Jon Gosselin’s 16-year-old daughter Hannah is defending her father after the former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star was accused of physically abusing son Collin, also 16, earlier this month. In a statement to the Daily Mail Wednesday, Hannah insisted, “My dad loves us. He’s never been abusive.”
Hannah and Collin, two of the sextuplets Jon shares with ex-wife Kate Gosselin, also called her father “very loving and supportive” and said he has always stuck up for his kids. Hannah and Collin are the only two of his children who live with him, as Aaden, Alexis, Leah and Joel, also 16, and twins Mady and Cara, 19, reside with their mother, Kate Gosselin. Hannah told the outlet that she witnessed the incident in question, saying that her dad never hit Collin.
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On Sept. 10, PEOPLE reported that Jon was accused of “causing bodily injury to a child through recent act/failure to act: hitting/punching” after allegations made by Collin on social media. While the Berks County Children & Youth Services in Pennsylvania opened an investigation, Berks County D.A. John Adams told the publication, “No charges or citations were filed as a result of that incident. We are not investigating at this point.”
In Collin’s Instagram post, he called his father a “liar,” claiming, “Yesterday he beat me up and thought nothing of it, he punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding. He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor. He is a liar.”
Jon told the Daily Mail that since Collin has come to live with him after being released from a behavioral facility, he has continued to showcase signs of the “severe emotional trauma” he experienced there. “It’s not true, I would never hit Collin, ever. I love him with all my heart,” Jon told the outlet, alleging that Collin filed a false police report because he “wasn’t getting his way.” Jon added he only decided to speak on the incident after ex-wife Kate did. “I really didn’t want to have to come out and talk about this for Collin’s sake, but when Kate is in the media attacking me, calling me a child abuser, I have to defend myself,” he said. “I love my son and I would never hurt him.” Collin’s sister Hannah also told investigators their father never hit Collin.
Kate told PEOPLE, “I am done hiding and will say this unequivocally: Jon is a violent and abusive person.” She continued that she “learned of this incident from CYS, and through them I was then read multiple reports — from the police report, to Collin’s statement to the police, to the account of an adult eyewitness. They were all very similar, if not identical.”
