Jon Gosselin Explains Why Son Collin Didn’t Celebrate Fourth of July With Him

Collin Gosselin is growing up! The former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star, now 16, opted not to spend the Fourth of July holiday in Atlantic City with sister Hannah, dad Jon Gosselin and Jon’s girlfriend, Colleen Conrad, celebrating with friends instead. His father revealed the teenager’s whereabouts after posting a picture of the happy trio on Instagram.

“Happy Fourth of July to every one!!! Sorry for the late post!!!” he captioned the photo. “Collin had other plans with his friends this weekend, that’s why he is not in the picture (shame I have to explain all that, but I just did)!!!!” Conrad also shared photos from the weekend, poking fun at Collin in the caption. “Happy 4th of July!! Missing Collin who dissed us for his friends,” she wrote.

Collin came to live with his father after living in an institution for children with special needs at the choosing of his mother, Kate Gosselin. In December, Jon was awarded sole temporary custody of Collin after neither Kate nor her attorney appeared in front of the judge on their scheduled court date, and he has since settled into life with his dad and sister Hannah, also 16.

Jon is still estranged from the other four sextuplets — Leah, Aaden, Joel and Alexis — who live with their mother, as well as 19-year-old twins Mady and Cara. In May, the former TLC personality sent a message to his kids with whom he still doesn’t have a relationship, saying they were welcome to reach out to Hannah and Collin regardless of their feelings for him.

“Leah, Aaden, Joel and Alexis, I love you. You’re welcome to come over, call Hannah, Collin,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I don’t know what’s holding you up.” Wishing the four a happy birthday, Jon said while he still doesn’t understand the “ill will” they have against him, he decided to send a message in the media, as “it’s kinda hard to reach out to you.” He concluded, “But anyway, good luck and hopefully you call or call Hannah and you can walk to my house. It’s all good.”

He added to the outlet that he wishes his children would “just be together” and could break down the “invisible wall” still standing in their family. “They should just be able to just get together,” he said at the time. “If they wanna go meet each other, just go ahead. But I feel like it’s more on the other side.”