Kate Gosselin is getting real about what life has been like following fame, which included unhealthy coping mechanisms to manage empty nest syndrome.
In a recent TikTok video, the former reality television star discussed her initial feelings when her oldest kids, twins Mady and Cara, 24, went off to college.
Gosselin admitted that she pretended her daughters were just upstairs sleeping and not away at school.
“I couldn’t accept the fact that they left, they were gone at college and I wasn’t going to see them until the holidays. So, I unhealthily coped and that’s how I dealt with it,” Gosselin said while sewing a button on her son, Joel’s, suit.
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She continued to say that in the first weeks her daughters were away, the three of them would sit and cry on FaceTime together. “After that, they found friends and I didn’t hear from them as much, which scared me,” Gosselin said.
Kate explained that she was afraid of her daughters’ safety, and it wasn’t until she was speaking to a friend who had already sent her kids to college that she began to let go of the reins and accept that Mady and Cara were okay.
“By the time the little kids went to college, they go to college closer to home, which is nice. It was a little easier because they could come home on the weekends. It didn’t feel so final I guess is what I’m trying to say,” Gosselin said. Kate is mom to 21-year-old sextuplets Joel, Aeden, Alexis, Leah, Hannah and Collin, whom she is estranged from.
Gosselin said by the time the sextuplets were off, she had already had a “trial run” of her kids leaving home with Mady and Cara. The “Kate Plus 8” star said that her favorite time is around the holidays, when all her kids are home and her home is loud.
“In all of this ‘empty nest’ stuff, don’t forget what our goal is. As a parent, it’s to prepare our kids to be functional, productive members of society. So, when they go to college, it’s a good thing and they’re growing up. It’s the next step and they still need us, but not as much, and that’s okay,” Gosselin said.
Kate concluded by welcoming followers to ask her any questions while wrapping up sewing Joel’s button on his suit so he could take it with him to college.
Earlier last week, Gosselin uploaded another TikTok video admitting that her life looks a lot different from her hit TLC reality show, “Jon & Kate Plus 8” days.
She is currently a pediatric nurse working 12-hour shifts.
“Today was a busy day, it was another 12-hour day, and my patient and I did a bunch of things. We went on the swings together, we went to a birthday party, we played in the water, we spent a lot of time outside. My patient loves to spend time outside, and I, of course, did all of the medical care as well, feeding, bathing and all the things,” Kate said.
She added, “And so now I work again tomorrow morning, so I have my dishes loaded into the dishwasher, my dishwasher running, and so I can go to bed and get up early and do it all over again,” she continued.
While several people praised her work ethic in the comments, one fan asked her what happened to all the income she earned working on the show.
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“Honestly? Providing for 8 kids, college funds which I am proud to say covered all of their college and more and LAWYERS. Sickening but I was drug into court constantly and that costs A TON,” she said in her response. “Sad bc my kids could have a lot more saved and I could have a retirement saved if it weren’t for lawyers. It’s okay. I’m helping other families and I feel needed and I enjoy helping!”
“Jon & Kate Plus 8” was on-air from 2007-2009 and chronicled how she and her then-husband, Jon Gosselin, managed their eight children, which included one set of twins and one set of sextuplets.
Kate then starred in the show’s spin-off, “Kate Plus 8,” which showed what her life was like as a single mother.
At the time their divorce was finalized, Kate was awarded sole physical custody of all eight of the couple’s children. It was later revealed that one of the sextuplets, Hannah, lived with Jon, but that he had little to no contact with his other children.
In 2018, Jon was awarded temporary custody of another one of the sextuplets, Collin, after he was allegedly diagnosed with a behavioral disorder and sent away by Kate to a separate school at the age of 12. She sent him to live at the Fairmount Behavioral Health System, a psychiatric hospital located in Philadelphia.
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In September 2024, Collin accused his mother of being “physically aggressive and verbally very abusive,” during an interview with The Sun.
“My mother had a room built in our unfinished section of the storage basement,” he said. “She had a room put up with cameras in it, a tiny window in the corner and it was bolt-locked from the outside. It was like a containment room, and it had a mattress on the floor and that’s how I lived.”
Following the interview, Kate’s lawyer, Richard Puelo, told Fox News Digital, “She never wants to comment because she always knows that this gets taken out of context. She doesn’t want to comment. Doesn’t need to. The record speaks for itself.”
He added, “The facts belie the truth. Whatever took place, the ones that are truthful are the ones that took place… She has no comment because it’s not going to change the past. And I don’t believe she intentionally harmed any of her children in any way, shape or form.”
Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
