Two weeks ago, the Gosselins issued a public statement calling for privacy at a time when their press coverage had dwindled down to nothing due to Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett’s deaths. Now Jon Gosselin, the doucebag dad who has been photographed all over the South of France with the younger of his barely-out-of-college girlfriends, is telling People Magazine that he’s having a hard time in his life and just wants the public to understand that. Yeah, it looks like he’s having such a rough go of it, sipping champagne on Christian Audigier’s yacht, shopping at Gucci, and completely ignoring the fact that he has eight kids at home. It’s not like he tried to hide from the paparazzi while he was in France, and it’s likely he called them himself. So why is he whining about it now? Oh I know – so we’ll keep talking about him well after his 15 minutes expired. ABC News reports this, along with some kind of priceless quotes from a psychologist who says that Jon is acting out because he feels emasculated by Kate:

Images of the Pennsylvania dad and his girlfriend, Hailey Glassman, on a yacht on the French Riviera have been published online and in magazines and Jon Gosselin spoke to People magazine about his relationship with the 22-year-old.

“What began as friendship has grown into something more. I know that my decision to appear publicly with Hailey this weekend will be scrutinized, but I hope that people can see I’m a regular guy who is a going through a very difficult time in life and wants to move forward,” he told the magazine.

The outing of the relationship comes less than three weeks after he and his wife, Kate Gosselin, publicly announced they would get a divorce after a decade of marriage.

“I just let her rule the roost and do what she wanted to do and went along with everything and now I finally stood up on my own two feet and I’m proud of myself,” Jon Gosselin said on the couple’s popular reality television show.

Glassman is described as a wild child who was once arrested for marijuana possession. She is the daughter of the plastic surgeon who performed Kate Gosselin’s tummy tuck in 2006. And at least one expert said Jon Gosselin’s parading of his new relationship could be a way for him to send a clear message.

“If someone engaging in these behaviors walked into your office, I would think about revenge, a fairly hostile act,” said family therapist Terry Real, who hasn’t treated the Gosselins. “I would be wondering if this wasn’t some sort of a declaration and the person in the marriage felt emasculated.”

Real said by introducing Glassman to the public so soon after his failed marriage, Jon Gosselin could be trying to declare his independence and show that he is strong, not weak…

Kate Gosselin also ignored questions from the paparazzi about her soon-to-be-ex’s new romance.

Jon Gosselin said, “Kate and I agreed to a 45-day period in which we wouldn’t talk about each other.”

Despite his flashy new fashion career and romance, Jon Gosselin told People magazine his children remain his top priority.

“Every 10 minutes I keep thinking about the kids and missing them,” he said.

But Real said if Jon Gosselin was really thinking about the kids he wouldn’t have introduced another woman into the equation until after his divorce was finalized, because it does not send a good message about commitment or restraint.

[From ABCNews.com]

Kaiser usually dislikes it when psychologists and doctors comment on celebrities, but I think they provide a kind of professional confirmation for what a lot of us are thinking. The family therapist quoted in that article is right – it doesn’t send a good message to his family when Jon is all too willing to be seen out on vacation with his new girlfriend. What makes it worse is that this is the second of two young women he’s been dating, and he’s already brought the other one around his kids and they were supposedly getting attached to her.

Kate is making sure she’s being photographed too – she’s been hanging out constantly on her front lawn with her kids having picnics, playing and doing mom-type stuff while she waits for fame to come knocking again. She has a back yard and plenty of space and doesn’t need to be within distance of the cameras, but it’s like she can’t live without them. The kids are the real victims here. Their dad moans “poor me” while he takes an extended vacation and their mom parades them around hoping to revitalize her reality show on hiatus.

Jon and Hailey are shown at the airport in Nice on 7/14/09 with some huge bags from Gucci. Credit: bauergriffinonline.com