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Those of us who watched the Jon & Kate Plus 8 crisis unfold in real time are unsurprised by Collin Gosselin’s very measured public statements about how his mom scapegoated him and sent him away. It was also predictable that his sister, Mady, came out in defense of their mom to say that it was Collin who was abusive. Jon Gosselin has since defended his son by saying that Mady hasn’t even seen Collin since he was in the sixth grade. The only thing that surprised me was how careful and circumspect Collin was when describing the hell he went through. He just graduated from high school and he sounds like a 30-something man who has been able to put his abusive childhood behind him after a lot of therapy. I truly hope that’s the case for him.
Now Kate Gosselin is responding to Collin’s interview, which aired on the Dark Side of the 2000s documentary. She is of course smearing Collin and claiming he’s violent. This is classic DARVO and it’s despicable.
Following accusations made by Kate’s ex-husband Jon Gosselin and two of the pair’s sextuplets — Collin and Hannah — in Vice TV’s Dark Side of the 2000s, one of the exes’ eldest children Mady called out her estranged brother, in particular, for his previous actions and the claims he made on the show. Now, Kate, 48, is standing by daughter Mady’s initial statement while also shedding light on her alleged past dealings with Collin.
“I have never wanted to have to do this, but I feel I have been backed into a corner and left with no choice. Although it saddens me to do so, I need to speak out now,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. “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.
Fast forward to the present day, and following Jon’s removal of Collin from treatment, my son’s unpredictable and violent behavior has sadly continued regularly towards Jon, Hannah and others around him.
Collin’s distorted perception of reality is one of the many issues that he has always struggled with. As many people who have family members grappling with mental health issues can attest, it is rarely and sadly surprising when complete fabrications occur, and this is just another heartbreaking facet of this fight. All parent-child relationships are complex, but when mental illness is involved, it is incredibly complicated and painful, let alone easy for others on the outside to understand.
All measures that were taken in our home were at the explicit recommendation of his pediatric psychiatrist and/or his team of specialists and were put into place to safeguard every member of our family, our friends as well as our family pets.
Unfortunately, I believe Collin remains a very troubled young man who continues to need a lot of help. His brothers and sisters and I have not been directly involved in his life due to his history of unpredictable behavior and violent tendencies towards us. What his sister Mady posted on social media recently is completely accurate and I deeply appreciate her bravery in doing so.
This is all I have to say on the matter and I will not be discussing this subject any further at this time.”
Jon and Collin both have acknowledged in the past that Collin was hospitalized at age 12. In their episode of Vice TV’s Dark Side of the 2000s, Jon said he spent $1 million to get Collin out of treatment. He also previously told the Daily Mail in 2019 that Collin had no known diagnosed medical condition at that time other than common ADHD.
Jon, meanwhile, claimed in the Vice TV program that a doctor said there’s “no diagnosis yet” and that they’re “gonna figure that out…”
Kate has zero sympathy for Collin and didn’t even pay lip service to the fact that she could have done things better. She doesn’t say she wants a relationship with him, that she misses him or that she’s glad that he’s doing OK and wishes him the best. How does Kate even know that Collin’s “unpredictable and violent behavior has sadly continued regularly towards Jon, Hannah and others around him“? She admits in this same statement that she’s not “directly involved in his life.”
This woman is a narcissist who turned her children against their father and against each other. I’m glad that Hannah and Collin got out and got help from their dad and that the rest of these kids are now old enough to leave. This sad story shows how children in entertainment, especially reality shows, need more protections. They cannot consent to having their childhoods broadcasted and it’s clear that so many of their parents do not have their best interests in mind. Kate Gosselin abused her kids, picked one to make an example of to his siblings and sent him away for acting out. She didn’t even inform Collin’s dad that he had been institutionalized. When Collin revealed just a small fraction of what he went through, Kate attacked him and blamed him for it. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so cruel.
photos credit Getty and Will Wade Jr., PacificCoastNews.com/Avalon.red
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