This summer, the world heard Collin Gosselin describe his mother’s abuse in his own words. It was, for many, confirmation of what they considered to be common knowledge.
But Kate has never enjoyed criticism of any kind. So it was sad, but not a surprise, when Collin’s elder sister Mady Gosselin accused Collin of violence and instability.
(Keep in mind, they are all adults; he was of course a young child when she last saw him)
Many people have come forward to defend Collin. And now, Jon has a message for his estranged daughter, Mady.
In a recent interview, Jon Gosselin and girlfriend Stephanie Lebo spoke with Entertainment Tonight.
“I haven’t talked to Mady and Cara for, oh I don’t even know, over a decade,” Jon acknowledged. The twins are his eldest daughters.
“And then,” he added, “I haven’t talked to Joel, Aaden, Leah, and Alexis for five years.”
Jon expressed how he feels “heartbroken” over Mady’s words, where she accused Collin of being violent as a child.
But it doesn’t sound like he feels that the blame lies with Mady.
To hear Jon tell it, Mady’s lips are moving, but it’s Kate’s voice that he’s hearing.
“Well, I was heartbroken when Mady came out with what she said about Collin,” Jon shared.
He specified that he feels this way “only because she hasn’t seen him either.”
Jon could not help but ask: “So how can you say these things about your brother? And where did that come from?”
“We all know where it came from,” Jon said, answering his own question.
He pointed out the obvious: “It came from Kate.”
Jon specified that Mady’s description of her younger brother sounded like “Exactly Kate’s words.”
We should keep in mind that Mady hasn’t seen Collin in many years.
When he was still very young, Kate institutionalized him, ripping him away from his other siblings and locking him away from the world.
According to her, this was somehow the best thing for him. According to Collin, it was to conceal her years of abuse — and perhaps to discredit him.
“My message for Mady is: I still love my daughter,” Jon announced. “I mean, she’s my daughter.”
He then requested: “But please don’t talk anything negative about a sibling you haven’t seen in over seven, eight years.”
Jon went on: “And he hasn’t done anything to you, and you should treat people the way you want to be treated.”
Then, Jon explained that the estrangement between him and the Kate-aligned children is more complex than some may imagine.
According to him, the split with his ex-wife has managed to “alienate” a number of family members.
That is not unusual. Even in marriages where one parent is abusive and the other is merely flawed, sometimes children cling to the one who should be their worst enemy. Survival instincts and more play a role in this.
“So until my other kids figure that out … [and] stop believing in one side of the story, I can’t do anything else,” Jon lamented.
He holds out hope that, one day, his other children will extend an olive branch.
He then acknowledged: “I’ve tried to reach out to them and it has failed numerous times.” Hopefully, Jon is keeping in mind how poorly Kate could react to perceived disloyalty.
Just for the record, it’s not just people like Jon who are stepping up for Collin.
Jon’s ex-girlfriend, Colleen Conrad, has the easiest “out” in the world. She’s Jon’s ex, and she could just ignore Collin or badmouth him to her heart’s content.
Instead, she stood up for who Collin really is. He spent his (post-confinement) teen years growing up under her roof. She arguably knows his heart better than most of his blood relatives.