Allegations of abuse made on social media by Jon and Kate Gosselin‘s 16-year-old son Collin Gosselin have prompted an investigation by the Berks County Children & Youth Services in Pennsylvania. They have also spurred a response from Kate, who is estranged from both Collin and her ex-husband Jon.
While Collin has had a strained relationship with Kate for quite some time, the allegations were actually made against Jon, who has had custody of the teenager since 2018.
Last weekend, Collin posted a disturbing message to Instagram, but quickly yanked it down after only a few moments. Still, the post was noticed by a number of Collin’s followers, who were disturbed by what he wrote.
“My dad is a liar,” Collin wrote on Instagram. “Yesterday he beat me up and thought nothing of it, he punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding. He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor. He is a liar.”
According to Us Weekly, Collin’s allegation is “causing bodily injury to a child through recent act/failure to act: hitting/punching.” However, Jon is not named in the CYS report.
District Attorney John Adams told Us Weekly in a statement that the incident Collin spoke of on social media is “the only incident we are aware of at this point.” He also noted there had been no citation or charges filed as a result.
Kate spoke to the outlet as well, during which she said she did not want her children around Jon, nor did she want to hear any excuses for the alleged abuse.
“You do not punch and kick your children,” she said. “You do not kick a child. I don’t want to hear any excuses from anyone, not from his father, not from local law enforcement, not from court personnel whose job is supposedly to ensure the best interests of my children. There is a child abuse law, PA 23, section 8i states that doing any of the following, regardless of whether it causes injury, is child abuse, and first on that list is kicking. Period.”
As those who have followed the Gosselin family over the years may recall, following Jon and Kate’s 2009 split, Kate was awarded full custody of the couple’s eight children, though both exes were granted shared physical custody. Currently, four of the couple’s sextuplets – Aaden, Leah, Alexis and Joel – remain in Kate’s custody, while Hannah has lived with Jon full-time since 2018. (The couple’s 19-year-old twins, Madelyn and Cara, are currently away at college.)
Jon was awarded sole physical and legal custody of Collin in December 2018. Prior to that ruling, the teen was residing in a residential treatment facility for children with special needs, which Kate had placed him in for a few years for alleged behavioral issues. Kate was a no-show at the custody hearing for Collin..
Jon has continued to tout Collin’s achievements since leaving the treatment facility, as well as speak out against his ex-wife for deciding to send their son there in the first place. Recently, Collin has become more vocal about his post-facility life as well and in May, he even praised his dad’s longtime girlfriend, Colleen Conrad, in a Mother’s Day Instagram post, in which he called her a “mother figure.”
Neither Jon nor Colleen have commented on the abuse allegations, though their followers continue to ask them to comment on Instagram.
Days after posting and yanking the abuse claims, Collin posted a selfie to Instagram, proclaiming that “he’s “doing better than ever.”
“Got a new cut and I’m doing better than ever???? Life is too great to not enjoy! #livelikeitsyourlastday”
He has since turned off comments on the post.
(Photos: Instagram)
13 Responses
This family is a whole ass mess. Good lord..
I hope there’s no truth to this. My gut instinct though leads me to believe Collin was mad at Jon for whatever reason. Collin wrote the post in retaliation and had no idea of the ramifications this would cause. He’s a teenager and possibly a troubled one at that. Kate needs to keep her thirsty mouth shut where Collin is concerned. She basically abandoned him.
Jon’s words are coming back to haunt him! Remember when he took Collin out of the facility Kate put him in, and he talked non-stop to the press about how evil Kate was for locking poor Collin away for no reason. Jon said that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with Collin, he’s not special needs or on any spectrum, he doesn’t have any emotional problems at all, and the only problem he ever had was Kate. Fast forward to now, and Jon’s rep released a statement in response to Collins abuse allegations towards him by saying, and I quote, “Jon is a loving father who has worked hard to ensure that his son gets the support and help he needs.” So it seems Jon was lying when he said originally that Collin was fine and the problem was Kate, since he now says that he’s been working hard to get Collin the support and help he needs, which means that he IS aware that Collin has some pretty serious issues that he’s dealing with!
