I didn’t really watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 during their heyday but followed the drama between the Patron Saint of Karens Kate Gosselin and “Ick, Nast” Ed Hardy Enthusiast Jon Gosselin on the blogs. In a world of exploiting regular people for profit and storyline, I am sure that what we saw – which wasn’t great! – wasn’t everything.
Last fall, Collin Gosselin spoke to Entertainment Tonight about being sent to an institution at age 12. Now, his sister Hannah, the only sibling he still has contact with, is speaking out on his behalf, sharing that poor Collin was often “separated” from the rest of the siblings during play and meal times. Hannah also doesn’t believe any effort was made to help Collin with his behavior.
Hannah Gosselin is recalling her life at home growing up when cameras weren’t rolling on her family’s hit TLC reality series, Jon & Kate Plus 8.
In a clip previewing Vice TV’s upcoming docuseries Dark Side of the 2000s, the 19-year-old daughter of Jon and Kate Gosselin says her brother Collin “would be separated” from his seven siblings as a child, adding, “He would not get to come outside and play with us. He would eat dinner at different times than us.”
“I don’t think effort was made in the home to help him learn what behavior is acceptable and what behavior is not acceptable,” she continues.
Collin — who, like Hannah, graduated from high school last month — also speaks about how he felt he was treated differently by his mother amid her divorce from Jon in 2009, explaining, “I’m not going to say I was a perfect child. But I’d say my misbehaving was no different from my siblings.”
“I know my mother was going through a lot of things. I mean, a divorce, and plenty of different things that can’t be easy to go through,” he continues. “And, you know, I want to think that she needed someone to take out her anger and frustration on, and it was just kind of me. I was in the way and I was there. So, she chose me.”
Kate’s reps did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Oh my goodness, how heartbreaking is this observation: “I want to think that she needed someone to take out her anger and frustration on, and it was just kind of me.” I cannot even imagine the trauma he had to work through to even get to the place where he can say that with such maturity and understanding. I hope he continues to have an amazing support system. I am truly rooting for him and Hannah.
Kate is a grade-A a-hole. I think all parents can relate to being frustrated. Parenting is hard. As a parent of two very different children, it’s a constant learning curve figuring out how to parent each in a way that’s best for their individual needs. I can’t imagine eight different kids. OG Karen had the money and the access to the best resources to not only help Collin in a productive way but to also help herself become a better parent and person for all of their sakes (remember when she impatiently told one of the twins to “use your words” on live TV? UGH.). Instead, she chose the “easy” way out and gave into her worst instincts by sending Collin away. I genuinely hope all of the Gosselin kids are safely working through whatever issues they may have from their childhood. It could not have been easy for any of them.
Dark Side of the 2000s premieres July 18 at 9 p.m. ET on Vice TV and I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that it’s going to make us just as angry as Shiny Happy People did.
I watched and she was a complete monster!! She did make him the scapegoat. People tried to get authority involved because what was being shown was child abuse. The producers should have shut it down but the show was popular. I stopped watching. She is accused of having that many at one time so she could sponge off the public and then she got the show. She is just a monster.
As with “19 Kids and Counting,” I think we’re going to find more and more abuse within the reality TV shows of the earlier 2000s. I think exploiting kids on shows like this is wrong; they can’t understand the potential consequences and can’t give meaningful consent. But as long as there is an audience I’m afraid this will keep happening.
The kids of influencers are also going to reveal the truth of what went on behind the scenes.
All of this. It was triggering and unwatchable.
It sounds like he’s the scape goat. I hope the rest of the kids are able to separate from Kate as they get older and build relationships as adults. Kate is so terrible that she makes John look like a great parent here 😐.
I know nothing about this family but it is not unusual – at all, unfortunately – for families to choose a scapegoat. And the sad part is that it starts when the kids are young so they, too, come to believe that the scapegoat is the “bad” child. Our family had that happen to some degree and it took some education and patience to unlearn the super crappy behavior of making one kid the bad one.
Isn’t an ET doco just a continuation of exploitation of this trauma suffer?
No not if it’s done right and respectful to the victims.
We’re now entering the second generation of reality TV, it seems. And that means we’ll be exploring the trauma created by the first generation.
Maybe it’s part of the process for him? Plus it educates people. I just mentioned above that lots of families go through this, making one kid the “bad” one to absorb all of the pain and inadequacy of the other members.
Plus, I would not mind reality tv being outed for the abuse it turned a blind eye to and continues to.
It sounds like being able to speak out about this on his own terms has been therapeutic, if anything.
Seriously heartbreaking 💔 My heart hurts for him. And for all 8 of those kids tbh but especially him if he was singled out.
Me as well!!! Though I did watch a few episodes in its infancy, what I did see was sickening. She is and will always be a full fledged Karen.
