Collin Gosselin, formerly of the reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8, has released a memoir detailing alleged physical abuse and isolation by his mother, Kate Gosselin, during his childhood. The 22-year-old shares accounts of being zip-tied, locked in a basement, and institutionalized before gaining custody with his father, Jon.
Collin Gosselin Publishes Memoir About Reality Television Family
The program featured Pennsylvania parents Jon and Kate Gosselin, their twin daughters (Mady and Cara) and their sextuplets (Alexis, Aaden, Joel, Leah, Hannah, and Collin) who were toddlers when the show started in 2007. Kate and Jon announced their divorce in 2009. After the divorce, Kate was granted primary custody of the eight children, and the family’s reality series was later renamed Kate Plus 8, focusing on Kate’s life as a divorced mother raising the twins and sextuplets. Now 22 years old, Collin Gosselin has published a memoir titled In The Shadow Of Eight: Surviving The Reality Of My Childhood
, in which he alleges that the family’s domestic life behind closed doors starkly contrasted with the wholesome image broadcast on television.
Collin spent his adolescence under camera surveillance. In his recent media appearances promoting the book, he states that his resistance to filming and his frequent questions about the environment led to severe repercussions at home, noting that the production pressures and constant presence of crew members made a normal childhood impossible. He has stated that the things seen on TV were lies.
Details of Alleged Abuse and Isolation
In interviews with ABC News, USA Today, and other outlets, Collin describes specific instances of corporal punishment and confinement. He alleges that Kate Gosselin used physical force, including slaps and pulling him by the ear. In one incident, he claims he was dragged across a room. He also wrote about feeling like he was treated differently from his siblings, especially when he started to resist filming their TLC reality show, noting a constant sense that he was one mistake away from losing whatever little ground he had.
According to the memoir, after an attempt to run away from home, Collin was zip-tied at the wrists and ankles by his mother and placed in a basement room that locked from the outside. He writes that the room contained no furniture or toys—just books—and recalls wanting to leave the home because he felt that sense of danger.
Collin Describes Time at Psychiatric Hospital
In 2016, when he was 11 years old, Collin was removed from the family home and admitted to Fairmount Behavioral Health System, a psychiatric hospital. He states that he spent nearly two years at the institution, where he was heavily medicated, receiving little contact from his family and feeling like a zombie. During his stay, he writes that his mother visited him only once when he was 12, an interaction he describes as lasting about 20 minutes. He recalled her telling him, You broke our family,
during that visit, according to Page Six, after which she left the room without saying goodbye and he started to sob.
To secure his release, Collin smuggled a letter written in crayon out of the facility via a friend to his father, Jon Gosselin, with the message reading, I’m counting on you to get me out of here. Daddy, I love you. Save me.
In December 2018, Jon Gosselin was awarded sole legal and physical custody of Collin after removing him from the facility, as well as sister Hannah Gosselin, who also left Kate’s home. Collin has remained estranged from his mother since 2016 and reports having little contact with most of his siblings since he was 15, though Hannah remains close to him. Regarding his other siblings—twins Madelyn and Cara, and sextuplets Alexis, Aaden, Joel, and Leah—he has stated that he doesn’t blame their decision to live private lives, believing their mother fed them stories about him and that they didn’t see a lot of what happened.
Kate Gosselin Denies Abuse Allegations
Kate Gosselin has consistently denied all allegations of abuse.
My son Collin, whom I love with all my heart, has received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years. For the safety of myself, his brothers and sisters and for his own well-being, he was placed in a facility following years of outpatient treatment which proved insufficient for his needs. The decision to admit him was made by emergency room doctors following one of his many attacks/outbursts—this one involving his use of a weapon.
Kate Gosselin, via Instagram statement included in memoir
Representatives for Kate Gosselin and Fairmount Behavioral Health System did not respond to recent requests for comment regarding the memoir’s release.