After years of being estranged from the majority of his eight children, Jon Gosselin is hopeful that the family “will start to heal” now that he and ex-wife Kate Gosselin are no longer feuding in court.
Jon’s relationship with six of his children has been strained for years, but he recently told The Sun that he believes things will change now that his children are able to make decisions for themselves.
As The Ashley previously told you, Collin and Hannah– two of Jon and Kate’s 18-year-old sextuplets– have been in Jon’s custody since 2018. Meanwhile, the other sextuplets have remained in Kate’s custody; the couple’s 22-year-old twins Mady and Cara were also in Kate’s custody before going off to college when they were 18.
“Before, the kids living with Kate were under her thumb but now they are adults and going off to college or the military or whatever, I don’t have as much fear about reaching out to them,” Jon told The Sun. “There was so much angst between Kate and I, and my kids are pleasers, they wanted to please their mom.”
Jon said one of the reasons he didn’t reach out to his estranged kids in the past was because he “didn’t want to put them in an awkward position” because he claims Kate didn’t want them talking to him. He also accused his ex of “definitely” doing parental alienation–- something he claims he never did.
“My door has always been open to them and I hope now they are adults they may want to reach out,” he said.
After 14 years of battling it out in court over custody of their children, Jon and Kate recently signed termination agreements to end their remaining two open court cases. Jon said he is “in a pretty euphoric place” now that the years-long legal fight is finally over.
“Kate owed me some arrears but I have forgiven them, because I just want to be done with it … ,” he said. “It’s finally over, I don’t have to deal with her, with court hearings, lawyers– it’s done. The thing in these cases is that there’s no winning. The only winners are the lawyers.
“The kids always lose out–- it’s not a soccer match, there’s never a winner,” he added.
Jon’s comments about a possible reconciliation with his children come a few months after Kate said she was open to making things right with her estranged son Collin. As you may recall, Kate made claims years ago that Collin had “special needs” and even had her son institutionalized in 2016 for alleged “behavioral issues.” (Jon eventually removed Collin from the institution and got full custody of him.)
During an interview in November, Collin called his mom’s decision “unfortunate,” but said he hoped his mom would one day recognize the mistake she made.
“I hope that, if we meet again one day, she would understand that’s not the case,” he said, reiterating that he shouldn’t have been at a facility for children with special needs.
While Kate’s pride is reportedly what has prevented her from making things right with Collin, the mom of eight claims to “think about her children every day.”
As for Jon, now that the lengthy custody battle is behind him, he plans to do more DJing, something he said began as a hobby “but now it’s become my passion.”
“Now there’s no custody and no child support because the kids are adults and the cases are all closed,” he said. “It’s a weird feeling. I never really planned for it.”
(Photos: TLC; Instagram)
7 Responses
Jon definitely has his flaws, but Kate is an evil b!tch. What she did to Collin was sickening
Jon, stop talking about your adult children’s private issues.
He goes on about parental alienation, yet made the decision to not contact the children. That is not alienation, that’s just giving up.
I don’t doubt that Kate is equally as awful, but she can’t take the full blame.
Both these deadbeats are so childish and manipulative that they don’t even try to contact their child that “choose the other side”.
So John probably lost in court and she doesn’t owe him money.
He gaslights his son saying he did not need the help his mother made sure he received. Kate got him care that got him to the point where Jon only has to get physical with him to keep things safe every now and then. That’s parent alienation.
Their battle isn’t over, by far, looking at Jon’s interview/ last attempt to blame everything on her while he isn’t innocent either, far from it.
Im sure this interview will help his children’s views on him. They’re running to the phone.
His ego before contact with his own kids, what a douche.
They may be more willing to talk to Jon once he stops running to the media and publicly disparaging their mom (and I’m no Kate fan). Just a thought….
it has always baffled me how people always took her side! she emasculated Jon on camera every episode! she alienated her children from their father – a despicable thing to do and so harmful to them forever!!! he spiraled; I would have too. He had no one to help or be on his side and she continued putting her kids on camera and dictating their every move–such a sad thing to watch. Those kids will never believe Jon loved them because she spent their entire lives telling them he was a bad dad–I hope I am wrong and they see him for who he is, just a Dad and a man who loves them.
Here’s an idea, Jon, STOP TALKING ABOUT THEM TO THE PRESS! That would be a good start to mending fences. These kids were screwed from birth. Both of their parents are nightmares.