It’s now been leaked that the fight between Jon and Collin started with Collin becoming furious over something Jon said to him in the car. When they got home, Collin was still enraged and got out the car, grabbed a large heavy bottle of something and threw it at the car and dented it. That enraged Jon, who then got out the car, put Collin in a headlock, punched him in the nose, and then when Collin dropped to the ground, Jon kicked him in the ribs. Collin then called the police, and has since been removed from Jon’s home while the investigation continues! So clearly Collin has trouble controlling his emotions and has serious anger issues. Jon says it’s because of Kate, and yet it’s now shown that, even though he’s nowhere near Kate, Collin still has severe anger issues, and so does Jon!
Kate (and Collins old schools that he kept getting expelled from) have said for years that these anger issues were Collins problems all along. Jon denied it all and said Kate’s the problem. Kate had said she tried everything to help him including finding better schools to home schooling, personal one on one therapy to group therapy, she tried everything that was recommended to her by the professionals and the schools, and sending him to the institution was the last thing she could do that hadn’t been tried yet, even though the professionals had told her to do it years ago. Jon denied all of it and said it was just Kate not wanting him. Now, I’m not saying Kate’s a perfect parent by any means, but it’s now becoming more and more apparent that she was telling the truth about Collins problems and was truly doing her best to get her son the help he clearly needs for the betterment of his future, even if that meant that it would look like she was just dumping him in an institution. That’s actually being a good parent! On the other hand, it’s now also become apparent that Jon only wanted custody of Collin to sell stories about Kate to the media, which have turned out to be lies because, according to his own statement he now makes, he knew all along that Collin needs help for his emotional issues because he now claims that he’s been working hard to get Collin the help he needs! And yet instead of helping him, he physically abuses him because of his own anger problems! I think it’s time for him to publicly apologise and own up to the fact that Kate was telling the truth about Collins needs, and was actually trying to help him learn some ways to manage those problems. Again, Kate’s no saint, but it’s now perfectly clear why their other 6 kids refuse to spend time with Jon! I just hope that Collin can find somewhere he feels safe to work on those issues he has, because he’s still got a full life ahead of him and can still make a happy future for himself, with or without his parents involved in the process.
Sadly I’m not surprised. I’ve never understood the Jon stans. Kate won’t win any personality contests but I think she’s light-years ahead of him in terms of parenting. I hope Colin can get away from his father and that Jon is prosecuted not just a slap on the wrist.
The issue with believing this is…he posted a picture just says later. No bruising, no black eyes, nothing. Someone punched you hard enough for it to cause blood there’s going to be some leftover damage.
That being said I hope this is investigated and that Colin gets the help he needs. No doubt he’s experienced a ton of trauma. Kids often lash out in a lot of ways. I’m not saying Jon is innocent or parent of the year but I would not be surprised if this wasn’t true.
Where are the Jon stans now? I’ve seen straight through that guy’s “I’m a good dad” act ever since he left his family during his Ed Hardy days. Everyone always gave Kate so much shit and were always team Jon, and now look.
I think everyone’s hatred of Kate has made everyone think Jon is a better human and father than he really is.
Maybe now Jon is seeing why kate sent him away hmmm.
Hate to say it, but Collin is the common denominator here…At least Kate sent him away to an institution to get some help and didn’t beat his ass like Jon did.
but do you believe this? this poor kid has been through hell and back and I doubt it is true myself. he was so indoctrinated by his mom there is no telling the damage that has been done. I think he is a teenager reaching out—take it serious, but really I doubt he is abused, and hope it is not true.
I was just thinking the same thing. Like I don’t want to say he’s lying but I don’t really believe this to be true. If anything I think Kate is the abusive parent. Both of them have obviously caused their children major psychological damage and Kate had him locked away at that behavioral facility or whatever it was for years. Who knows how much more damage and resentment that caused him to feel towards his parents. I think he’s just hurt and acting out