will mourn her,
she had friends in the pub according to the article
horrible story

Malibuismysecrethome · 04/02/2022 09:17

I always though she was an experiment for fertility treatment as it was relatively unheard of at the time. It was women like her who made future IVF possible and she gave hope to many who came after her.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 04/02/2022 09:20

i remember it being required for her to abort some, not to carry 8
but i cant remember that they all died.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 04/02/2022 09:21

after that perhaps they refused to implant so many

purpleme12 · 04/02/2022 09:24

Wow what a tragic story
I can't believe the family won't at least turn up at the funeral

Hoppinggreen · 04/02/2022 09:27

Poor woman.
I remember it at the time and to be honest I thought she was being ridiculous by not having some some of the foetus removed, I just couldn’t get my head around it
Since then I have had 3 pregnancies and 2 babies and I don’t judge her in the slightest anymore

AlternativePerspective · 04/02/2022 09:28

I don’t think they implanted the embrio’s did they? She had the fertility treatment and was told not to have sex while it was ongoing because of the increased number of eggs she would produce and the increased likelihood of multiple pregnancy. But she did have sex and as a result she became pregnant with 8 babies.

There’s no doubt that she was turned into a bit of a freak show by Clifford and the tabloids, but she did have a hand in what happened to her babies. The risk of miscarriage does of course increase with selective termination, but without a termination she was told that none of the babies would survive and she took that option anyway. While I wonder about the mentality of people who send death threats to other people, the loss of 8 babies was her choice, and presumably one which she didn’t know how it would be to live with.

People’s lives are complicated. To lose custody of your children and for your family to disown you to the extent they won’t even attend your funeral implies that this isn’t a one sided story, more likely that there were facets of it we will never know about.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 04/02/2022 09:31

well if she had a drink problem they perhaps just washed their hands of her.
it was crazy to carry 8 babies and go against medical advice like that.

EarringsandLipstick · 04/02/2022 09:31

@Malibuismysecrethome

I always though she was an experiment for fertility treatment as it was relatively unheard of at the time. It was women like her who made future IVF possible and she gave hope to many who came after her.
That's not really true. It was successfully in use by 1978, not exactly mainstream.

While sad, the choices she made regarding fertility treatment were in exact opposition to the aim of considered IVF treatment.

LoseLooseLucy · 04/02/2022 09:32

People’s lives are complicated. To lose custody of your children and for your family to disown you to the extent they won’t even attend your funeral implies that this isn’t a one sided story, more likely that there were facets of it we will never know about.

I don't think much reading between the lines is required to deduce that.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 04/02/2022 09:33

i dont think a drink driving charge would be enough to take away your 3 children.

Georgeskitchen · 04/02/2022 09:35

Sad sad story and I suppose she did court the media. Unfortunately she probably didn't realise she was being exploited . I know she went on to have further children
I wonder where they are now.
So sad that there seems to be nobody willing to lay her to rest. The council is funding her cremation apparently.
Rest in peace Mandy xx

AlternativePerspective · 04/02/2022 09:35

*@DanteThunderstone
Her children have undoubtedly been damaged by her, I have no doubt that if any of them posted here that they wouldn’t be attending their mother’s funeral they would receive nothing but support and validation of their choice.

AlternativePerspective · 04/02/2022 09:36

That last post was in response to @ LoseLooseLucy I have no idea how someone else was tagged there. Blush

RJnomore1 · 04/02/2022 09:47

I don’t think this is the time or place to go into what the poor woman has done “wrong” is it?

I’ve been reading through a couple of articles, it said she held each baby for several hours as they died, she still have phantom pregnancy symptoms until her death. The level of trauma she had was unimaginable and her life was tragic. Surely we can have pity and sorrow for that outcome without needing to find ways to blame her for everything. I hope her surviving children have good support and live happy healthy lives.

thebabessavedme · 04/02/2022 09:53

Poor woman, Poor family. We don't need to know all sides of her story to see that the whole thing is a tragic muddle, I hope her family find some kind of peace and at least for her, her suffering is over.