A week after Jon Gosselin criticized his ex-wife Kate Gosselin for not returning to work as a registered nurse during the current C0VID-19 pandemic, he’s now opening up about how Kate’s previous parenting decisions have affected one of their eight kids.
In a recent interview with The Sun, Jon says that Kate’s decision to send their now-15-year-old son Collin to a special needs institution at the age of 11 is something Collin will “always” be emotionally “affected” by, despite Collin now being in Jon’s custody.
“I think that will always affect him, but that’s something he’s going to have to deal with,” Jon said. “Those are things that he will have to move on from now, moving forward. The past is the past, but he will work through those issues through therapy. And these are questions he’s going to have to answer himself, maybe through interviews, through the public or privately.”
Last year, Jon revealed that Kate sent Collin to the institution— where he lived for three years— without his permission. After allegedly receiving a letter from Collin inside the facility begging for help, Jon took steps to remove Collin from the institution and gain custody from Kate.
Going forward, Jon said he will leave it up to Collin to decide what kind of relationship he wants to have with his mom “and how he wants to handle interacting” with her. He stated that, currently, Kate and Collin do not have any communication, and Collin is in therapy.
“It would be different if he was like 8, 9, 10 years old in how that interaction and growth would have to be, but since he’s going to be 16 and in two years will be 18, I think it’s important that he decide for himself how he’s going to move past it and move forward into adulthood.
“I’m going to leave it up to him and his therapist and his team on how he wants to handle his issues,” Jon added later, stating that it’s up to Collin to decide if he and when he forgives Kate for what she did.
As The Ashley previously told you, Jon also has custody of Hannah, one of the other sextuplets he and Kate share. Currently, Jon said Kate doesn’t speak to either of the children in his custody, nor does Jon speak to Leah, Alexis, Joel and Aaden — the sextuplets in Kate’s custody. (Jon and Kate also share 19-year-old twins Mady and Cara, who have stated that they currently have no relationship with Jon.)
“[My] door is always open to them,” Jon said of his estranged children. “I haven’t talked to my other kids that live with Kate at all … it’s up to them to reach out.”
Last week, Jon revealed to The Sun that the long custody battle between him and Kate is finally over, and each of their children are allowed to decide which parent they want to live with.
“It’s like chickens, it’s free range now,” Jon said. “You can do whatever you want and there’s nothing we could say…If Hannah just said, ‘I’m going to go live with mom’, there’s nothing that I could say. I could ask her why, but I can’t physically stop her.”
Jon stated that a guardian ad litem is in charge of handling the family’s custody issues, so if one of the Gosselin kids decided to switch households and live with their other parents, the guardian ad litem would help facilitate that.
“Guardian would say, ‘Okay.’ And she would just report to the judge ‘Hannah’s going to live with mom’ and that’s it. And vice versa,” Jon said.
Jon said, while Collin and Hannah are active in therapy, though they have not integrated their other siblings into any sessions.
“My two go to therapy and stuff like that and we’re working through those kinds of things, but we haven’t had an integrated therapy between the other four, the twins and then my two.”
(Photos:TLC; Instagram; The Ashley)
23 Responses
Why doesn’t Jon go stock groceries or carry them out for someone who can’t do it themselves? Jon, if he really wants to, can find a way to get out there and work the front lines,too. He’s pretty selfish, right? Jon should just shut the hell up. Kate’s not the one still keeping this in the public attention, Jon is. He’s hungry for attention. And apparently will never put his kids first. His older girls said he will never have a relationship with them while he keeps talking to the media. See where his real interests are?
Jon and Kate are both toxic and disgusting excuses for parents. How could you send one of your children away to an institution and not visit them?! What is wrong with you! The icing on the cake was when she didn’t even show up to the court hearing some months back. She really doesn’t give a shit about Colin and that breaks my heart for him.
Jon is so obsessed with Kate, it’s kind of creepy. And no, Jon, YOU are the parent and YOU need to be the one reaching out. They are still children and deserve to see their dad and their other two siblings.
I hate seeing divided families. It breaks my heart so much.
Jon is always bashing Kate. He needs to stop and move on. Hes obsessed with her. It’s none of his business now what she does or doesnt do job wise Stop!
He said Kate was exploiting the kids by having them on reality tv. Probably true. But he’s doing the same. He needs to stop.
How can these people live with themselves?
All of them. Kate, Jon and that facility.
I would never place my child in a facility that has a no contact rule “because it is better”. Absolutely no way, that’s not healthy and helping in the long run. Colin wasn’t there because his nose was itching, there was and are real issues, otherwise there is no way they could have kept him there so long. Kate must have done the right thing to send him there when he needed to be there for 3 years.
Colin and Jon just saw new opportunities when Colin became older and had more legal rights.
I hope Colin will be okay and that his dad giving him his way won’t affect the rest of his life. Jon better stay on his toes.
I don’t understand how both parents can live without their kids.
I would make so much more effort to contact my child when my child was underage and with the other parent or in a facility. I don’t care when and where I have to leave letters, notes or whatever until they see I’m serious and that I really want them.
All of the adults have a lot to answer for.
And Mr “I don’t want my kids to film because of their precious privacy” should stop blabbing to the press about their lives. He now seriously says that Colin has to figure things out with interviews and other public information?
He is fishing for a reality in other words. Probably one of the reasons why he wanted to have ‘my two kids’.
