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JON Gosselin has praised his son Collin for coming forward about the abuse he allegedly faced at the hands of his mom, and would support him if he ever wanted to speak to her again.
Collin bravely opened up to The U.S. Sun last month as he claimed his mother Kate Gosselin had emotionally and physically abused him.
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He insisted there was a dark side to his childhood when the cameras weren't rolling for the hit 2000s reality show Jon and Kate Plus 8.
In an emotional video interview, he claimed Kate, 49, had zip-tied his arms and legs and locked him in the basement as a child at their family home.
Kate had him admitted to a mental health facility when he was 11 and claimed he had several behavioral and psychiatric conditions.
He even shared private medical records with The U.S. Sun to prove he has no such problems.
Collin's dad Jon had already moved out of the house after he and Kate divorced and he had no custody of his sextuplets; Collin, Hannah, Alexis, Aaden, Leah, and Joel, and twins Mady and Cara.
Following his son's brave interview, Jon said he was proud of him for opening up.
Speaking at the launch of The Unofficial Vanderpump Rules Ultimate Book, Jon said, “I love my son, I support him. I think it’s good for a man to speak up about things that happened and I think it’s closure for him.
"If he wants to rectify things with his mother, I think that’s ok, you know, best of luck and .. I always tell him that, you do you, bro. That’s all that matters."
He’s doing really well, all my kids are doing really well."
Jon Gosselin
Despite everything, Collin, 20, claimed the door is open for a reconciliation with Kate.
He'd also be open to contact with his estranged brothers and sisters: Aaden, Leah, Alexis, and Joel, all 20, and Mady and Cara, both 24.
TLC star Collin Gosselin tells how mom Kate 'zip-tied his arms and legs & locked him in basement'
"So first and foremost, my relationship with my brothers and sisters is of top priority to me," Collin told The U.S. Sun.
"And I think the only way that my mother and I would be able to reconnect and fix our relationship in the future is, if she would just come forward with the truth and all the things that she has kept under wraps.
"And you know the many times that she's tried to soil my name and my father's name. I just would want her to come forward with the truth."
He added, "[But] Yes, that door would be open. 100 percent."
Asked if he'd heard from Kate since the allegations, his dad Jon said, "No. Just her attorney. Whatever, but that’s a whole other subject."
He went on to say Collin was thriving as he's enrolled at Pennsylvania State University and Jon now has an "empty nest".
Jon said, "He’s doing really well, all my kids are doing really well, and from what Hannah told me.
"Let them be adults, live their life and if they wanna put the past behind them, cool."
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He also added that if they want to use their former fame on reality TV to make money down the line like he does with DJing celebrity events, he said he would also support that.
"If you wanna make a career out of this … it’s not too shabby," he laughed.
Collin is doing much better after living with his father, and described his childhood as "rough".
He said, "I definitely went through it a lot as a kid from my mother's end. So it was tough.
"I just remember being isolated from my siblings and constantly taking the fall for her emotions or the tough things going on in her life.
"I just remember being a scapegoat and always taking the brute end of things.
"I was 100% treated differently [than my siblings]. I was isolated and I was taken away from them and I didn't eat dinners with my family."
He enlisted in the Marines to fulfill a lifelong dream of serving his country but it went up in smoke.
In August last year, he was dismissed during his training for "non-disclosure of pre-enlistment history."
It came just a month after his mom - who has had no relationship with him for years - revealed in a post on Instagram that Collin had received "multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years."
Kate Gosselin's 2023 statement about Collin
Kate posted this statement on her Instagram page in July 2023:
"I 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.
"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 behaviors have sadly continued regularly toward 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 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, and certainly not easy for others on the outside to understand. All measures that were taken in our home were at the explicit recommendations 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 sister and I have not been directly involved in his life due to his history of unpredictable behavior and violent tendencies toward 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 further at this time."
She alleged he had been admitted to a facility following an attack involving a "weapon" and described him as "unpredictable and violent," which he strongly denies.
"My dream of becoming a US Marine was crushed and it was taken away from me and now I have to fight and do everything I can to fulfill that dream still," he said.
"It's very important to put these allegations to rest and it's important to me, for her, to come forward with the truth because I want nothing more than to serve my country."
Kate did not directly respond to the claims of abuse, but attorney Richard Puleo, who represented Kate in previous legal matters, released a statement on her behalf.
He said, "There's always two sides to every story and when things take place in the past, it's hard to determine because people have differing recollections and perspectives.
"However, I can personally attest to this situation as I knew Kate and all eight of her children since they were small and I don't believe Kate ever did anything intentionally to harm Collin.
"I think she did whatever she did to protect herself and her family from some of his troubled behavior as a child.
"That's not to say he's got psychological impairment, I'm not a psychiatrist.
"However, I think if Kate did the things that Collin is accusing Kate of, she would have been investigated by the authorities and prosecuted.
"Additionally, I don't think the Marine Corps saw Kate's post and decided to throw Collin out."
"Could Kate's post have had some influence? Sure, I think it may have made them delve into Collin's history - but blaming his mother for being thrown out of the military is misplaced.
"Kate has no interest in saying anything, which is what she's done in the past."
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English (US) ·