Collin Gosselin had a blunt two-word message for his estranged mother, Kate, ahead of his reality TV debut.
The 22-year-old, who is competing on Season 5 of FOX’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” was asked at the show’s Los Angeles red carpet event on Thursday if he had anything to say to Kate should she watch. “Well, if she does, ‘Hey, Mom!'” he said with a laugh. “Hope you enjoy.”
Kate Gosselin, 51, previously competed on Season 1 of the same grueling military-style competition series, though her run ended almost immediately when she suffered a neck injury and withdrew on the first day. Her son insisted he is not trying to outdo her by following her onto the show.
“I’m an adult now, and there’s enough of my life that my mom took from me and [my] childhood that she robbed from me, and this isn’t about her — it’s about me,” he said at the event. “It’s about growth. It’s about the amazing people I’ve met, and the amazing journey and adventure that we went on.”
The former “Jon & Kate Plus 8” star is also preparing to release his memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood,” which arrives in bookstores on Oct. 13. He described the writing process as deeply personal and restorative.
“It was just so healing to be able to look at a picture of myself and be like, ‘That’s what I’m doing it for,’ and then think about all the millions of children who go through what I went through — getting thrown into the industry against their will,” he said, referencing his childhood on the TLC series that made his family famous.
The book, according to its publisher, examines “the dark side of fame: the systems, the entourage, and the institutions that allowed one boy to be erased.” Collin will detail being held in a basement cell and the powerful antipsychotics forced on him at age 11.
“There are a big voice in my story that will never die, that flame in me will never die,” he continued. “This book is going to expose a lot. … Children deserve to be protected, and that’s what you can expect from my story.”
When asked whether he felt nervous about anyone reading his account, he fired back, “I’m not the one that should be nervous,” He added, “We’re putting it all out there, let’s just say that.”
Kate lashed out at her son in June after he announced the memoir, publicly calling him “mentally ill.” Collin has long accused her of child abuse and child exploitation, allegations she has denied. Her attorney told the US Sun in September 2024 that Kate had not intentionally harmed him and that she “did what she did to protect herself and her family” from his “troubled behavior.”
The family fracture extends beyond mother and son. Aside from his sister Hannah, Collin has been estranged for years from his four other sextuplet siblings — Aaden, Joel, Alexis and Leah — as well as his 25-year-old twin sisters, Cara and Madelyn.
The original “Jon & Kate Plus 8” premiered in 2007, chronicling the Pennsylvania couple’s life raising twins and sextuplets. The show became a pop culture phenomenon before collapsing in 2009 amid Jon and Kate’s bitter divorce, which played out publicly with accusations on both sides. Kate continued with “Kate Plus 8” without her ex-husband, while Collin and some of his siblings remained in the spotlight. In 2016, Kate sent Collin to a facility for children with special needs, where he remained for years before Jon gained custody of him in 2018.
“Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” premieres Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.