Getting messy. Jon Gosselin accused TLC of offering to pay him $1 million to stay married to his ex-wife, Kate Gosselin.
Executives at the network allegedly pressured the DJ, 42, to lie about the state of his relationship for two additional seasons of Jon and Kate Plus 8, Jon alleged on DailyMailTV on Thursday, September 19. The show, which aired in 2007, was renamed to Kate Plus 8 after five seasons following the former couple’s 2009 split.
A source close to the matter and the family calls it a “complete fabrication.”
“I left the show so my children would never have to relive our divorce,” Jon told the outlet. “That’s it. I could have made millions of dollars if I would’ve just continued, took their offer and stayed married for two years and I probably wouldn’t even be sitting here today. But I couldn’t live with myself. I couldn’t live a lie.”
The Pennsylvania native, who shares twins Madelyn and Cara, 18, and sextuplets Aaden, Alexis, Joel, Leah, Hannah and Collin, 15, with Kate, went on to claim that TLC paid for the couple’s marriage counseling sessions.
“Kate even picked the counselor but I went to the sessions by myself,” he explained. “It was clear to me that I was the only one that wanted the marriage to work. Kate came to me and said that she was leaving the marriage and she’s the one that filed for divorce. I had Kate against me, I had TLC against me and when you’re inside the fishbowl, you have nowhere to move, you have no way of breaking the glass. But when you’re outside you can see everything. That’s why I ultimately was glad to leave. I left the marriage in 2009 so I could come out and help my children and have more power on the outside because on the inside I was powerless.”
On Wednesday, September 18, Jon admitted that he fears for the six of his children still living with their mother. (The IT director has custody of Hannah and Collin.) “I do know what she’s capable of, whether it’s mental or physical [abuse],” he told DailyMailTV. Part of that included their son Collin spending three “inhumane” years in Fairmont Behavioral Institute despite only being diagnosed with ADHD, according to Jon, before he removed the teenager in December 2018.
Us Weekly has reached out to TLC and Kate Gosselin’s rep for comment.