I’m not a fan of Kate or John but at this point Jon needs to shut up. It’s bad enough the info we do know about these circumstances but why blasts your kids issues for paid interviews. Colin deserves privacy and if he was to discuss what happened to him that’s his choice Jon’s. Getting paid to exploit your child’s issues now make you look just as bad as the other parent who did the same thing. Argh so tired of these too!
I’m sure Collin will be affected for the rest of his life that he was abused by his mother and sent away to God knows where for three years. I also think he is old enough to wonder why his own father couldn’t come get him for those three years. The rest of the world knew she sent him away because she did interviews about it! That will bother Collin too! And, Jon needs to remember that he is supposed to be a father to all 8 children not just the 2 he chooses. You don’t get a pat on the back for that!
Jon- it’s not up to your kids to reach out. It’s up to you. You’re the adult. They have been abandoned by you…because you refuse to reach out. My father did the same thing…and we haven’t spoken in over 30 years
However you feel about your ex, unless they are dangerous, you should not let it affect their relationship with their other parent. I detest my ex for many reasons, but my children have a relationship with him. It’s so sad that the siblings seemingly don’t see each other. That’s even more heartbreaking. Even if some of the children don’t want to see a specific parent, kate and jon should facilitate time for all the siblings to spend together. They are old enough to meet up, so surely they could be dropped off some here, even if a family friend stays too. It makes me so sad xxx
Anyone else bothered by the way he calls them “my two”? Aren’t they all yours?
Jon – ur the adult here, REACH OUT TO UR DAMN KIDS!
She should be in bloody jail for child abuse! Poor kid!
I grew up in foster care & orphanages, no child should ever be in an institution unnecessarily! Bitch coulda sent him to his daddy right at the start, he’s not some puppy u just give away!!
And now Jon needs to raise his children, get on with his new life and leave Kate the hell alone. He’s starting to sound worse than her
Okay…. we all have it clear so would you just let it go. I was surprised to find out Kate had a nursing license. I remember hearing her crying they were all going to starve to death if TLC didn’t do something. It doesn’t change my opinion of her at all. She is an attention whore. TLC has raised her children and supported her and her family from jump street.
I have never seen the show, but they both sound like terrible parents… is one actually better than the other? How could you be so disconnected from your son that you didn’t know he was in an institution for 3 years??? That makes no sense.
Also i find it to be incredibly disgusting that the two of them are using their kids as a bargaining chip. these poor kids are probably going to be so messed up for life once they realize how awful both their parents have been. they have used their children for clout and its honestly very sad. i wish people would stop giving jon the attention he’s seeking so he would go away.
ok im done ranting about this low life (:
Kate is definitely not perfect- she is a total control freak (which is kind of the only way to get anything done with a large number of kids), but I don’t think she stuck her kid in that place to get rid of him. It seems like he was getting suspended from school and having behavioral issues and she decided to send him to that school/facility to help him because it’s not easy to give one kid the attention they need when you have 8 of them and this place could. . I don’t think it was good for him to be away from his siblings, but I’m betting she didn’t really know what to do; when one kid is disrupting life and making it stressful for everyone, it’s tough to balance helping the troubled one while keeping life somewhat normal for everyone else. It’s no shock that Collin wants to be anywhere than that place, and I’m a bit surprised that all the kids don’t want to be with dad than with their mom, who is known to be strict and a big fan of structure. They are teenagers, and their dad wasn’t a fan of discipline even when they were little.he is likely letting them do whatever they want. I’m curious how long it’s going to last- it’s one thing to have no rules if kids visit once in a while, but it makes it tough to get anything done with no rules and teenagers…
It may have started that way, but she never visited him. Not even on his birthday
If I remember right, he was a toddler and she wrote in some book about his “utter defiance” and “lack of discipline”. I have always had the feeling that Kate was physically, emotionally, and mentally abusive to all of the kids at all ages. She was emotionally and mentally abusive to all of them and Jon in just about every episode. Her own brother and his wife did interviews when the kids were very young concerned about their safety. Kate did a lot of interviews alluding that Collins “behavioral issues” were on “the spectrum”. I assume she meant the autism spectrum. Personally, I think Collin just didn’t take her abuse at a certain point. Maybe he didn’t cry when she wanted him to, or jump when she screamed. That’s kind of how it was with me, you get to a point where you just won’t give your abuser the pleasure of seeing any pain and that really pisses them off!
I agree with both of you that Kate definitely didn’t do right by Collin (or her other kids who didn’t get to see their sibling for years). I do think she tried to forcefully make him comply with her idea of what he should be and it caused him harm, but I don’t think the school placement was done with malice- just total ignorance to how to help him. There are plenty of schools that are designed for kids with behavioral issues or ASD needs that ALSO allow kids to go home to their family at night. Hopefully the place they sent him to at least helped him in some ways- maybe being away from his mother was really better for him, though he should never have been blocked from his siblings or father. I really hope that the kids begin to heal their relationships between each other, and at least now they can decide where they want to live (although I wonder if Kate has told the ones that she has that they will only have access to their money if they stay with her)
jon is no different then andrew glennon, a clout chaser. get off your high horse buddy, nobody cares about how much you hate kate, go crawl back under the rock you came from.
Jon, For someone that doesn’t want his kids on TLC ,he sure does seem to talk about them and sell their stories. She has her issues but something is really off with him.
he wants to stay relevant, but the truth is noooooobody cares about him or kate at this point.