While reading through the tabloids wondering what to report about the Kate and Jon Gosselin custody battle and general mess that is their shattered family life/career/exploited kids, I came upon an inset article in US Weekly that sums it all up nicely: “Which Gosselin is the Worst Parent?” Or, as Kaiser says, “team no one.” Here’s US’ summary:
Which Gosselin is a worse parent?
Days on Duty:
Despite saying she’d be gone three days a week for DWTS, Kate was recently home only two of 12 days.
Jon was gone was two months while partying with girlfriend Morgan Christie in Park City, Utah.Playtime with the Kids:
Kate claims to despite the paparazzi. She waited, however, for photogs to show before she brought the kids out for a picture-perfect Easter egg hunt.Good-time dad Jon makes sure to play with the kids in front of the house – all the better for photographers to snap away at his scooter-riding cuties!
Post-divorce romance
Kate swears she’s single! Yet she and bodyguard Steve Neild always request adjoining hotel rooms.Jon, dumped by heiress Christie in March, has racked up four flings since the 2009 split.
[From US Weekly, print edition, April 26, 2010]
Jon definitely earns the title in the “post-divorce romances” category, but you could add some more headers in there for “responds to the kids’ needs,” and “disciplinary measures” and Kate would win worst parent for those.
Meanwhile Star paints Jon as the wronged party who is being denied access to his children while Kate ignores them for his career. In Touch claims that Jon is filing for full custody of the children just so he can get more media attention. Here are some choice quotes from each:
Star: Jon is being wronged
“Unlike Kate, who rules with an iron fist, Jon is laid back,” an insider tells Star. “The house is more relaxed when he’s in charge, and the kids love it.”But Jon is allowed to see the children only during his court-ordered visitations since Kate would rather leave the kids with nannies while she’s away. So they talk to their father using Skype… and “it breaks Jon’s heart” when he hears what they say.
“The kids go into their rooms, turn on the Skype, and cry and complain to Jon, saying, ‘Mommy’s not around, we’re with the nanny again,'” a close friend of Jon’s tells Star. “Or they’ll say, ‘Mommy’s in the basement again,’ practicing for DWTS. Or ‘We miss you. When you’re here, you’re always with us,’ meaning he’s not handing them off to the nanny.”
In Touch: Kate is being wronged
[Jon’s] antics [filing for full custody] seem to be motivated by jealousy, not parental concern. “Jon asking for full custody is a joke. He couldn’t handle raising eight kids by himself,” says a source. “He wants to steal Kate’s thunder, and playing nice doesn’t make headlines, so he’s acting up.”
[From print editions of Star and In Touch, April 26, 2010]
Again, team no one, or team kids would be a better way to frame it. Hell, I don’t even like Aunt Jodi. Also, how much do you want to bet that Star’s source is Jon and In Touch’s source is Kate? They’re so busy focusing on how to play the media and bad mouth the other one that they’re not there for their kids, physically or emotionally.
Kate Gosselin is shown on 3/10/10. Jon is shown on 2/10/10. Credit: Fame Pictures
I just hope these kids have one or two really nice, loving nannies so they have someone they can depend on. =(
can anyone please tell me why kate gosselin is known as a bad mother/person? I think i missed a whole chunk of headlines and stories when they were getting a divorce, etc.. i didnt even watch their show so i have absolutely no idea whats going on. thanks
That’s like a game of would you rather, where both choices are equally horrible.
From what we can see, I think they’re both terrible, and have put their own egos and wants in front of what’s best for their kids. Team no one.
Good luck, kids.
Lucy2, you are so right. But I’m going to go with Team Nanny. Good luck with your future therapy kids.
Ugh that last picture of kate makes me want to vom. You can see it all in the eyes.
p.s. she actually thinks she’s pretty good-looking, huh? You can tell she really think she’s alright. ::sigh:::
@ hellokitty:
The reason Kate was cast as the “bad parent” is because she was the disciplinarian, and she talked down to Jon on the show. Once the marriage ended, however, Jon’s true colours came out and he was revealed to be a mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging cheater who couldn’t do anything without someone telling him what to do. Thus, no surprise Kate talked down to him, since he behaved like her 9th child. Meanwhile, while Jon went off on vacations and to parties in France and the Hamptons and Vegas, merrily banging any willing skank he came across, Kate was working her butt off and spending time with the kids. Since Jon forbade TLC from filming “his” children, he hasn’t had a job, and he’s been sued by TLC, his former attorneys, and is facing a lawsuit by ex-girlfriend Hailey Glassman (who also happens to be the daughter of the plastic surgeon who gave Kate her tummy-tuck). As a result of filming and the show being cancelled, as well as Jon’s inability to pay child support, Kate has had to do appearances and has been promoting her book and her performances on DWTS.
