‘Jon & Kate Plus 8’ Siblings Were ‘Pitted Against Each Other,’ Collin Gosselin Says
Collin Gosselin is mourning what could have been.
On August 7, the reality TV alum posted a message to his estranged siblings on his TikTok.
“Born to be a team, us against the world,” the former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star wrote on a photo of himself and his seven brothers and sisters.
Collin Gosselin says he and his ‘Jon & Kate Plus 8’ siblings were ‘forced apart’
Collin, 21, and his siblings spent their childhood in the spotlight on their family’s TLC reality series. The show, which premiered in 2007, followed their parents, Jon and Kate Gosselin, as they raised their twin daughters, Mady and Cara, now 24, and their sextuplets: Collin, Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Lead, and Joel.
“Forced to do it alone, and wonder every day what our lives could’ve looked like,” Collin wrote on another photo.
Jon & Kate Plus 8 ended in 2009 amid Jon and Kate’s contentious and high-profile divorce. The family returned to TV (sans Jon) in Kate Plus 8. That show aired six seasons between 2010 and 2017. Collin is now estranged from his mother and most of his siblings. In his latest post, he blamed the family’s reality TV fame for their dysfunctional dynamics, writing in a comment that he was forced “to be an animal in [Kate’s] circus on TV.”
“Forced apart, pitted against each other,” Collin wrote in the caption. “All the fame and money in the world, but what about kids being kids? I will always love them more than anything. The tears I shed behind closed doors, thinking about the memories we could’ve shared. I love you guys…”
“Maybe some day we can all be together again,” his dad Jon commented on the TikTok.
“I hope so, I really do,” Collin replied. “Love ya too.”
Collin accused mom Kate Gosselin of abuse
Last year, Collin publicly accused his estranged mother of abuse in an interview with The Sun. He claimed she turned him into the family scapegoat and isolated him from his siblings, including locking him in a basement “containment room.” Eventually, Kate – who had been awarded custody of all the kids in her divorce – had Collin placed in a residential treatment facility because of his allegedly violent behavior. In 2018, he left the facility after his dad was awarded custody of Collin and his sister Hannah.
In a statement to The Sun, Kate’s lawyer denied Collin’s allegations. He said if his client had done the things she’d been accused of “she would have been investigated by the authorities and prosecuted.”
In 2023, Kate responded to allegations of abuse that her son made in an episode of Vice TV’s Dark Side of the 2000s. In a statement posted on Instagram, she said he had “multiple psychiatric diagnoses. She also claimed his “unpredictable and violent behaviors” continued after he left the treatment facility.
Collin wants to teach his own kids ‘the importance of siblings’
In the comments of his latest TikTok, Collin said that he couldn’t “even begin to understand why a parent would want to separate and pit their kids against each other.” He also confirmed that he and Hannah still have a relationship.
“I just saw her today!” he wrote, adding that he helped her with a car issue. “She’s so funny and I love her … It makes my day whenever I see her.”
Collin made it clear he still feels the pain of his broken relationship with his brothers and sisters. But he also said he was looking to the future and applying the lessons he’s learned when he had a family of his own.
“I can’t wait to have kids and teach them the importance of siblings,” he wrote in the comments. “I tell all my friends who have siblings to always value their siblings and hold each other close.”
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
For more news and exclusive interviews, follow Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s Instagram.