She had plenty of $$$$$ for proper therapy and it breaks my heart that Collin was chosen for her punching bag. NO child should be used for your own trials in life.
I do hope that Collin is able to find the perfect person for therapy as he enters adulthood. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ALL don’t need therapy.
I don’t know if Coogan Accounts are enforced for children that are on reality television, but I hope that they are and that at least Collin may see some financial compensation for all he had to endure at the hands of that woman. My heart breaks for that child.
I googled it and sadly kids on reality TV or paid social media do not qualify under child labor or performer laws.
This law was; written in 1939 and needs to be updated to reflect today’s world. I’ve heard so many horror stories about parents exploiting their children on YouTube and parents using their children to pander to pedophiles on social media.
Coco, the kids did get money–I wonder if that was part of the divorce. One of them has said they don’t know how much it is but they were hoping that it would fund college.
I’m coming down on the side that this was part of the divorce settlement and the Judge made sure the kids got a share of the money.
He looked just like his father. No wonder he was singled out. I hope he continues to get the support he needs and builds a family that he chooses around him.
Oh…..that explains everything with regards to Kate signaling him out. You hit the nail with your comment @ Jeannine Pope!!!!
I noticed that too… bet that resemblance has a lot to do with it.
This is classic narcissistic behavior on Kates part and feeds the family dysfunction. One child is made the scapegoat (poor Collin) and another is usually the Golden Child. It’s sick. Sounds like he has a healthy perspective and is doing better, good for him.
https://psychcentral.com/health/scapegoat-child#effects-of-childhood-scapegoating
I think ironically, Hannah was her favorite child.
I watched the original series and while I don’t recall specific incidents of her being mean to Colin, she was overall a very unpleasant person, a harsh parent, and definitely played favorites among her kids. John seemed loving to the children and well-meaning, but feckless.
She emotionally terrorized those kids. She yelled at collin all the time and treated Maddy the best. The rest of the kids seemed to live in fear of her. When she did the wife swap with Kendra, Kendra for her faults said the kids didn’t get to be kids and were always scared of upsetting her for not following her arbitrary rules. I think Jon was also abused by Kate. I hope the kids actually get to know each other. I think the rest of the kids resent Collin and Hannah for getting away from Kate.
@ KFG, why would you post your speculation that the other siblings resent Hannah and Collin??? I can’t imagine that they would be resentful unless they feel abandoned. Which they have no power to remove their siblings from Kate.
Omg wife swap. I’d completely blocked out I ever watched that. I feel so bad I watched those shows at all. Just gross exploitation all the way around.
Between this young man and the Duggar kids, we are finally coming into the era of the exploited children of all these reality monsters finally being old enough to out their parents and are getting their say. I feel like we all already knew Kate was terrible, but I love this for her to get to witness her own son putting her on blast. Good for him.
Yes!! It’s courageous of Collin for coming it of the dark to share the heart break, emotional abuse, bullying as well as the mental mind games that his mother inflicted upon ALL of them!! Bravo Collin for coming out to share your story!!
I remember watching the show about the 19 Duggar kids and thinking that I hoped I would be around to watch when they started writing books about their repressive and weird childhood, and they recently have!!
And while at the time I did not know what Harry was going through with his brother after his mother’s death, it is good news that HE is now writing and talking about how he was treated by his father, brother, and the overall royal family.
It is important that these grown-up kids tell us about their mistreatment so we can know the truth and do something when we see it again. And, if fact, we are already seeing it in the “perfect” Wales family, especially with Charlotte and Louis. Don’t you wonder what that expensive nanny has to do to get those kids to behave so well in public? I shudder when I think of it.
Jon has tons of faults and certainly went through his Ed hardy douche phase. But he’s always seemed like the better parent overall. Kate was pushing those kids hard for her own fame and money. I don’t think she’s ever forgiven him for getting the show pulled by not sighting off on the kids being on tv.
Jon did seem to be much more relaxed and flexible with the children. He did seem to want to protect the children as it was apparent when he refuses to sign for the exploitation to continue. And yes, Kate will always resent Jon as she had amassed a fortune and so-called reality tv celebrity!!!
That Kate is an awful person.
I watched the shows when they aired and she always talked up Colin as her engineer who would be so smart and take care of her in her old age. She also called Hannah her little mommy who would help with the other kids. I think it’s telling that those are the two she’s estranged from. I bet they didn’t live up to “her” expectations.
From what I read her anger/abuse of Colin started after the divorce is when she started treating him differently and Hannah chose to live with Jon and Colin.
We know from her family, from the volunteers , to her church members that were all helping her behind the scenes how nasty and horrible she is. No adult could take being anywhere around her for more than a couple of hours. I can’t imagine one child being the focus of her toxic rage.
