A bit of entertainment for all of you not as enamored of the Jon and Kate Gosselin situation as I am:
June 12, 1999, Jon Gosselin and Kate Kreider got married. They were in their early 20s; Kate was a nurse and Jon was a rich kid/drifter.
Immediately convinced they couldn’t have kids on their own, they sought fertility treatments. On October 8, 2000, twins Mady and Cara are born.
Still wanting “just one more,” Kate heads to the fertility doctor again (although Jon is perfectly content with the twins). This is wildly successful, as Kate has healthy sextuplets May 10, 2004: Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Collin, Leah and Joel.
At first, the Gosselins struggled. In the brief time of their marriage, Jon had lost at least one job, and Kate quit her job when she was pregnant with the six babies. They were thrilled when the Discovery Channel approached them about a TV special on their family, and eventually a series, when the babies were about 18 months old.
But somewhere along the way, the show morphs from being a sweet look into a chaotic yet “regular” family to a peep at the nouveau riche, as the family is given free trips (to Disney, a Utah ski resort, Hawaii, and more), free tickets to everything you can imagine along with free refreshments and free souvenirs, free haircuts, free dental visits, free matching clothes, free furniture – the mind boggles.
It comes to a head last fall when the family sold their “normal” house and moved to a $1.3 million, 26 acre estate:
Granted, the house was not free. But the Gosselins earn $50,000 (conservatively) per episode of their show (which films 40+ episodes each season), so it’s not a bad gig.
Also in the past year, Kate goes from looking like every-mom-you-see-at-WalMart to celeb-like:
She travels the country promoting “her” book (which was actually written by former family friend Beth Carson), and then enthusiastically “writes” two more books; the first being a glorified Shutterfly-type scrapbook and the second a cookbook (by a woman who claims not to bake).
Jon, definitely the more laid-back and “type B” of the two, doesn’t like public speaking and traveling the country. He finds hobbies of his own, most notably younger women:
Kate is rumored to be more than friends with her bodyguard, Steve Neild (Neild is on the left):
Personal note: when I took this photo while seeing Kate speak in Indianapolis Feb. 4, Neild seemed totally professional. Not saying something couldn’t be going on after-hours, but my impression seeing him then would not have led me to think so).
Now, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen the family splashed across most of the check-out magazines. Will they split up, or (decidedly more likely) stay together for the sake of continuing their multi-million dollar empire?
Along the way, Jon and Kate (emphasis on Kate) have alienated most of their friends and Kate’s entire family. Aunt Jodi and Uncle Kevin, Beth and her family, Nana Janet – you name them, they were once part of the kids’ lives, but no longer are. Sadly, the eight little kids in the middle of this mess are almost overlooked in the midst of their parents’ misadventures. If you look at many recent pictures, you’ll notice that while Jon and Kate have big smiles, the kids don’t look so happy.
I feel for them and the confusion they must feel with the turmoil in their home, just months after Jon and Kate renewed their vows in Hawaii, repeating ad nauseum to the kids that the purpose of this was “to show that Mommy and Daddy will be together forever.”
I wish I could end this tale with, “and they all lived happily ever after.” But this appears to be a much more cautionary tale. Beware of fame and fortune. You may gain the world, but lose what’s most important.
Yikes, I guess I was the one person living under your proverbial rock . . . I’d never heard of these people!
And I guess the only actual comment I can come up with is . . . those poor kids. I hope they don’t grow up to be as trashy as their parents appear to be.
How very sad. That photo does say it all on the kids’ faces. Once again, money can not buy happiness, is proven here. I hope they can get it together for the sake of the kids.
And THANK YOU for the spa basket!! So exciting to win stuff!!
We don’t watch much TV so I had heard of them but didn’t know much more than the fact that they had 8 little ones. What a sad story!!
I know you are a fan of them and I am not. I was looking at the magazine covers yesterday in the grocery store and really wanted to come home and talk to you about it! LOL! Here you wrote about them on the same day!
Truly sad but then again, fame is fleeting. When you desire all the wrong things, life really will come back to bite you. Call it Karma, reaping what you sow, etc. It is sad for the children and even sadder that we are watching it with out hands tied. I cannot stand Kate. I’ve only watched the show twice and I really would like to give her a piece of my mind (as only a mom of a multiples could).
Shame on both of them for selling out and sacrificing their children on the altar of public adoration.
Oops! Meant to say “OUR” hands tied…
I love your post about Jon, Kate and the kids. I enjoyed watching them when they were a more normal family. Seems the money and fame have taken a toll, as usually it does. I say prayers for them to give up the fame & fortune and save their marriage. It breaks my heart that this has happened to all for them.