Jon filed for custody after Kate refused to allow him to live in the guest house on the property (which was awarded to her in the divorce), since his girlfriend Morgan kicked him to the curb and since he was living in her parents’ house, they kicked him out. It’s a spiteful thing to do, since he didn’t seem to care about the welfare of the children while he’s been off doing whatever the hell he’s wanted to for over the last year. He also thinks he’ll have custody of the money (and money making abilities) if he has custody of kids, as well as collecting child support from Kate. He disgusts me.
Yeah, at this point they both pretty much suck.
the two parents need to get back together. He doesn’t mind staying at home and raising the kids and she doesn’t mind working. really, they need each other because no one else would have them.
I don’t like Kate, but she wins. At least she shows up, which is more than I can say for their idiot father. I don’t think he even wanted the 6 kids in the first place, and even before the divorce, I think it showed.
Parenting 101: to get any good at it, you have to be there.
I miss the old Kate, like when the tlc show had first started.
They get more personal attention from Jon. He should be allowed to be with them more often. Right now, it’s Team Nannies.
thank you very much bellaluna. that’s a lot of what ive been hearing too :/
Apparently the term “laid back” in reference to Jon is now being used instead of “doesn’t really give a damn and doesn’t have the energy to get his fat ass off the couch and do some laundry or vacuum”.
BOTH SUCK BIG TIME
Judy: not if you believe the many reports that Jon spent more time on his TWO Blackberry’s and glad-handing the paparazzi that used to camp outside their property.
Not to mention: what kind of father decides to move to a NYC apartment rather than finding a place close to his kids?
Jon wins hands down….but Kate is a VERY close second! Poor kids…
As much as I want to remain neutral about this hideous couple, (I never want to have as much hate in my heart for anyone as some people have for Kate!) when I see her face up close like that last pic, I just SHUDDER! She is one, scary eyed woman! We need to let Kate make lots of money off DWTS so that the American taxpayer doesn’t get stuck with her kids therapy bills!
But Bellaluna, what about the awful video of Kate refusing to give her daughter a drink of water right before they went on TV? That, to me, spoke volumes about her willingness to put her own needs in front of her children.
Not that John’s any better. And I think MSat nailed it on the head when she mentioned that he’d moved to NYC. Loser.
MSat: I basically agree w/ you. I lost all respect for Jon and moving to NYC was part of that. But I HATE her. They both suck.
Judy,
He has been basically gone for the last 6-8 months, in Utah and NY etc from GF to GF, how is that ‘being there’ for his kids?
I am not saying that either Kate or John are the best parents in the world. There are millions of working mothers who spend even more time from their kids, while the father doesn’t work… but they aren’t ‘famous’ or ‘infamous’ like these two, why not focus your anger at them? She isn’t living off the public like ‘Octomom’ she is trying to pad her nest while she has the chance. Should she stop? Get a smaller home? Deny her family? Sure she is milking it for what she can, but she has a finite amt of time to do so, so why shouldn’t she get what she can now? I don’t know if she is a good mom or not, I only see the edited version, but I am not there every day and neither are you. I must confess if I had 8 kids and a childlike husband I might be pretty short with people as well: we are not all born with the patience of Job. I would prefer to give her the benefit of the doubt and suspect that while she is not June Cleaver she isn’t a horrible person, sort of like most mothers/fathers are; they do their best but aren’t likely to win parenting awards for their actions.
TaylorB, my opinion of Kate is based on reading everything available, watching the show, following her since the show was cancelled, etc., and I’m not going to try to validate my opinion in this short space. I think Kate is pretty and loves her kids but that they are not her first priority, and those are the only two compliments I can muster. She’s completely narcissistic IMO. I don’t especially care for Jon, either. You’re entitled to your opinion, just as I am, and I wouldn’t say that either of us is completely right or wrong. I respect intelligent people and their opinions, regardless of whether or not I agree with them.
Totally Jon. He insists on being a child himself.
They are both equally bad. Also, what do you guys expect Jon to do? He can’t see his kids anyway. You all keep calling him a cheater when it was openly reported that they were actually separated romantically during the show. That was their personal choice.
Also, its not Jon’s fault that Kate is money hungry and only had those children to try and get media attention.
Kate is not a good mother in my opinion. She doesn’t love her children, she loves the money they give her so that she can live such a hollywood lifestyle. If she gave any crap about their lives she would stop this media circus and stay home. She can afford to. She just wants more money.
Is equal an option? They’ve earned a place in each other’s lives.
If they can’t work through it as adults, they aren’t.
