Meet Collin Gosselin, the former child reality star whose dreams were just dashed: Kate Gosselin’s son of Jon & Kate Plus 8 fame was discharged right before graduating to become a US Marine – but why?
- One of Jon and Kate Gosselin’s sextuplets on the 2000s family reality show, Collin is now 20 – and back in the spotlight following the revelation that his mum institutionalised him as a kid
- Jon and Kate had a messy divorce in 2009, and Collin went to live with his dad in 2018 – now, he’s happily dating his girlfriend and hints he could return to reality TV
Collin Gosselin, son of Jon and Kate Gosselin of Kate Plus 8 fame – the 2000s reality show that followed the lives of the then couple and their young sextuplets and twins – has hardly been able to afford a private life. After his parents went through a very public and messy divorce, the spotlight turned to him when his mother had him institutionalised for his alleged “unpredictable and violent behaviour”, per People. Now, his past seems to have caught up with him and is standing in the way of him fulfilling his biggest dream: becoming a United States Marine.
This month, he revealed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight that he was discharged from the military a hair’s breadth away from graduation because they “found out that I was, in fact, in an institution at one point in my life”. Nevertheless, Collin, 20, aims to appeal the decision because, for him, there’s not much that tops being a US Marine.
So what else do we know about Collin Gosselin – and what does he plan on doing next?
Collin Gosselin’s complex family ties
Collin is one of Jon and Kate’s sextuplets born on May 10, 2004. Kate had primary custody of him and her other children after her 2009 divorce from Jon, per People, but Collin and his sister Hannah eventually started living with their father after he was awarded temporary sole legal and physical custody of them in 2018. (The show dropped its original name, Jon & Kate Plus 8, after the former couple’s divorce.)
When he graduated from high school, Collin, on his Instagram, thanked his sister Hannah, “for standing by me and supporting me, she is my No 1”, dad Jon “who has taught me so much about running into hard times and moving past them” and Jon’s ex-girlfriend Colleen Conrad for “rooting for me day in and day out”.
However, back in 2020, Collin accused his father of physical abuse, per People.
Why was Collin Gosselin institutionalised?
Kate told People in 2016 that Collin allegedly had “special needs” and was getting help at a live-in programme. However, Collin told ET Online that Kate actually sent him away to “protect her reputation”.
Collin previously claimed on Vice TV’s Dark Side that his mother was “abusive” and “had to put me somewhere where I wouldn’t be able to get the secrets out”, to which Kate replied by saying he had a “distorted perception of reality”.
What are Collin Gosselin’s future plans?
With his military dreams thwarted for now, Collin is planning on studying finance at Pennsylvania State University instead, per ET. He also revealed that there’s a “good possibility” of him returning to reality TV. In 2022, he told the publication that he was interested in acting.