Collin Gosselin claims mum Kate locked him in basement monitored by cameras in new memoir
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
Collin Gosselin has claimed his mum Kate forced him to spend '70 percent' of his time in a locked basement as a child in a new tell-all memoir.
Collin is one of Kate and Jon Gosselin’s eight children. The family became famous through the reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8, which followed the parents raising twins and sextuplets. After Kate and Jon split in 2009, the TV series continued as Kate Plus 8.
In the memoir, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood, Collin has made a series of allegations about his childhood and his relationship with Kate. Kate previously called Collin's claims of mistreatment 'fabrications'.
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The 22-year-old claims that Kate was 'particularly hard on me and on how I acted or how I presented myself' compared with his other siblings.
He acknowledged that he could be challenging as a child, writing: "People from that time would probably say I was a 'difficult kid,' I won’t argue with them, I probably was."
Collin alleges that after Kate and Jon separated, Kate slapped him or yanked his ear when he did not perform for the cameras as she wanted.
He also says she told him that Jon no longer wanted to see him, although Collin says he later learned from his father that this was not true.
He claims Kate moved him from the finished part of the basement, where he slept with brothers Aaden and Joel, to an unfinished area with an air mattress, cleaning supplies and spare fridges.
"Suddenly I was separated and moved out of sight," he said. "For me, it was a message: My place in the house wasn’t fixed, and it could always get worse."
Collin says a teacher noticed his ear was hurting, and that he told her Kate had 'yanked on my ear'. He says Children and Youth Services workers then visited the home, but he told them everything was fine because he feared 'consequences'.
After the visit, Collin alleges he was temporarily taken out of school, stopped from playing with his Legos and confined in a basement room.
He describes a wall built around his mattress as 'a small holding cell'.
He says cameras were installed and the door locked from the outside, leaving him to 'call out for my mom through the cameras so she could let me out if I needed to use a bathroom upstairs'.
Collin says he sometimes could not get upstairs to use the bathroom and was made to eat alone after his siblings had finished. He claims the arrangement lasted two years.
"Most days, I spent about 70 percent of my time locked in that room," he said.
He says he tried to run away but returned home, where he alleges Kate restrained him with zip ties: "I remember the pressure more than the pain. The burning, the way circulation cut off so fast it felt like my hands and feet were disappearing."
Collin says Kate called EMS and he was hospitalised before being transferred to Fairmount Behavioural Health System. After two years there, he says he moved to George Junior Republic and began coming off medication. He says Jon worked for months to have him released to live with him.
Kate has not responded to the specific memoir claims, but, in a 2023 Instagram statement, she said: "All measures that were taken in our home were at the explicit recommendation of his pediatric psychiatrist and/or his team of specialists and were put into place to safeguard every member of our family, our friends as well as our family pets."
She added that Collin had 'received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years', accusing him of 'unpredictable and violent behaviors' along with a 'distorted perception of reality'. She said his claims were 'complete fabrications', calling him 'a very troubled young man who continues to need a lot of help'.
In 2024, Kate’s attorney Richard Puleo said he did not believe she had done anything to 'intentionally harm' Collin, adding that 'she did what she did to protect herself and her family' from what he called 'troubled behaviour'.
Fairmount said it does not comment on individual patients, adding: "At Fairmount Behavioral Health System, every day our staff strives to maintain a total therapeutic environment through individualised treatment for each patient."
Tyla has reached out to Richard Puleo for comment.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Topics: US News, TV And Film, Celebrity, Reality TV, Parenting
Rhiannon Ingle