Jon.
Kate for years has put her “Career” first, Jon was the one at home with the kids for 2 years while she was off with her bodyguard signing books she did not write. I watched the show from the beginningweeing her snarkiness escalate with her makeover and book tours. Pretty soon the show became about her complaining into the camera that only she knew how to do everything right and no longer about the kids.
I stopped watching long before the marriage imploded because of Kate and her venomous tirades. Jon has made mistakes since they split but was and is by far the better hands on loving parent. She is a characature of what she thinks America wants to see and is a disgusting excuse for a mother.
Why does the hair look like so much plastique? Is it too much product or a wig?
Whoever wrote that US Weekly headline needs a grammar lesson. The comparative form is used for two, the superlative for three or more. The grammatically correct but still stupid question is “Which parent is worse?”
Judy (I hope that is your name, my ‘puter puts it over the post # so it is hard to read, mea culpa…)
Thanks you rock, I guess we are bound to agree to disagree on certain points, but I suspect we both agree on the most important one that those kids get the best they can from their parents and don’t turn into little LiLos… I will say though Jon and Kate are not Ward and June at least they are better than Dina and Michael… so far.
There are no winners in this competition; only losers. I feel for those kids, who’ve been thrown into an equation they should have never been a part of.
I agree with the comments about Kate’s eyes: cold, dead, calculating, selfish, mean, vain–it’s all there.
@ wif,
I rarely watched the show, but I did love the clips on the Soup! However, my daughter had a bladder that didn’t grow with her. It’s a legitimate medical problem, and caused numerous heartaches for both her and me for YEARS. Needless to say, I knew where every public restroom in the county was located and how long it took to run to it from the parking lot with her in tow. Maybe Kate’s daughter had that problem. Maybe she’d already said “OK, if you need a drink, now’s the time, because you aren’t getting one later.” We don’t know because we only see what they want us to see. I knew people whose parents wouldn’t let them drink after 5:00 p.m. because they didn’t want them to wet the bed. Now, they didn’t make Pull-Ups back then, but I bet they’d be pretty expensive for 6 kids, don’t you think?
Just remember that “reality show” only means there is no script written by screenwriters and edited by editors who require expensive salaries; it doesn’t mean that is the sole reality of a situation. It’s only the reality they want you to see.
Why does anyone even care about these two?
I can imagine both parents love those kids to death but this whole public image thing that the parents are playing on is going to damage both the parents and the kids’ lives in the long run. I understand Kate’s need for money for the kids, but keeping them out of the public eye for a while might be a better option.
Well #6, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. Jon does pay every month. tlc made sure of that. how do you know she refused him to stay in the garage apt.?
It’s a tie.
@ anon:
The only way TLC made Jon pay was by holding him accountable for his shitty behaviour and not allowing him to do paid appearances whenever & wherever he wanted. Since he doesn’t have a job, it’d be awful hard for him to pay child support in cash, now wouldn’t it? It’s well published that Kate refused to allow Jon to stay in the guest house on the property, just as his skanky escapades are documented by the paps & press. Do your research prior to claiming others don’t know what they’re talking about, please.
yikes – kate looks like she could freeze water in that bottom photo.
Snapdragon, I agree. The REAL Kate. Google or go to RadarOnline (her shrine) to see a video of her arriving for her booksigning last night with her lover, I mean bodyguard.
Radar has already scraped their first version of the story–that they noticed diva-ish behavior on the part of Kate. Apparently, hardly anyone showed up for the signing. TLC and Kate are in bed with Radar–I think it should be investigated.
I agree with Oxa, who sums up the situation quite precisely.
Kate is conniving, wily, spiteful, scheming…and more. Jon is not; it’s too bad he doesn’t share these qualities so that he could outfox Kate. That is what she is all about, and the media enables, furthers and anoints her. Disgusting. There otta be a law.
I see no violation in the words I wrote.
They’re both not great parents but Jon wins this award hands down. He is so jealous of Kate’s financial gains and media opps that it’s pathetic.
If he were a better parent, he would try to work something out with his ex-wife out of the media glare to arrange the best possible situation for jointly raising the kids for their sake. He is only seeking sole custody to gain more of Kate’s money because he is broke himself. How much does he actually care about his kids? It’s scary to think how his kids would turn out if he had sole custody of them.
Kate is no saint either but at least she’s smart enough to realize that the media is growing tired of seeing her every day and her opportunities to make money are getting limited so she’s doing what she can right now to make the most money for her family. Sure, she could go back to nursing but why do that when she can make 10 times the salary doing what she’s doing now, thus actually increasing the time that she may get to spend with the kids?
Team kids 100%.