Collin Gosselin shared his beliefs about why his mom, Kate Gosselin, institutionalized him when he was 11 years old.
“I was stubborn enough to question my mom,” Collin, 22, said in a September 2025 interview with The U.S. Sun, which was published in full on Saturday, June 27. “I questioned her about everything, and that came before the rebellion of me not wanting to be on camera and be a part of her circus. … That questioning led to me later not wanting to be on camera, and that really killed her.”
Kate, 51, and ex-husband Jon Gosselin rose to fame with their reality show, Jon & Kate Plus 8, which aired on Discovery Health and TLC from 2007 to 2017. The series documented the former couple’s journey raising their eight children — twins Mady and Cara, 25, and sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Aaden, Joel, Alexis and Leah, all 22. After Jon, 49, and Kate divorced in 2009, the series was renamed Kate Plus 8 and chronicled Kate’s life as a single mom and coparent.
In 2016, Kate sent Collin to a behavioral institution, where he remained for two years. Jon gained full custody of Collin following his release.
In 2023, Collin claimed in a Vice TV interview that Kate sent him away to silence him from speaking out about her alleged abuse, including tying him up in the basement. Kate denied the allegations, claiming that she institutionalized her son due to “unpredictable and violent behavior.”
Collin theorized in his interview with The U.S. Sun that Kate sent him away to save her own “reputation.”
“I don’t know what reason it was, whether it was her reputation she was saving by sending me away from home, or whether it was the fact that maybe it’s easier to sign a work permit for seven children that are voluntary, instead of seven children that are voluntary and one that’s involuntary,” he said. “So there are a lot of things to question there.”
He also claimed that his mother visited him in the facility “one time for probably about 20 minutes, and the whole time I was blamed.”
“It was about a year of me being there, and the whole time I had these glasses on and tears coming down my face. I was overweight. I was sick. They had me on all these medications,” he continued. “And she’s sitting there looking at her kid, who was clearly not who he used to be and sick and just out of it. And she’s just telling me that I broke her family, that my siblings want nothing to do with me, all that stuff.”
Us Weekly reached out to a lawyer for Kate for comment.
Collin’s estranged relationship with his mother is making headlines ahead of his memoir, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood, which will detail his life during and after reality TV and further explore his claims about Kate.
“My life was always broadcast to millions, but what was actually happening in my life was never shown — in fact, much of it was deliberately kept hidden,” Collin told Us earlier this month. “For years, other people told my story through headlines, television episodes and public speculation. Now, finally, I’m sharing what was really happening behind the scenes. This book is about truth, survival, resilience and finding my voice after years of being silenced. If my story helps even one person feel less alone or gives them the courage to tell their own, then every difficult page was worth writing.”
Kate addressed Collin’s abuse allegations in recent TikTok comments, revealing whether she planned to take legal action against her son.
“The rules are different for ppl in the public eye. I consulted a high power LA attorney (you’ve definitely heard of him) years ago when other ppl were putting crazy stuff out there and that’s what he said,” she wrote. “The courts don’t honor it if you’re in the public eye :(.”
