In 2023, Jon & Kate Plus 8’s Collin Gosselin went public about the alleged child abuse he suffered from his mother, Kate Gosselin. He was scapegoated, locked in the basement and later institutionalized at age 12. Collin’s dad Jon Gosselin won full custody in 2018, when Collin was 14. Collin’s sister, Hannah, has also been living with their dad for years. Hannah backed up her brother’s abuse claims. Their older sister, Mady, publicly defended Kate and accused Collin of abuse and racism, a typical DARVO tactic surely dictated by Kate.
Collin is releasing a tell-all memoir titled “In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood.” According to sources, Kate is panicking that the full scope of her abuse is about to come out. From Page Six:
Kate Gosselin is allegedly freaking out over what her estranged son Collin will reveal in his upcoming memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood.”
“Kate had no idea this book was in the works,” an insider told the Daily Mail on Saturday, noting that the TLC alum, 51, hasn’t spoken to Collin since she institutionalized him as a child.
“She didn’t expect any of this to ever come out. Now she’s spiraling because she knows it’s about to hit the fan,” they continued.
Kate, who shares the 22-year-old with ex-husband Jon Gosselin, has allegedly told people that her son’s accusations are based off of “zero facts.”
However, Collin claims he has “the evidence to back everything up.”
“Kate can’t stop this book from coming out but I have no doubt she wishes she could,” the source insisted.
According to the source, Collin’s sextuplet siblings, Aaden, Joel, Alexis, Hannah and Leah, and twin siblings, Cara and Madelyn, 25, will also be blindsided by his tell-all. The insider claims the brood doesn’t “really know the truth of what happened to him” beyond what Kate has said.
Page Six reached out to a rep for Kate for comment.
The cover of the book, which was revealed Tuesday, features an old photograph of Kate covering Collin’s mouth with her hand. Collin promised to expose “the shocking facade of his picture-perfect family” in the tell-all, which releases this fall.
According to the publisher, fans will hear the “never-before-told story of how [Collin] escaped and found his way back from the dark.”
“This is a reckoning with the dark side of fame: the systems, the entourage, and the institutions that allowed one boy to be erased,” the statement added.
In his book, Collin will touch on “being held down, the basement cell where he was hidden for years and the cocktail of powerful antipsychotics forced on an 11-year-old boy.”
I have no doubt that Kate is freaking out over Collin’s book. Abusers thrive on power and control. They also depend on their victim’s silence. Collin’s memoir takes those things away from Kate. Hannah’s estrangement allegedly began after Kate pulled her arm so hard that she had to go to the hospital. The other children know what went on behind the scenes and this book may be just what they need to speak out too.
Collin’s book doesn’t come out until October 13. I expect Kate to send her other kids after him in the press, just like she sent Mady out to do her dirty work three years ago. It’s all so disgusting. I hope Collin and Hannah are able to find their peace and that the rest of the Gosselin kids are OK and have independence from their mom.
Photos via Instagram and YouTube
She’s a terrible person. And they all should wonder why their mother didn’t get their brother any help, but instead had him institutionalized at 12?! She didn’t and does not want anyone around to show the world how badly she sucks.
She is awful and I hope she burns for all the abuse.
And the other kids are old enough to realize that having one kid locked in the basement, then institutionalized and, finally, written off as if he never existed, is just wrong.
Survivor here. The other thing abusers do is use guilt and threatening to do something like harm themselves if their victims (in this case Kate’s other children) don’t stay with them. It took me twice to get away and stay away from my abuser and both times, he pulled the threat of s*icide with me. I went back the first time because I thought it was my fault if he did that.
“noting that the TLC alum, 51, hasn’t spoken to Collin since she institutionalized him as a child.”
No non abusive parent writes off their 11/12 year old for the rest of their life bc of behavioral/ mental health issues.
Yes, just that fact alone says she’s an abusive POS. The public gaslighting is also easy to see, but heartbreaking.
Actually at this point if you have a TLC family reality show there is undoubtedly abuse happening somewhere.
This. So much this.
This could not have happened to a nicer person. Pass the popcorn. I hope Colin makes a lot of money off this book. I saw an interview with him years ago where he said he couldn’t do the one thing he really wanted to do, which was join the military, because she had him institutionalized. With that history questioning his mental fitness, he’s not allowed to serve. He deserves compensation.
