Hannah Gosselin is giving a glimpse into her childhood with brother Collin — and how he was treated differently than the rest of their siblings.
In a preview clip for Vice TV’s Dark Side of the 2000s, shared by the network via Twitter on Friday, July 7, Hannah recalled how Collin “would be separated” from her and their six other brothers and sisters while growing up. (Their parents — former Jon & Kate Plus 8 stars Jon and Kate Gosselin — share sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Aaden, Joel, Alexis and Leah, now 19, and twin daughters Cara and Mady, now 22.)
“Like, he would not get to come outside and play with us,” Hannah told the camera. “He would eat dinner at different times than us.”
She added: “I don’t think effort was made in the home to help him learn what behavior is acceptable and what behavior is not acceptable.”
Collin — who was sent to Fairmont Behavioral Health Institute by Kate in 2016 to address his “special needs” — has long been estranged from his mom, who gained full custody of her eight children after divorcing Jon in 2009. After Collin left the institute in 2018, he went to live with his dad. Hannah followed that same year. (In 2019, Jon told the Daily Mail: “Other than ADHD, which is extremely common, Collin has never been diagnosed with any known medical condition.”)
“I know my mother was going through a lot of things. I mean, a divorce, and plenty of different things that can’t be easy to go through,” Collin said in the Vice TV preview. “And, you know, I want to think that she needed someone to take out her anger and frustration on, and it was just kind of me. I was in the way and I was there. So, she chose me.”
Collin previously opened up about how his time in the facility negatively impacted his mental health, calling the institution a “scary place.”
“I was in a dark place mentally. I think being in a place like that does more damage than it helps you,” he told Entertainment Tonight in November 2022. “I spent my 13th and 14th birthday there, so I was young. I didn’t have a lot of life skills. I didn’t really know even what to expect, what to think of being there at the time, so I was hopeless and, you know, I figured out how to write to my dad and that was kind of one thing that kind of helped me mentally figure out that there was a way out of there in fact.”
Despite his estrangement from Kate, Collin acknowledged that he would like to have a relationship with her someday.
“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have a relationship,” he said at the time. “I think every son wants to have a relationship with their mom. But I’m doing very well.”
Last month, Collin left out any mention of his mom while celebrating his high school graduation — and thanking his family.
“I want to first thank my amazing sister, Hannah, for standing by me and supporting me, she is my number 1. I would like to thank my dad, who has taught me so much about running into hard times and moving past them, about resilience. Thank you dad for always supporting my decisions, and having my back when I bite off more than I can chew,” Collin wrote in his graduation post, adding that he plans to enlist in the Marine Corps.
The TLC alum also paid tribute to his dad’s ex-girlfriend Colleen Conrad in the upload.
“I’d like to thank Colleen for rooting for me day in and day out. When you think of someone you want by your side, you think of Colleen,” Collin wrote. “And as I’ve told her many times, she is my motivator for being successful in this world. “
Hannah, for her part, has her own issues with mom Kate, a source exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2022.
“[Kate has] definitely spent a lot of time making sure the kids don’t spend time together because she’s really upset Hannah chose to live with Jon,” the insider told Us at the time, adding that Hannah “doesn’t really speak to her mom much. … She’s focused on high school and getting into college.”
As for Hannah’s bond with her other siblings, “She would love to spend time with them. It just hasn’t been possible,” the source shared. “She lives with her dad [and brother Collin] in Pennsylvania. … It is sad. She does hope that at one point she can see her brothers and sisters. They were all very, very close and her leaving to go live with Jon had absolutely nothing to do with her brothers and sisters. She loves them to death.”
Dark Side of the 2000s airs Tuesday, July 18 on Vice TV at 9 p.m. ET.
