A new documentary about the phenomenon of Jon & Kate Plus 8 is in development.
“Production is underway on a documentary film untangling the story of what came next for the Gosselin family,” a Wednesday, October 21, announcement from Netflix’s Tudum reads, revealing that Jon Gosselin and his kids Collin Gosselinand Hannah Gosselin, both 22, will be interviewed. “The new documentary pieces together the story from the perspectives of the children who grew up on camera, the adults who built a brand around them and the audience that couldn’t look away.”
The documentary, which is currently untitled and does not have a release date, will be produced by Mike Gasparro and Julia Willoughby Nason.
Jon & Kate Plus 8 aired on TLC from 2007 to 2009, following Jon, 49, and then-wife Kate Gosselin’s daily life with eight children. (The exes share twins Mady and Cara, 26, as well as sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Joel, Aaden, Alexis and Leah, 22.)
Jon and Kate, 51, divorced in 2009 after a decade of marriage, during which the TLC reality TV show was rebranded as Kate Plus 8 as the nurse was granted primary custody of all eight kids. Collin, however, later claimed that he was often separated from his siblings and institutionalized for alleged behavioral issues. Jon subsequently sought custody of Collin, later also gaining primary custody of Hannah. Kate has long denied the accusations.
In the years since the TLC series were canceled in 2017, Collin in particular has been vocal about the challenges of growing up on TV.
“Filming did give me and my family a steady income and a lot of great opportunities, but being put on camera [so young] is not healthy for a child’s development,” Collin exclusively told Us in his digital cover story earlier this month. “My parents should’ve done better to understand that kids should have a choice. They should have left it after the documentary they did [2006’s Surviving Sextuplets and Twins].”
He continued, “It turned into this machine that was dangerous for a child; [it became] a money grab versus parents looking out for the welfare of their children.”
Collin, who also opened up about his experience in his new In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood memoir, further alleged that a handful of his siblings had their own issues with the show.
“I’m not gonna say names, but I feel there were some who also didn’t want to be on camera,” he claimed to Us. “There were many vulnerable moments, and sometimes the steam would build and we’d voice it. There were interviews where I’d sit off to the side and be withdrawn and upset; that was my silent rebellion.”
