Former TLC Star Slams Estranged Son for Allegations He Made in New Memoir

Former TLC star Kate Gosselin is speaking out after her estranged son Collin details her alleged abuse in his new memoir, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood.

In the memoir, Collin spoke out about his mother’s alleged abuse towards him when he was a child, including her decision to put him in a mental institution in 2016. He pointed out that Kate had only visited him once while he was institutionalized and had told him during that visit, “You have broken our family.”

After the memoir’s release, the ex-TV personality took to her TikTok account to slam Collin’s claims, calling them “terrible lies” and saying it “should be illegal to defame someone” in a memoir.

In one comment, one of Kate’s followers claimed that Collin was “encouraged and enabled by other dysfunctional and mentally ill people.”

“Exactly! I had nothing to do with it,” Kate responded. “Except for consent, because it was medically necessary.”

Collin also wrote in the memoir that Kate allegedly commanded him and his seven siblings to “act happy,” or they would be punished. He recalled Kate would “lean in and hiss through clenched teeth” and tell them to “smile.”

Collin further detailed the alleged “small holding cell” that Kate kept him locked up in for two years. He recalled that his famous mother had told him he was “moving out,” but had a contractor build the holding cell for him to live in.

During his time in the holding cell, Collin claimed his siblings and the Kate Plus 8 production crew were prohibited from seeing him.

Kate shares Collin and his seven siblings with ex-husband Jon Gosselin. The couple was married from 1999 to 2009.

Following the divorce, Jon lost custody of the children. He regained custody of both Collin and his sister Hannah Gosselin. The other siblings remain with Kate.

Collin wrote in his book that despite the estrangement, he loves his siblings very much.