Why Jon and Kate Gosselin’s Daughter Hannah Chose to Live With Her Dad

Hannah Gosselin explained her decision to live full-time with her father, Jon Gosselin, as she and her sextuplet siblings celebrated their 18th birthdays. The former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star decided to live with her father in 2021 alongside brother Collin, but the two now live separately from their six other brothers and sisters. That includes their fellow sextuplets Leah, Joel, Alexis and Aaden, who live with mom Kate Gosselin, and 21-year-old twin sisters Cara and Madelyn, who are currently away at college.

Hannah told Entertainment Tonight as she celebrated her 18th birthday last month, “I chose to live with my dad, I feel like I just made the choice for myself. I have always been closer with my dad and we’ve always had a strong good relationship. It’s a lot, growing up in a very busy household with lots of kids. And there’s not really a one-on-one relationship, for attention, that you have with your parent. I felt like my dad gave me that attention and a feeling like I had a good, solid relationship with a parent.”

The former TLC personality called it a “difficult decision” to leave her brothers and sisters behind at her mother’s house, noting that while she didn’t want to be apart from them, she “just feel like there was unfair treatment in my mom’s house and I just wanted to live with my dad.” Hannah still keeps in touch with her mom regularly, despite the distance, saying she’s “pretty sure she’s doing OK.”

“I mean we don’t really speak on a basis of, like, ‘Oh, how’s your life going?’ It’s more like day-to-day, ‘Oh how’s your day?’ But I’m pretty sure she’s doing well,” Hannah revealed. “And I’m sure my siblings are doing well too.” As Hannah and her fellow sextuplets rang in their 18th birthdays on May 10, the birthday girl revealed she did get a message from her mom.

“She just, you know, wished me a happy birthday. You know, told me she loved me and it was great, an average birthday text,” she said. When it comes to her brothers and sisters, Hannah “100%” misses them, but said they made sure to trade birthday messages. “I mean, we all do share, like, the same birthday, it’s a big day for all of us today,” the teen revealed. “As soon as I woke up they texted me happy birthday and I sent them a happy birthday text back.”