Collin Gosselin, who appeared as a child on “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” is publicly accusing his mother, Kate Gosselin, of trying to “bury” him in order to shield her own reputation.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Collin, 22, said he has not spoken to his mother since he was 13 and would require an apology and accountability from her before he would consider reconciling.
“I’d like an apology, simply put, an apology and for her to admit, and just take accountability for what she did,” Collin said.
He added what he would want to hear from her directly: “And to say, you know, ‘I’m sorry that I’ve soiled your name, and I’ve made every effort to bury you, to protect my reputation,’ I think that’d be very honest and very powerful for her to say that … just show accountability because everything she’s done to protect her reputation, it’s all been at my cost.”
Collin’s new memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood,” details allegations of physical abuse, isolation and forced psychiatric medication during his childhood. He also compares his time at a treatment facility to being sent to a juvenile detention center, saying the experience left lasting scars.
Even through what he calls his darkest periods, Collin said he clung to a belief that things would improve. “I had very little hope, but I always had some, and I hung on to that … I just kept telling myself that there’s a better future for me and there will be a time where I will be past this,” he said.
He said the decision to go public came after years of carrying the story privately. “It was heavy on my heart, my whole life, but especially now, it was just, I just felt like it was the time to do that,” he said.
A Painful Last Memory
Collin described a visit from his mother when he was 13 as the final encounter that defined their estrangement. “She berated me for all of 20 minutes after not seeing me for over a year,” he recalled.
He also said the psychiatric medication he was allegedly made to take as a child left him feeling like a “zombie,” and that his childhood away from the cameras that made his family famous was marked by deep isolation.
No Reconciliation Without Accountability
Despite the rift, Collin said he hasn’t ruled out answering a call from his mother, though he was clear that forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same thing.
“Reconciliation requires action and accountability,” he said. “I think we can all say, ‘I’m sorry,’ but if we’re not willing to take the actions and take accountability for what has happened in the past and what happened my entire childhood, then what does that really mean, you know?”
He said he would likely take the call mostly out of curiosity. “I think I’d take the call out of curiosity and just to hope that maybe she would admit to the things that she did to me when I was a child,” he said.
Returning to TV on His Own Terms
Collin is now set to appear as a contestant on the fifth season of FOX’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” a role he says feels meaningful given his history growing up in front of cameras he didn’t choose.
“It was so powerful to be able to come back to TV on my own terms as an adult and rather than being a young child being pressured to perform on the daily,” he said.
He also argued that children featured on reality television should have a say in whether their lives are filmed at all. “When a child does not want to be on TV, that should be their decision to make. And we should let them make that decision,” he said.
Collin’s memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood,” is out now.
