I stopped watching the show long ago, but have remained curious about the family drama. Which is why I was pretty excited to see that Jon Gosselin just recently appeared on an episode of "Dr. Oz." It seems that TLC had gotten a ten year gag order placed on him back when the couple first divorced. He's now free to speak freely about his family and his time on the show -- and you can hear what he had to say here and here.
I heard a lot of stuff that I'd already guessed. Jon reports that Kate was the driving force behind the couple getting onto the show. And he was all about the show when it first began. After all, they were getting paid and it seemed like a good way to make some money for their large family. Of course, it started out as a documentary. And the documentary was popular enough that an 8 episode season was produced. Which was followed by a 12 episode season. Which was followed by a 40 episode season. Which was followed by a 52 episode season(!!).
By this time, Jon and Kate were growing increasingly disenchanted with each other. He was a full-time at-home dad and Kate was traveling around promoting the show and her book and doing speaking tours. Jon decided that he wanted out of the show and told TLC that he was done. He even posted a "no trespass" sign on their front gate warning the production crew to stay away.
Of course, Kate wanted to keep going with the show and she ended up filing for divorce. And TLC wanted to keep going with the show because they were making $186 million dollar off of the program each quarter. So they insisted that Jon undergo a psych eval. And then they funded Kate's divorce attorneys. And they sued Jon for breach of contract.
Jon reported in this interview that he has PTSD and his wife has personality disorders. He has no relationship with his ex-wife outside of court. And he's estranged from all of two of his eight children.
The second video focuses on the Gosselins' son Collin, who was placed by Kate in a residential program when he was 12-years-old due to unspecified special needs. Jon reports that he had no clue where Collin had been placed. It took him two years and a smuggled letter by Collin's roommate for Jon to find his son and then to make arrangements to bring his son into his home. Jon reports that his son was drugged up on Thorazine and other heavy psychiatric meds. He's reportedly doing much better since moving to Jon's home and presumably off most (if not all) of his medications.