Kate Gosselin’s Statements About Collin Gosselin ‘Deeply Concerning,’ Jon Gosselin’s Ex-Girlfriend Says
Jon Gosselin’s former girlfriend is weighing in on her ex’s ugly family drama.
Colleen Conrad dated former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star Jon Gosselin from 2014 to 2021. During that time, she got to know Jon’s son, Collin Gosselin, well. After Jon gained custody of Collin in 2018, Colleen stepped in as a surrogate parent to the teen, who was estranged from his birth mother Kate Gosselin.
Colleen’s support was crucial for Collin in the years after he left the behavioral health facility where he’d been institutionalized for several years, he’s said. In a June 2026 Instagram post, he even referred to her as his “real mom” and a woman “who stepped in at the toughest part of my life and CHOSE to be a mother to me.”
Now, Colleen is standing up for Collin. Earlier this month, Collin released his memoir, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood. In it, he details physical and emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother. In social media comments, Kate has pushed back against those claims, suggesting the her son – who is one of a set of sextuplets – is mentally ill.
But according to Colleen, Kate’s claims about her son’s health are simply not true. (Collin has said the last time he spoke to his mother was during a brief visit in 2016, when he was institutionalized.)
“I’ve recently become aware of several deeply concerning statements Kate has made about Collin, and I believe it is important to address them thoughtfully and factually,” Colleen wrote in a lengthy Instagram post on October 26.
Colleen went on to explain that she is a psychiatric nurse practitioner with more than three decades of experience. She had professional experience with psychiatric diagnoses, symptoms, and medications, she explained, adding that she took these issues “very seriously.”
“When Collin came to live with us, I did not observe the symptoms or behaviors I would have expected based on some of the diagnoses he had received, nor did I observe the behaviors that have since been publicly described,” she wrote. “In consultation with his treating physician, we gradually discontinued his medications under medical supervision.”
“Mental health conditions are real, complex, and deserving of compassion and understanding,” Colleen continued. “However, they should never be used to dismiss another person’s lived experience or deflect legitimate questions about the past. I believe these issues deserve to be addressed with honesty, responsibility, and respect for the people involved.”
Meanwhile, Kate has continued to make comments about her son’s behavior and mental health, despite her ex-husband’s pleas for her to “stop” claiming Collin is mentally ill.
In comments on a recent TikTok post, Kate referenced Collin’s alleged “VIOLENT behavior” and argued that there were thousands of pages of medical records supporting her statements.
“[A]ny current psychological evaluation, irrespective of what it says, does NOT ERASE his history of violent behavior with weapons towards people, the killing of animals, his regular use of racial slurs, and his ‘physical behavior’, let’s call it, against female staff while in the facility, just to name a few,” she wrote.
Collin emphatically denies his mother’s latest allegations.
“Let us be absolutely clear: Collin has never used a weapon to harm a family member, nor has he ever harmed or killed an animal in his lifetime,” his representative Adriane Schwartz, told Page Six in a statement. “These allegations are categorically false… To publicly accuse your innocent child of such heinous acts to protect your reputation is beyond reprehensible. Collin has shown extraordinary courage in telling his story, and he will not be intimidated or silenced by these damaging accusations.”
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