This allegation is rife with CLASSIC narcissistic parenting moves – pitting siblings against each other, alienation of affection, scapegoating, gaslighting, blaming someone else for your woes instead of accepting they’re part of life or worse, something YOU did. 10/10 she has favorites, and tells them so. The narcissists of the world all have one playbook full of the same tricks. If you know one or two, you see the same behavior over, and over, and over again.
What a piece of human trash she is. The kids will figure it out now that they’re adults. Poor Collin. He figured it out the hard way, through no fault of his own. I wish I could wave a magic wand and give these kids a fresh childhood with parents who don’t suck.
I probably should care, but I don’t. I just hope in the future Colin and Hannah can reconnect with their siblings and maybe heal things with their mom.
Unfortunately with abusive, narcissistic mothers there is no healing, no magic Hallmark moment. The abuse doesn’t stop until they die.
Kate us a horrible person. She hit the kids. Even kept a wooden spoon in her car to be ready. She lost control on her show and hit Emeril Lagasse (twice) hard with a spatula because he wasn’t paying enough attention to her. And that was in front of a camera crew.
Colin was moved into a “behavioral school” and Jon didn’t know where he was. Kate just had to produce four kids during visitation, but wasn’t required to rotate them, so he was cut off from Colin even before he was sent away. When Jon was getting close to finding Colin, Kate moved him again. I think she visited him once in two years? Anyway, Hannah broke free around this point and fought (literally) to stay with Jon. The two of them then fought the system to get access to Colin and get him released. After fighting Jon about Colin’s custody, which was legally expensive, she didn’t bother showing up at the custody hearing. Kate is a monster.
Hannah is still in contact with her siblings and her mom. Colin is not in contact with his mom or siblings besides Hannah.
I’m so glad you brought up these specifics, @Paisley25. Lots of K8 fans blame Jon for the problems in the family and give the mom a free pass.
Her behavior was so problematic in even the early first episodes I watched. KGoss treated so many people rudely, and behaved like an entitled snot all the time. I stopped watching after she tried to grift a free boob job from a plastic surgeon-who suggested she just wear a supportive bra.
I don’t understand how anyone can defend Kate! In the year before he was sent away, Colin was being homeschooled, not sent to visit Jon*, removed from the bedroom he shared with his brothers, and now we’re hearing he was isolated from the family during meal and play time.
*I wonder if this was punishment or if she was overmedicating Colin and didn’t want to explain herself to Jon.
Fortunately, Colin appears to be moving forward. He was active in Jr ROTC and is excited to join the Marines. Team Colin.
@ Paisley25
Her fans think how she treats her kids and other people is ok because she is stressed. It may seem ridiculous, but that’s the excuse I’ve read for years. (she stressed how else is she going to handle the kids?) or. ( It’s not her fault.)
They hated that Jon worked and felt he should make more money, but judge him when he was trying to have side hustles to make more money and judge the type of regular job he had. They thought it was ok for Kate to exploit the kids on TV because money.
I would almost venture that he hasn’t worked through this trauma at all. If anything, it sounds like he overidentifies with his mom’s perspective and isn’t angry enough. I think it’s a mistake to consider it “mature” when children, even adult children, sympathize with their abusive parent. It usually means they’ve lost contact with themselves, their voice, and their rights.
Yeah, no.
Lowest-common-denominator “infotainment” making fun of the drug-addled and poorly-behaved 20 years ago is NOT THE SAME thing as the IBLP, a tax-exempt church which codifies the rampant physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of girls and women, actively obstructs criminal investigations, and openly infiltrates politics and law enforcement at grass roots levels to protect their own abusers and sex criminals.
They’re not the same.
I don’t think the implication was to compare them 1:1, it was saying that both are going to be infuriating. Both institutions (IBLP and the World of Reality TV/Influencers) are systemically set up to prey on the vulnerable – frequently children. That’s the real similarity. Both are completely effed. Both ruin relationships and lives.
My roommate was into the show in college and we would watch it religiously. We hated Kate so much! Jon wasn’t a saint but actually seemed like a decent person and seemed to step up for Colin and Hannah. I think Kate spent all her reality tv money and had to go back to work as a nurse. She is awful. I hope those kids get therapy and find happiness and set some hard
Boundaries with Kate.
It sounds like he was institutionalized for what 2-4 years? Why did they keep him? The only thing I can think of is that Kate didn’t want him at home. I’m glad he finally sent a note to his Dad to get him out of there. The fact that neither Kate nor her attorney showed up for the custody hearing says a lot. She just fought that so Jon wouldn’t get him. She may have also fought it because she didn’t want Collin out and telling people she put him there for no real reason. I thought we were past those days.