Known for her tart-tongued verbal assaults on husband Jon, as seen on the TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8, Kate Gosselin came from humble beginnings -- growing up in a trailer park and not riding on an airplane until her honeymoon to Disney World. Married to Jon since 1999, former nurse Kate gave birth to twin daughters Madelyn and Cara in 2000. Sextuplets Aaden, Hannah, Leah, Collin, Alexis and Joel were born as a result of in vitro fertilization in 2004. Kate's family -- from whom she is now estranged -- are angered by her greed and desire for celebrity. In addition to rejecting cribs for her sextuplets because they did not match, Kate charges $20 for photos of her children at public appearances for her books Multiple Blessings and Eight Little Faces.

As rumors of her husband's infidelity surfaced in early 2009, Kate faced scrutiny for her too-close relationship with married bodyguard Steve Neild, who has been under the Gosselin's employ since 2007. Neild recently accompanied a Jon-free Gosselin clan to North Carolina for a beach vacation.

As the show's fifth season premiere commanded a record 9.8 million viewers in spring 2009, TLC announced they had ordered a 40-episode season. The Gosselins earn a reported $75,000 per episode. On the June 22, 2009 episode, the couple announced they were separating.