Collin Gosselin went on national television on Thursday and accused his estranged mother, Kate Gosselin, of weaponizing money and sibling access to control his sister Hannah, and he brought the family's ugliest feud yet to the front burner.
The 22-year-old former reality star sat down on The View to respond to Hannah's claims that she hasn't spoken to Collin in nearly a year and hasn't lived with their dad, Jon, according to Page Six. Collin's countermove? Receipts, allegedly photographic ones.
Collin's Accusations: Kate Is Playing Chess With Her Own Kids
Collin didn't mince words when asked about his sister's version of events.
“Families are complicated. I've seen Hannah many times in the past year. Me, myself, my father at my house. I have pictures if you want to see them,” he said, per the report.
Then came the accusation that will headline every gossip feed this week: Collin believes Kate is holding Hannah's relationships with her siblings and, possibly, finances over her head like a bargaining chip.
“Not only is she caught in the middle, but I do believe my mom is either leveraging finances or Hannah's relationship with our siblings over Hannah,” he said.
Ouch. That's not a subtle hint. That's a full accusation of parental manipulation, delivered on daytime television.
The Netflix Documentary Theory: “Pre-Damage Control”
Here's where the story gets extra messy. Collin claims Hannah's recent distancing is actually damage control ahead of an upcoming Netflix documentary about the family, much of which, he says, has already been filmed.
“Hannah opened up about a lot of truths, not only to things that my mom did to me, and corroborated those things, but she opened up about things that she experienced at the hands of my mother,” Collin alleged.
“So now, I believe that she is trying to do pre-damage control, unfortunately, because my mom has placed that guilt on her.”
Translation, in Collin's telling: Hannah spoke on camera about Kate's alleged behavior, and now someone is leaning on her to walk it back before the doc drops. He was clear, though, that he doesn't blame his sister.
“It's not her fault, but I do put the blame on my mother,” he said.
The documentary is reportedly set to feature Jon, Collin, and Hannah, according to People, which reported Jon Gosselin will speak out about the family's “chaos” in the project.
Kate's Response: The TikTok Spiral
Kate's camp hasn't answered Page Six's request for comment on Collin's latest salvo. But her recent online activity is doing the talking for her.
On Oct. 13, Kate replied to a TikTok comment calling Collin's new memoir, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood, “terrible lies.”
“Rational logical [people] or anyone who has dealt with mental illness understands what is going on here,” she wrote.
She also liked a comment alleging Collin would “regret all of this someday” and that he was “encouraged and enabled by other dysfunctional and mentally ill people.” Her reply: “Exactly! I had nothing to do with it, except for consent because it was medically necessary.”
For those keeping score at home: the mother's defense against abuse allegations is to invoke mental illness and say her son will regret telling his story. The optics are, generously, not great.
The Memoir's Darkest Allegations
Collin's memoir, detailed by the Daily Mail, lays out a childhood he describes as abusive and exploitative, an upbringing that played out on TLC cameras for the world to watch as Jon & Kate Plus 8 became a ratings juggernaut after its 2007 premiere.
The most explosive claim: Collin says Kate placed him in a mental institution in 2016 and kept him there for two years in what he describes as a “small holding cell,” where the TLC camera crew and his own siblings were barred from seeing him.
Kate has denied those allegations. She previously defended the institutionalization in 2023, claiming it came “following years of outpatient treatment which proved insufficient for his needs” and was done “for the safety of myself, his brothers and sisters, and for his own well-being.”
Collin has also said the eight kids were “overworked” and “exploited” during filming, according to Global News.
Where Everyone Stands Right Now
The custody map tells its own story. After Jon and Kate's much-publicized 2009 divorce, per NewsNation, Jon lost custody of the children. But two years after Collin was institutionalized, Jon filed for and won full custody of Collin, and later gained custody of Hannah too.
Jon has been loudly in his son's corner, publicly defending Collin's abuse claims, according to USA Today.
The rest of the sextuplets, Alexis, Joel, Leah and Aaden, and the twins, Mady and Cara, have stayed with Kate. Collin has said he has no relationship with his siblings and knows exactly how much that hurts.
“Even to this day, I see her, and I'm like, 'Why do I feel bad for my mom?' I shouldn't feel bad for somebody who has done these things, but it's called having a heart,” he told The View co-hosts.
Say what you want about this family, and the internet has said plenty, but Collin is not pretending this is tidy. The Netflix documentary is coming, the memoir is out, and Kate still hasn't answered the phone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Collin Gosselin accuse Kate of on The View?
On Thursday's episode, Collin accused Kate of “leveraging finances or Hannah's relationship with our siblings over Hannah,” and claimed Hannah is doing “pre-damage control” before the family's Netflix documentary airs.
What does Collin Gosselin claim in his memoir?
In In the Shadow of Eight, Collin accuses Kate of abuse and alleges she placed him in a mental institution in 2016, where he says he was kept in a “small holding cell” for two years. Kate denies the claims.
Who has custody of the Gosselin children?
Jon Gosselin won full custody of Collin in 2018 and also has custody of Hannah. The remaining six children, Alexis, Joel, Leah, Aaden, Mady and Cara, stayed with Kate.