Kendra Wilkinson is looking back on her experience with Collin Gosselin and his siblings as his new memoir about his complicated childhood makes headlines.
“Did you notice anything about Collin when you visited the Celebrity Wife Swap episode?” a fan asked Wilkinson, 41, via Instagram on Thursday, October 22, referring to the 2013 episode of the reality show where she swapped places with Kate Gosselin and spent time with her eight children. (Kate, 51, was already divorced from ex-husband Jon Gosselin at the time of filming.)
Wilkinson admitted it was a “long time ago,” but she noted there was something that stuck out about Collin, now 22, from that timeframe. “I remember he leaned on me a little,” she recalled.
The Girl Next Door alum confessed, “I did feel bad and awkward filming at times.” (Collin has claimed in his new book, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood, that his mom abused him as a child, which Kate has previously denied.)
Wilkinson explained that her uneasiness about swapping houses and kids for the show helped her connect to all the Gosselin children.
“There was a moment [when] I gathered the kids and I told them to run from the cameras into the woods,” she shared. “We all ran away. [It] was a moment I’ll never forget.”
Kate and Jon, 49, were married 10 years before they announced their divorce in 2009. Prior to their split, the pair let fans into their lives on TLC’s Jon and Kate Plus 8 alongside their kids: twins Mady and Cara, now 26, and sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Leah, Alexis, Joel and Aaden, now 22.
Wilkinson, for her part, was married to former NFL wide receiver Hank Baskett when she appeared on Celebrity Wife Swap. The former couple shared a son Hank, now 16, when she picked up her life and filled in for single mom Kate on the ABC series.
Wilkinson, who later welcomed daughter Alijah, 12, with Baskett, 44, exclusively told Us in February 2013 how worried she was to step into Kate’s shoes — even if it was for a short period of time. (Wilkinson and Baskett divorced in 2018 after nine years of marriage.)
“Finding out that I was switching with her with eight kids — I wanted to run!” she confessed. “I wasn’t necessarily thinking about the domestic side of things — and trust me, I needed a lot of help with that.”
The former Playboy model pointed out at the time that she and Kate were “complete polar opposites,” explaining that Kate “believes that pretty much one minute away from your kids is something you’ll regret. I believe the opposite, that you sometimes have to spend time away from your kids to be happy.”
Wilkinson noted that after filming, she started to see why Kate was so adamant about being present with her kids, revealing she learned “you only get this moment once with your kid,” which she took to heart.
“After the show ended, we didn’t just fly back and go to our homes and never speak again. Kate invited us over to her house and we had lunch with them and got to spend some time with them,” Wilkinson recalled. “It was such a cool thing. They are a truly great family and Kate has done so good with those kids.”
In the decade since their swap, Kate’s parenting style has been called into question — by her ex-husband during their divorce and custody battle and later by their son Collin.
Collin claimed in his 2026 memoir that his mom physically and emotionally abused him as a child and sent him to a psychiatric hospital without telling his dad where he was.
“My dad was sent out of the home. I was told all these horrible things about him. I mean, that he was like the worst person that ever walked this planet,” Collin exclusively told Us earlier this month, claiming his mom painted Jon as a monster. “I mean, that’s how my mother made it sound.”
Jon, meanwhile, has supported his son since getting him out of the mental institution in 2013. He told Us in a statement on October 15, “I couldn’t be more proud of my son’s heartbreaking memoir and his mission to help other victims of abuse.”
Us has reached out to Kate regarding her son’s memoir and numerous abuse claims but has not heard back.
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