I never watched the show but did see the the Today show interview with two of the daughters not responding to questions. Mom was pissed. On live tv, of course. Oh dear.
Good God I just went and watched that Today video. Those poor girls, I had to keep pausing it, it made me so uncomfortable/sad/ furious all at once. I had a friend that watched that show religiously so I gave it a try very early on and boy she wasn’t hiding how dreadful she was from anyone. I couldn’t believe people tuned in to see her abuse her children, husband and nanny every week. Her behavior was jaw-dropping. TLC has a lot to answer for, I can’t imagine giving her a platform. Between Kate and the Duggers that network has profited off so much trauma. Shame on them.
Hi again, I pulled up the Today interview and I cringed! Mom had quite the blow out though, did she have a team?
This is interesting firstly because of the specific family, and secondly because of the larger issues around using your children as a source of income and attention that it raises.
I didn’t watch the show but I remember it being reported on extensively (especially on DListed) and there seemed to be red flags all over the place: that they had had fertility treatment again after having twins, the toxicity of the parents’ relationship, her makeovers as they got richer and more famous, the need to control the family’s image and keep the money rolling in. I don’t get the impression that either Kate or Jon were temperamentally suited to being famous and I’m positive that TLC didn’t touch to support them or the kids, especially 20 years ago.
What’s also interesting is that these kids were the precursors of the YouTube family bloggers and now they’re adults and able to talk about their experience of having their childhoods exploited for content, attention and, of course, money. There’s already been a trickle of stories about YouTube kids – including abuse and an adopted baby ‘returned’ when his additional needs proved too much for his blogger parents – but I’m fascinated to see of Collin opens the doors to his siblings to talk about their experience. Personally, I hope it does and I hope it pushes forward protections for the younger children who cannot consent to their every activity, from going horse riding to potty training, is currently up on the Internet for an audience of millions.
I miss DListed!
If you guys haven’t checked her out, there’s a journalist following the stories of the kids who have aged out of reality TV and YouTube channels, Fortesa Latifi. She’s incredibly insightful.
And sweet baby Tebow at a drive-through daiquiri stand, do I miss Michael K. I hope he’s living his best life, unburdened by the Empress of Lucite.
I wish I could upvote these D Listed references ad infinitum
Clutching my belly, tears streaming down my face. I never laughed so much as when I read Dlisted.
May his abuela never throw another chancla at him. Michael made me laugh!😆
Oh yes, totally here for the DListed love!
This woman is the epitome of young mothers of the 2010’s and narcissistic sociopaths, imo. I remember her being everywhere and young women eating up everything she was saying and doing. She got extremely far with her abuse because she was glorified for it. I hope Collin finally gets to live a good life and advocate for others because he wasn’t and isn’t the only kid out there that’s been through this. He is one of the first to have receipts, a good support system and a God-given healthy brain to get out of that abuse and come out alive to tell the truth. And I’m excited for him. His siblings might come around but most likely not because Kate will never take accountability for what she did to him. She finally got her nails in her now single ‘security guard’ of however many years. What a sorry excuse for a mother and a human being. I hope she has a come to Jesus moment before it’s too late because that’s 8 souls she messed with, not just one.
Is that why moms are so mean to each other online? I became a mom in 2021 and learned the hard way not to ask or discuss anything about my child online. These women need therapy.
Funny thing about abusing kids, they do eventually grow up and have a voice. Soo….how can you play surprised when it does???
Burn it all down, kid.
Good. Maybe at this age, the other children have reached financial independence and will be less likely to let that awful woman dictate their public responses to him. She’s truly abhorrent.
I watched them since their first appearance on TLC, and it was clear once the cameras were following their lives Kate was unhinged. As her fame and sextuplets grew the crazier she got. I knew this wasn’t going to end well.
She was unhinged I can’t imagine off camera. She never enjoyed all those wonderful babies. I hope all the kids can reconnect with each other moving forward.
I still remember reading about the time he got flu and she made him sleep on the laundry room floor “so he wouldn’t make a mess”. She is vicious to the extreme.
Holy ozempic face, Batman.