It's hard to really grasp just how big of a phenomenon Jon and Kate Plus 8 was. For years, the show was basically required viewing, if only to see what kind of petty fight Jon and Kate would get into that episode. But after the couple split, the show ended, and our source of drama was cut short.
Or so we thought.
As it turns out, the Gosselin family has remained a source of drama and entertainment until now, even if they don't mean to be. Kate ended up getting her own show, Kate Plus 8, and then another new show called Kate Plus Date, but it's the drama that her and Jon caused off screen that really has been grabbing peoples' attention.
Here are some of the craziest scandals from the Gosselin family.
1. Collin Gosselin Sent Away Without Jon's Knowledge
The biggest scandal, in my opinion, happened when Kate decided to send away one of the sextuplets, Collin, because of "behavioral" issues.
"This is a work in progress for him that we've sought many specialists help on," Kate confessed on an episode of Kate Plus 8. "There are changes coming for him. I think it will result in a change of school for him for this upcoming year and beyond that, we'll see."
Kate has never admitted what the diagnosis is, just saying that it's been a struggle.
"[There's] a fairly fluid diagnosis of what those needs are," Kate said at the time. "But he needs to learn certain strategies to help him deal with things. This has been a struggle we've had for a very long time, and it's one I've dealt with on my own. I've felt very alone in this. By the same token, it's not something that has only impacted me or him. Our entire family has been impacted."
From the sounds of it, Collin is dealing with some sort of autism, as a source said the stimulation of being on camera was too much for him to handle.
"Kate doesn't want Collin on camera very much because all the stimulation can be difficult for him," a source close to the Gosselins said. "Kate decided to send him to a facility because she thought it was best for him. Now it seems that Collin is flourishing, and he's responding very well to one-on-one instruction. He definitely finds it easier to function and cope better without all the chaos that his home life entails."
Sending your kid away from the family is one thing, and can definitely have its merits depending on the diagnosis. But, ,he craziest part of all this is that it happened without Jon's knowledge.
"I have an idea where he is but I don't really know where he is," Jon told ET. "[Kate] says that Collin is in a special school for special needs kids with behavioral problems. I mean, I ask but she doesn't tell me. She doesn't answer any of my texts."
It's not clear what the custody arrangement between Jon and Kate was at the time, but it sounded like it might be a sole custody situation for Kate. Jon didn't really understand why Collin had to be sent away, but did acknowledge he can see why some of his siblings might get frustrated with him.
"I could see my kids getting annoyed with that because he's the smartest and he does this, and he does that, and he always wants it his way," he said. "He's very particular, which could be bothersome. But, he's very loving too. He was a cuddly kid as a baby."
2. Kate Goes "Broke"
Something that really caught peoples' attention in 2013 was when Kate said she was basically living from paycheck to paycheck.
“I’m living very carefully these days,” the mother-of-eight said, adding that “to not have a reliable income is scary.”
A source close to Gosselin confirmed that she was struggling financially, mainly because she wasn't filming as frequently as she used to be.
“Kate no longer has the income she once had from the show,” the source said. “The money is running out fast. Private school alone costs about $150,000 a year. She's let her nursing license lapse and she hasn't been a nurse in so long anyway."
It's possible that the lack of income is what prompted Kate to start her new dating show, but it hasn't been released how much she's getting paid to do it.
3. Jon Has An Affair
Many people figured Kate's short temper and belittling of Jon is what ultimately ended their marriage – and it may have been – but it probably didn't help that Jon had a three-month affair with a 23-year-old teacher Deanna Hummel while he and Kate were still married.
Deanna's brother, Jason, confirmed the affair, and said he was speaking out to protect his sister.
"She's a nice girl, not a homewrecker," Jason said. "He is a bad liar. This isn't healthy for her. But she is refusing to help herself, so here I am trying to help her myself. I hope this clears the air. A lot of the time, it was pretty, um, gross listening to her, you know, um, how do I say this? The walls are thin. Let's just say that. I mean, no one wants to hear his sister having sex, let alone with a married dude who's, like, almost twice her age and who has eight kids and a maybe-crazy wife. Ick. Nast."
