Jon Gosselin Defends Himself on Larry King

Jon Gosselin was fired from his own show on TLC, “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” and has been publicly slammed by his soon to be former wife for his recent statements to the media. For now, Jon has managed to block production on the show until an agreement is reached between the three parties, but he also needs to work on his public image. Consequently, a talk with Larry King to defend himself was in order. Said and done.

The father of eight made a special appearance on the Larry King show, saying that not only did he wanted out of the TLC show, but he also wanted the same for his kids, as they had told him repeatedly in the past. The reality series had ruined his and his family’s life, Jon said, and he wanted out of his contract with the network so that he could fix what had been ruined in the past four years. Getting out of the contract and presumably killing off the show altogether would also put an end to the exploitation his children were exposed to at the moment.

“It’s not healthy for my kidss to be on the show… it’s detrimental to them. It’s my right as a parent and as a father of my kids to determine whether the show is good for my family. I don’t think it’s healthy for them because we’re going through a divorce right now. I don’t think it should be televised and I think my kids should be taken off the show. I had an epiphany one day. I looked in the mirror and I said, ‘I don’t want to be this person anymore.’” Jon Gosselin added during the interview.

His attorney, though, was not as peaceful, telling King TLC had manipulated the Gosselins in such a way as to get things the way the bosses wanted. There was no question that the eight children were exploited, the lawyer insisted, as was equally clear that Jon had a right to call off production if he so saw fit. Moreover, Jon was not about to let this slide and would take things to court if need was because, first of all, he was bound to the network by a contract that was null, the attorney further explained.

“In the beginning, it was for financial purposes. I can’t tell you if I would have had a better life then or now. Would we have been better off? I don’t know.” Jon also said when King asked him why he did the show in the first place, if he thought his kids would be exploited. “I’ve made mistakes, I’ve learned form my mistakes, I regret things. I have to move forward… I really didn’t mean despise. I regret saying that word. I was very emotional… sometimes you just say things you can’t really mean.” he added, referring to a comment he made a while back when he said he “despised” Kate.

Below is the full interview with Jon Gosselin and his attorney on the Larry King show.