Radar Online has been running a lot of exclusive stories about Kate Gosselin. We haven’t been covering them because they sound recycled from details we’ve already heard about a long-delayed tell-all that’s out about Kate. Plus Kate’s star has faded so much, I didn’t really care. Well now that Kate’s former best friend is speaking out, I’m sort-of interested.

Kate’s best friend and co-author on her Million Little Blessings book, Beth Carson, did an interview with Radar Online. Beth told Radar that many people close to Kate “knew a lot of stuff” about her, but that they didn’t speak out against Kate because they didn’t want to upset the kids. Beth doesn’t clarify what people saw, but it sounds like it wasn’t physically harmful to the children (Kate has been accused of that too) so much as controlling. That’s plain to see in any episode of her show. One thing that bothers me about this interview is that Beth seems to blame the viewing audience for the way that Kate turned out, as if it’s everyone else’s fault for giving her attention.

Radar also has another separate article in which Beth reveals how Kate tried to screw her out of the profits for their book, even though she wrote the entire thing and would regularly babysit Kate’s children. I’ll combine the quotes from the two articles here:

How Kate tried to cut her out of the book she wrote
“We agreed on a 50/50 split and it was fair, although I did do all the writing, absolutely, did all the writing… it was without a doubt Kate’s story. She told me the story and I wrote it. Absolutely, I wanted to take nothing away from the fact that it was her story. But I put a lot of work into it,” Beth told Radar.

“I didn’t know that Jon was even on the book until it was published and Kate tried diligently to get my name removed from everything,” Beth explains, admitting that Kate, 39, tried to change their 50/50 split to a third cut between the three of them, netting the Gosselins two thirds instead of just 50 percent.

“But luckily I’d covered my butt with a lawyer and fortunately I have a business-minded husband who basically said we had to take precautions when doing business with friends. If not, I would have not gotten one penny or had any recourse, because Kate tried very, VERY hard to get my name off everything and take my cut.”

Ultimately Beth says she got the 50 percent cut she deserved, but things with Kate were never the same…

“Wow, not only have I changed and fed your kids for years, at my house for a week at a time, all of them, then for her to not acknowledge me was a slap in the face. When we first talked about the book and how it turned out, we were excited to promote it so it was a shocker and stab in the back for her to be like, you didn’t do this.”

On how we made Kate the monster she is
“I think society has to take some responsibility because every person who tuned in and fed the fire , cannot turn around and now criticize her. You’re essentially patting her on the back, so who are you to turn around and say she’s gone too far?” she said. “I think it will be interesting — it’s kind of become this social project of society. Like, what has society done? They were so highlighted and so out there on TV, as real people, so the kids are the first products of that. The kids were really the first ones who had no choice , they were infants. It has influenced their every moment of every day.”

Why people close to Kate kept quiet about her
“I used to get calls regularly with offers to tell behind the scenes stuff. A lot of people who worked for Kate knew a lot of stuff, and every single person said no. They cared about the kids too much,” she explained. “It’s a tribute to the character and integrity of those who helped her. It’s also a testament to Kate’s character, for not keeping them in her life. I think she’s got to see that it’s sad.”

[From two stories on Radar Online]

We’ve heard this before, that Kate cut many people out of her children’s lives who genuinely wanted to help care for them, and who had cared for them from infancy, including her family members. I totally disagree with her that “society has to take some responsibility” for Kate. For the kids definitely, if that’s what she means, but not for Kate. I think there need to be more safeguards in place for children in reality shows, and Kate’s own family has tried to advocate for that. Society isn’t responsible for Kate being a money-grubbing control freak. She’s always been like that, and it’s TLC that enabled her, not society. Most A-list actors aren’t a fraction as entitled as Kate. She had a full time bodyguard (who has left her now that the money has dried out) when she was on a reality show. We’ve heard many times that she’s behaved badly in public and at charity events. No one is responsible for Kate’s behavior except Kate.

Kate Gosselin is shown in April filming Celebrity Apprentice and in June. Credit: TNYF/WENN.com