Nast indeed, Jason. Nast indeed.
4. Kate Loses Custody of Collin
This piece of news was particularly shocking, considering how hard Kate has worked in the past to keep her kids away from Jon. Collin had started appearing on his father's Instagram page more frequently, as Jon would visit him at his in-patient treatment. When it was coming close to the time that Collin would be released, Jon filed for sole custody of Collin. He believed it was in Collin's best interest to live with him and not Kate.
The day before the court date, Kate asked for the hearing to be pushed to accommodate her schedule. The court denied her request, but Kate and her lawyer still decided not to show up. Because of their poor judgement call and lack of attendance, the court awarded Jon with custody of Collin.
"Jon won sole physical and sole legal custody of Collin," a source told Us Weekly. "All other matters were moved to a future court date."
5. Kate Accuses Jon of "Inappropriate" Relationship With Daughter
You can put this in the file of "Gross and Terrible Things to Accuse Your Child's Father Of." In 2015, Kate and Jon found themselves at the center of a police investigation after Kate filed a report saying that her ex-husband was a drug dealer who was having an "inappropriate" relationship with their daughter Hannah. The complaint also stated that Jon kidnapped Hannah by picking her up from school.
"She just didn't want to go home. She wasn't getting out of the car, she just had a fear, and I wasn't going to discuss it at the end [of the] driveway," Jon said of the incident. "So, Leah went down, Aiden went down and Joel went down [to the gate of Kate's house], and then I just texted Kate."
"I'm like, 'I'm taking Hannah back,' and of course she flipped out," he continued. "So, I was like, 'You know where I live, here's my address again in case you forgot it. You know you can call me.' I kept Hannah and she just explained she was really stressed out and all this stuff, so I kept her [at my house] and Kate called the cops and filed a police report against me."
Kate also called police when Jon tried to pick up Hannah from an orthodontist appointment. The two got into a verbal argument, and the police had to break it up.
The Wyomissing Police Department issue this statement on the interaction:
The call came in at 1:10 this afternoon for a verbal domestic argument ... over the custody of one of their 13-year-old daughters. No one was arrested and the daughter did go home with the father after she expressed that was her desire to do.There was a fairly lengthy argument as far as both parents had conflicting versions of a child custody agreement. Basically, both stated something different and we referred the matter over to our county district attorney. The district attorney then reviewed it and ... the district attorney's words were that the order was sufficiently vague to interpret who was supposed to actually have custody today.
Both parents read their version of the order and thought they should have had custody of the child today. So, we referred them back to the court system to try and get clarification from the court system on who's supposed to have the child on certain days.
I can't imagine stooping so low as to claim your child's father is a drug dealer and having an inappropriate relationship with her, all because she wanted to go home with him instead of her.
6. Jon Goes On A Tirade About Kate
Jon clearly doesn't agree with how Kate chooses to live her life, and he made sure everyone knew it in an interview with Philadelphia magazine.
"She tweets everything," he complained. "To the world, all about my children. I think it’s disgusting and awful. They can’t even have a normal life.”
He also spoke to rumors that he's "out to get" his ex-wife, and went on a tirade about her that really left jaws on the floor.
“Everyone thinks I’m out to get Kate. I don’t give a f**k!” he said. “What would I get out of it? Everyone knows she’s an asshole, you know what I mean? I don’t have to—she’s proven that! Kate wants to still be on television. She’s now digging into the past, because that’s what sells. Too late, honey. No one gives a f**k, really.”
Tell us how you really feel, Jon.
7. Hannah Chooses To Leave Kate
As noted when she wanted to stay with her dad and his girlfriend, Colleen, instead of Kate, Hannah has always been partial to Jon. Maybe it's because he's not broadcasting their lives on TV, who knows? But Hannah became noticeably absent in her mother's Instagram posts about the other sextuplets, and began popping up on her dad's page more frequently.
