Collin Gosselin Gives Rare Interview About Reality TV's Toll on His Family: 'I Think It Tore Us Apart'
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Collin Gosselin doesn't soften his words when he reflects back on his time on reality TV.
The former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star opened up about why he feels growing up in front of cameras broke his family — and whether he would like to mend his relationship with mom Kate.
"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," Collin, who was a minor at the time of filming, told Entertainment Tonight. "It gave us less time to actually be together as a family [and] more time to be in the public eye."
Jon Gosselin/Instagram
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The Gosselin sextuplets became household names when TLC (formerly Discovery Health) chronicled their birth and the first decade of their childhood on TV.
As the children grew older, viewers also saw the unraveling of the marriage between Jon and Kate. The pair — who are also parents to 22-year-old twins Mady and Cara — separated and divorced in 2009, after which the series ran under the name Kate Plus 8 until 2017.
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Collin, 18, is now living with Jon, 45. The teen said his relationship with his mom changed after he was sent to a live-in learning facility to address his behavior issues.
"After being there, I didn't have a relationship with her," Collin said of Kate, 47. "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, "It's unfortunate that we didn't have a relationship. I think every son wants to have a relationship with their mom. But I'm doing very well."
When asked if he would still welcome a relationship with Kate, Collin said, "Yes, it would be ideal."
Noel Vasquez/Getty; Jon Gosselin/Instagram; Bryan Steffy/Getty
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Jon was granted full custody of Collin in December 2018 when Kate and her legal team did not show up to a hearing.
This past May, Entertainment Tonight reported that Hannah, another sextuplet, also lives with Jon and Collin.
Hannah told ET she still has a relationship with her mom: "My relationship with my mom is pretty stable. Like, we text each other and call each other on a [sic] average basis."
The remaining four Gosselin sextuplets — Leah, Joel, Alexis and Aaden — live with their mother.