Jon Gosselin says he wouldn’t recognize his own twin daughters if he passed them on the street.
The former “Jon & Kate Plus 8” star, 49, made the admission during Tuesday’s episode of the “Legally Goff Podcast,” where he revealed he has not seen Madelyn and Cara Gosselin, 26, in roughly 13 years. The DJ claimed ex-wife Kate Gosselin cut off all contact when the twins were teenagers, transforming him overnight from an active daily parent into a complete stranger to his children.
“I wouldn’t be able to pick them out in the street,” Jon said on the podcast. “I have pictures of them, but I still wouldn’t be able to pick them out on the street. That’s how much I haven’t seen them.”
The estrangement extends far beyond the twins. Jon also remains alienated from four of his 22-year-old sextuplets — Leah, Alexis, Aaden and Joel — maintaining relationships only with Hannah and Collin. He speculated that Kate fed the older children a false narrative about his abandonment, drawing a parallel to what he said happened with Collin.
“Alienation [as in] silence,” Jon explained. “I’ve never heard their voice. One day, I was an active every day parent … and I was just cut out of their lives.”
The former reality star said he believes Kate told the twins he didn’t want to see them, just as he claims she told him and Collin about each other. “That’s their mother, they believed her and that was it,” he said. “And the same thing with the other four.”
Jon was careful to direct blame toward his ex-wife rather than his children, stating he doesn’t “blame them” and claiming they “live in fear.” The emotional toll of more than a decade without contact has been severe, he indicated.
“I don’t care if they call me an a–hole or whatever,” Jon said. “I just want some kind of response. Just text me or message me. At least I’ll know. … Walking around for 13 years not knowing has pretty much eaten my soul away.”
The DJ described having “nightmares” about what Madelyn and Cara believe about him and called the distance “upsetting” and “gut-wrenching.” The missed milestones pile up in his mind: “I missed graduations. I missed proms. I don’t know anything about my twins — if they have boyfriends or girlfriends, or what favorite color they have now, if they drive a car. I know nothing.”
Collin Gosselin has become vocal about his own fractured relationship with Kate, most recently accusing her of abuse in his October memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight” — allegations she has denied. During his promotional tour, Collin issued a public message to his estranged siblings through the outlet.
“I love them very much, and I want them to know that what was done to us as children is not normal,” Collin said in the exclusive interview.
Jon echoed that outreach in his own plea to “Entertainment Tonight” last month, urging his adult children to reconsider their silence.
“I hope you understand that I still love you. I hope one day you reach out to me,” he said. “And please read your brother’s book because I think that will explain a lot. Be your own person. You are all adults now.”
The Gosselin family splintered publicly after Jon and Kate’s 2009 divorce, which left the former nurse with primary physical custody of all eight children. By 2018, Jon had gained custody of Hannah and Collin, the latter having spent nearly two years in a behavioral health institution prior to the arrangement. The remaining sextuplets and the twins stayed with Kate, gradually fading from public view except for occasional social media appearances by their mother.
Madelyn briefly surfaced in 2023 on TikTok, where she defended her siblings against perceptions of dysfunction. “They are all smart, they are all kind, they’re driven students, they’re working hard, they’re funny, they’re stylish,” she told followers, adding that they are not “damaged” or “crazy child stars.” She described her siblings as “amazing.”
Jon and Kate’s marriage unraveled in front of millions on TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” which chronicled their lives with twins and sextuplets from 2007 until the couple’s bitter split. The network’s portrayal of Jon as a disengaged father, he suggested, cemented a damaging image that his children may still accept.
“They believe the narrative of TLC, that [I’m] a s–tbag and that [I] doesn’t want to see them,” Jon speculated on the podcast.
Kate has not publicly responded to Jon’s latest claims about parental alienation.