Finally, Jon posted a message that pretty much solidified that Hannah had chosen to live with him full time.
"Congrats Hannah on your first day of school, proud of you," Jon wrote. "I admire your bravery starting fresh!!! I Love you very much and we have worked really hard to get here. Dedication has really paid off. I’m so happy you integrated yourself into the community, you made friends all summer and now you will grow and graduate with them. I’m honored to be your father!!! Love you, Dad #newbeginnings"
Hannah has since been in more and more pictures with her dad and Collin, and seems to be happy with her decision to move in with Jon.
8. Kate Sued For Not Paying Marriage Counseling Bill
In 2011, two years after Jon and Kate announced their divorce, a marriage counseling company came after Kate for an unpaid bill of $10,476. Dr. Sylvia Lafair, the head of the organization suing Kate, said she tried reaching out to the reality star but wasn't getting a response. This was her next best option.
“There are commitments that people make…and they should be followed through,” she said of Kate's refusal to pay.
In court, Kate said she never had a contract with the company so she shouldn't have to pay, but a judge saw it differently. He ordered her to pay the bill in its full amount.
Yikes.
9. Kate Gets Fired From A Coupon Job
After Jon and Kate split, the single mother was looking for ways to make some extra money. She got a job with a site called CouponCabin.com and was blogging about ways to save money. However, the job didn't even last a year before Kate was publicly fired via an open letter from the company.
A series of recent events have made it clear to me that Kate Gosselin and her contributions do not align with the authenticity which we set out to build almost a decade ago, and that Ms. Gosselin is simply not a good fit with the wonderful team and culture at CouponCabin.It's with this that I am writing to inform you of our decision to discontinue Ms. Gosselin's feature blog on CouponCabin.com. Ms. Gosselin's contributions garnered both positive attention and criticism, but as always, I respect and appreciate your candid opinions, which often encourage us not to lose sight of our mission — to help YOU save money.
These "recent events" were never exposed, but I'm extremely curious to find out what you need to do in order to get fired from coupon blogging.
10. Collin and Alexis Are Expelled
Before Collin was sent away from behavioral problems, he and his sextuplet sister were causing problems at their school. In 2010, it was reported that Collin and Alexis were both expelled from their school after causing numerous disturbances by abusing students and adults alike.
“Both Jon and Kate were sent a letter from the head of school explaining that despite their best efforts, staff had reached a point at which they had to request the children enroll in another program,” a source close to the school said. “Both Alexis and Collin received three full weeks of intensive special treatment to focus their behavior. While the teacher was able to achieve some success, it became apparent to the school that the pair needed intensive assistance to help them with their social, emotional and academic needs.”
Kate, however, saw the situation differently. She adamantly denied that two of her kids were expelled from the school, saying that word was never used.
"The school would never use that word," she said. "[Collin and Alexis] were not expelled. [The school] did not feel like they could meet their needs anymore, so it was decided they should leave, for now."
Call a rose by any other name...
11. Jon Doesn't Pay Child Support
With eight kids between them, it would be fair to assume that some type of child support is paid by either Jon or Kate. However, Jon admitted in 2013 that he doesn't pay child support since the kids spend time at both his and Kate's houses.
“[Kate and I] both support [the children] financially because she takes care of school and all that stuff but I take care of the exact same things she takes care of," he explained. "I buy their own groceries, they have their own groceries at my house, their own bedrooms, their own stuff, it’s doubled.”
However, in 2018, it seems this little agreement between the couple was no longer valid, as Kate sued Jon for $132,875 in child support. Kate claimed that Jon breached an "agreement" they had, but Jon's lawyer pointed out that Kate did “not provide any proof of the language of that agreement," and said she was asking for an "inappropriate" amount of money.
The outcome of this lawsuit either hasn't been made public, or hasn't been settled, but it's probably safe to say Kate isn't going to see that money. Kate's net worth is listed at $200,000, while Jon's is listed at $10,000.
It's been 10 years since Jon and Kate announced they were separating, but they never stopped landing in the spotlight.