Jon Gosselin is reportedly furious with TLC and his ex-wife, Kate Gosselin, for allegedly ignoring a court order that is supposed to keep the network from filming their children for the reality show Kate Plus 8. The network aired a special episode called “College Bound” on Sept. 27, reviving the long-dormant series. Kate now stars in Kate Plus Date, a series following her on dates, featuring comments from their eldest daughters.
“I’m furious. Absolutely furious. They didn’t care,” Gosselin, 42, told The Daily Mail after the special aired. “It’s really upsetting that big business and big corporations go do whatever they want, against a parent’s legal right.”
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“The judge and the guardian ad litem both agreed that it wasn’t in my children’s best interests to be filmed, but my ex wife and TLC had other ideas,” Gosselin continued. “They put profits and ratings ahead of the well being of my children and filmed illegally without work permits.”
The “College Bound” episode included their 15-year-old children, Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah. Hannah and Collin, both 15, live with Gosselin and were not included. Their eldest daughters, Mandy and Cara, 16, were included.
The Daily Mail reports that the Department of Labor denied filming permits last year, and a judge decided it was not in the “best interests” of their children to be filmed. However, these rulings were ignored for the special, Gosselin claims.
Last year, Kate sent in eight applications for a Minor in Performance to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Labor Law Compliance. The bureau wrote to a TLC attorney, denying the permits.
“There are serious questions about whether Kate Gosselin has the legal authority to agree to have her children filmed as part of this reality television program,” the letter, obtained by The Daily Mail, read.
According to the letter, Gosselin contacted the bureau himself and said he would not let TLC film the children. He included a copy of the April 2018 court order showing the Gosselins have joint legal custody of their minor children. In the order, the judge wrote, “The Court concluded that involvement of the children in filming is not in their best interests.”
“Though several of the children indicate they enjoy filming, one does not and is experiencing physiological symptoms apparently brought on by the general stress of the custodial disputes, and another is in a facility undergoing treatment for mental and emotional issues tied in part to the filming and fame,” Judge Timothy J. Rowley wrote in an Oct. 25, 2018 document. “It is reasonable to be concerned that one or more of the children who currently claim to enjoy filming may at some point suffer negative consequences they cannot foresee now as young teenagers.”
According to the document, the children’s guardian notes that even the children who are not filmed “may be negatively affected by the show continuing without them.”
A third party appointed by the court to be a representative for the children claimed Kate misused money intended for a trust fund for their private schooling.
“Taken altogether, the Court was faced with limited information, failures by Mother and her counsel to provide more information, real concerns about the mental and emotional effects of filming, and no way to determine whether those concerns are offset by the financial benefits of filming” Rowley wrote. “The Court, therefore, concluded filming was not in the children’s best interests.”
Gosselin told The Daily Mail he refused to watch the new Kate Plus 8 special because he did not want to help the show’s ratings.
“It’s just disheartening that I have to read about it… first of all, it’s called Kate Plus 8 which is absurd. There’s not eight children there. Two kids live with me, Hannah and Collin, they’ve lived with me for over a year,” he said. “At the end of the show Kate said that kids keep leaving – kids don’t keep leaving, you threw one out. Institutionalized one. So he didn’t leave on free will, Collin was kicked out of your house, thrown into an institution, mentally abused by you and the institution, so he didn’t leave. Let’s just put that on there. My daughter Hannah, she did leave and she chose to live with me.”
Gosselin went on to slam Kate’s “narcissism” and “greed” for her continued work with TLC and suggested the network would just pay and shrug off any fine.
“There is no reason my kids need to be on television anymore, it doesn’t benefit them in any way. It is very confusing for them,” Gosselin, who now lives in Reading, Pennsylvania, said. He later added, “I just want them to experience high school, kind of like I experienced high school – just as normal as possible.”
