Jon & Kate Plus Eight: Collin Gosselin to Write Tell All Book About his Mother

 

Years ago I used to watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC.  She was the epitome of a "Karen", hard edge hairdo and all. I watched the earlier seasons but got burned out because Kate triggered me too much. She definitely fit the bill as a critical "everything has to perfect" would be narcissistic mother. She was too mean to watch on TV. Her personality reminded me too much of my mother's-everyone was lazy and life was a constant litany of bitching about everyone not doing enough. She was a rich woman from the show, but she was always angry, mean and nasty. 

Jon had faults but I got tired of her harping on him too. Nothing that man ever did was good enough. She was always yelling and bossing everyone around. Later some news came through when she labeled Collin mentally ill and got him put in a mental health center. You'll see the details on these videos about this. Maybe as the scapegoated child, she singled him out and made him the "identified patient". Many scapegoats have been threatened with psych ward stays or faced into the psych ward by narcissistic parents. They will be called crazy or deemed the problem. Their reputation will be ruined in the eyes of others. This happened to me as I wrote about this in my older article. "You're Crazy!" When the Scapegoat is Labeled Insane" Did the same happen to him but worse leading to being put away in a psych ward? It looks like it!

One event I do remember is when Collin tried to join the Marines and he was at bootcamp and very near graduation and Kate Gosselin came out exposing all these mental health diagnoses and the fact he was put away at a "behavioral center" and he was kicked out of the Marines due to this.  Was that sabotage on the side of Kate? The timing sure seems suspect.

 I am glad Jon was not a owned man that kept enabling and broke away himself. They had some problems, but Collin was able to move in with him and so did Hannah. Jon had faults but at least he tried to help his son. I wondered about the news during the time of the divorce that seemed to label him lazy and irresponsible, he seems like he was trying to get work to me. 

Many of us with two narcissistic parents often wish there had been someone in the corner to bat for us. I have noticed the typical narcissistic interplays between Collin and the siblings, you can tell Kate has possibly indoctrinated some of them as golden children, flying monkeys and enablers. Narcissistic parents always destroy sibling relationships. Hannah moved out to live with Jon too but later it seems got reconnected to Kate which "hurt" Colin. Maybe that's more bystander stuff there, I don't know. It does seem from another article this is the one sibling Collin still has a relationship with. 

I notice in this article too, that he has been no contact with his other siblings for 5-6 years. They could remain afraid of or manipulated by Kate or perhaps are her golden children as well. Most of us ex-scapegoats can relate to this as many of us have siblings we are no contact with, as they are controlled, manipulated or golden children/flying monkeys with the narcissists.

Collin is coming out with a book about his childhood, exploitation and dealing with his mother. I hope his book makes a lot of money. The book is titled "In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood" and is due to release in October 2026. I hope he has learned about NPD, and ACON issues and how abusive people can destroy an entire family and ruin people's lives. It is sad how many kids coming out of TLC families are exposing abuse. I always thought the mother Kate, wanted fame first and the kids were used as a vehicle to make it happen. 

Where Are Jon and Kate Gosselin’s 8 Kids Now?

What Happened Between Kate Gosselin and Her Son Collin? Inside Their Yearslong Estrangement