Jon Gosselin is threatening to sue his ex-wife Kate or push for criminal charges against her over their son Collin’s allegations of childhood abuse.
The 59-year-old reality TV alum made the explosive remarks Wednesday in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, firing back after Kate suggested Collin’s abuse claims were rooted in mental illness. Jon told the outlet that legal action was warranted and that the matter could rise beyond civil court.
“She needs to stop. He is not mentally ill. I would definitely have grounds to sue Kate for defamation and libel,” he said.
“I don’t even think it’s suing. I think it’s just criminal charges. So, that’s up to the state.”
Earlier this month, Jon sent a warning to Kate through the outlet that previewed his legal stance. “If you continue to falsely label my son Collin as ‘mentally ill,’ you will be held accountable,” he wrote.
Collin, 22, is separately weighing his own legal options against his mother. He said he is considering filing a police report over the alleged abuse documented in his new memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood.”
“I have the grounds to do so,” Collin said. “And this justice is very important to me for all children to know that they should absolutely fight and they should actually look into what has been done to them and never stop fighting it.”
The book, released this month, details Collin’s allegations against Kate throughout his childhood and her decision to institutionalize him in 2016 when he was 12 years old. Among the claims is that she kept him locked in “a small holding” cell for two years before sending him away, cutting him off from his siblings.
Collin also alleges that Kate forced all eight children — sextuplets Alexis, Aaden, Leah, Joel and Hannah, plus twins Cara and Madelyn, now 25 — to perform specific behaviors for cameras during their family’s hit TLC series “Jon and Kate Plus 8.”
Kate, 51, responded to the memoir’s release on TikTok, where she engaged with comments from supporters who dismissed Collin’s account. When one user called the claims “terrible lies” and said memoir defamation “should be illegal,” Kate replied directly.
“Rational logical [people] or anyone who has dealt with mental illness understands what’s going on here,” she commented.
She also “liked” a follow-up reply alleging that Collin would “regret all of this someday” and that he had been “encouraged and enabled by other dysfunctional and mentally ill people.”
Collin has been estranged from Kate since 2016. He has claimed she institutionalized him because he refused to participate in the family’s reality shows, an allegation she has disputed.
Jon obtained legal and physical custody of Collin in 2018 after getting him released from the facility. He also secured custody of Collin’s sister Hannah, while the other six siblings remained with Kate.
The custody battle and family fracture played out publicly after Jon and Kate’s 2009 divorce ended their decade-long marriage. The couple rose to fame in 2007 when TLC began chronicling their life raising twins and sextuplets, a show that ran until 2011 and made the family household names.
Netflix announced Wednesday that it is producing a new documentary examining the Gosselin family’s behind-the-scenes reality, with interviews featuring Jon, Collin and Hannah. A release date has not been set.