A former Gosselin family nanny has come forward to corroborate Collin Gosselin’s abuse allegations against his mother, Kate Gosselin.
Ashley H., 42, who worked as a house cleaner and fill-in nanny for the family in her 20s, said in an interview published Friday that Kate, 51, “110% abused” Collin. She chose not to reveal her last name to the outlet.
“It’s hard to almost put into words the specific hate that she had towards Collin. You could just feel it. I saw her grab Collin many, many times,” Ashley said in the interview.
Ashley claimed Kate dragged Collin by the ear “all the time,” alleging she would “rip him right out of his chair in the kitchen.”
Collin, 22, previously described similar conduct in an interview earlier this month, claiming Kate once dragged him by the ear so hard that he “went to school … with a swollen ear.” These experiences are among several detailed in his memoir “In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood,” which was released Oct. 13.
Ashley recalled discovering a large red plastic spoon in a drawer and asking the children about its purpose.
“That red spoon has haunted me for a long time,” she said. She said the children told her it was “the spoon mommy uses when she gets mad,” and she left the job shortly after.
After quitting, Ashley contacted Children and Youth Services for Berks County in Reading, Pennsylvania. She claimed she was not the only person to report concerns to authorities.
“I didn’t understand how somebody could be so nasty, downright evil and nasty to their own kids,” she said.
Ashley described Kate’s parenting as “robotic” rather than “loving,” alleging that Kate made clear which children were her favorites. She also claimed Kate limited the children to “one or two school outfits per week” to avoid creating “too much laundry.”
“Someone would come and pick the dog up for grooming, but she treated her kids basically worse than animals,” Ashley added.
She further alleged that Kate maintained a “house manual” for staff that included a ban on photographing the children and instructions to keep the house looking “un-lived-in at all times,” Ashley said her chores included running a toothpick along “the edges of the fridge.”
“She wouldn’t let the kids do anything. There was never toys out. There was never things out. They couldn’t live,” she stated.
Kate responded to the renewed allegations in a TikTok comment Thursday, writing, “I know who I am and my kids know who I truly am and to me, that’s all that matters.”
She had previously pushed back against Collin’s claims in another TikTok comment, writing, “Rational, logical [people] or anyone who has dealt with mental illness, understands what’s going on here.” Kate also “liked” a comment alleging Collin was “encouraged and enabled by other dysfunctional and mentally ill people” and would “regret all of this someday.”
Collin’s father, Jon Gosselin, defended his son against the mental illness characterization, stating he is “not mentally ill” and claiming he has “grounds to sue” ex-wife Kate over the alleged abuse.
Ashley said she is speaking out now to “back” Collin’s claims that his mother was both psychologically and physically abusive during his childhood.
Collin’s memoir, in which he describes his upbringing as “dark” and “violent,” was released Oct. 13.
