Collin Gosslein, the 18-year-old son of reality stars Jon and Kate Gosselin, is opening up about his ongoing estrangement from his mother.
While the teen has lived with his father since leaving a special needs program for behavioral issues his mother sent him to in 2016, in a new interview he claims things between the mother-son duo were rocky before he entered the facility.
“After being there, I didn’t have a relationship with her,” Collin told ET. “Even before [being] there, I don’t think we had much of a relationship and I think that just kept tearing it even more down.”
He added that he believed his experience with his mother “was worse than what you would say the average teenage kid goes through with their parent.”
The teen is one of eight children and six sextuplets who appeared on the family’s reality show “Jon & Kate Plus 8” back in the day, before his parents had a nasty divorce and went their separate ways. Since the split, some of their kids have chosen sides — with Collin and Hannah moving in with their father.
Hannah started living with her dad in 2017, while Collin did the same the following year in 2018. Jon was reportedly awarded sole custody of the boy when Kate didn’t show up for a hearing, which she hoped to have postponed at the time. Of her no-show, Collin said it “didn’t really bother me.”
“I mean, it’s like I said, it’s on her own terms and if she doesn’t want to show up she doesn’t have to show up,” he said. “I came to the conclusion that everybody has their own agenda, you know? My mom had her own agenda, and I don’t know exactly what that was. But I was put in a tough spot and my agenda was to make it out on top of that tough spot.”
Speaking with ET, Collin said he believes the family’s time in front of the camera led to their downfall.
“I want to believe it was because of TV and what being in the public eye does to a family. I think it tore us apart,” he explained. “It gave us less time to actually be together as a family, [and] more time to be in the public eye.”
Though he said it was “unfortunate” he and his mother “don’t have a relationship,” he added that he’s “doing very well” and said “it would be ideal” for them to reconcile in the future. TooFab has reached out to Kate’s manager for comment.
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