14 DAY TRIAL // Until some years ago, Jon Gosselin was living the life: as part of one of the biggest reality shows on TV, he was raking in a fortune and enjoying all the perks of celebrity life with his wife Kate and their 8 children. He is now speaking out against the very TLC show that made them into international stars.
Jon and Kate appeared together on “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” which became “Kate Plus 8” when, after the divorce, he started pressing her to stop showing their kids on camera. In retaliation, Kate and the producers cut him out altogether.
The other night, Jon sat down for an interview with Oprah Winfrey for her Next Chapter and, among other things, he also said that he still believed his kids should have been allowed a normal childhood instead of having to grow up in the spotlight, Entertainment Tonight reports.
In other words, what he said back then wasn’t just his way of getting back at Kate, he really was convinced that having their kids on a reality show was beneficial for them. On the contrary, actually.
“I saw my kids not growing up normally, like I grew up, and having community. Yes, they got to travel the world, and yes, they got these fabulous things, and yes, they have trust funds, and they're taken care of educationally. Great,” he says.
“But developmentally, they have problems with their peers, and they have problems with talking to other people, and they have problems with wants and needs and manners and morals and what's right and what's wrong. I think more so than someone who grows up off TV,” Jon adds.
He explains to Oprah that he and Kate aren’t in contact anymore, not even when it comes to the kids. They both provide for them and spend time with them but, in the end, collaborating would probably be best because, as it is, they have “two totally different everythings” and “it really affects my children.”
“I wish her the best in all that she does but [we're] just moving in two totally different directions... I really don't know what goes on in Kate's house, and she really doesn't know what goes on in my house,” Jon says with what sounds like just a trace of bitterness.