Jon Gosselin denied he’s ever harmed his 16-year-old son Collin after being accused of physically abusing the teenager, prompting an investigation by the Berks County Children & Youth Services in Pennsylvania.
“Jon has never abused Collin,” a rep for the reality star, 43, told Us Weekly on Thursday, September 10. “No charges have been filed against him and there’s no ongoing CYS investigation.”
The statement claimed that “Collin has endured severe trauma,” adding, “Jon is a loving father who has worked hard to ensure that his son gets the support and help he needs.”
The Couples Therapy alum’s response came hours after news broke of Collin’s allegation of “causing bodily injury to a child through recent act/failure to act: hitting/punching.”
Although Jon is reportedly not named in the CYS report, Collin opened up about the alleged incident with his father in a since-deleted Instagram post, calling him a “liar.”
“Yesterday he beat me up and thought nothing of it, he punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding,” he claimed last week. “He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor. He is a liar.”
District attorney John Adams told Us in a statement on Thursday that it was the “only incident we are aware of at this point. There was no citation of charges filed as a result of the incident.”
Kate Gosselin — who shares Collin, his sextuplet siblings, Aaden, Leah, Alexis, Hannah and Joel, and 19-year-old twins Madelyn and Cara with the DJ — opened up about the alleged abuse on Thursday, saying she doesn’t “want [her] children around” her ex-husband.
“You do not punch and kick your children,” the Kate Plus Date star, 45, told People. “You do not kick a child. I don’t want to hear any excuses from anyone, not from his father, not from local law enforcement, not from court personnel whose job is supposedly to ensure the best interests of my children. There is a child abuse law, PA 23, section 8i states that doing any of the following, regardless of whether it causes injury, is child abuse, and first on that list is kicking. Period.”
Both Hannah and Collin having been living with Jon since 2018. In December of that year, Jon was granted sole physical and legal custody of his son when Kate failed to show up at their court hearing.
Collin shared a selfie via Instagram in early September and said he was “doing better than ever” after a rocky few years.
In April, Collin gushed about his father, calling him the “coolest most amazing dad, the one who’s always had my back” on Jon’s 43rd birthday. The teen also praised Jon’s girlfriend, Colleen Conrad, in May for being “one of my guidelines and one of my guiding lights” on Mother’s Day.
