Jon Gosselin is fuming in a new interview about his ex-wife and her reality TV aspirations — and it sure seems like he’s got every right to be mad as hell!
The former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star spoke to DailyMailTV on Thursday, and in the extended interview he revealed how “furious” he is that Kate and their children filmed recently for her reality show, Kate Plus 8 — as doing so openly defied a direct court order against production!
Related: Kate Seemingly Shades Her Ex With Message For Her College-Bound Twins…
Jon was clearly emotional during the sit-down with the news outlet, saying right out at the open (below):
“I’m furious. Absolutely furious. They didn’t care. It’s really upsetting that big business and big corporations go do whatever they want, against a parent’s legal right. The judge and the guardian ad litem both agreed that it wasn’t in my children’s best interests to be filmed, but my ex wife and TLC had other ideas. They put profits and ratings ahead of the well being of my children and filmed illegally without work permits.”
Wow! Talk about anger — and according to the court docs, the father appears to be on the right track with his fiery opinions.
DailyMailTV unearthed court docs along with the interview and discovered that in 2018, the Department of Labor actually did deny filming permits to TLC and the show’s production crew, while a judge simultaneously ruled “it is not in the best interests” of the Gosselin children to keep allowing them to be filmed for reality TV. Wow!!!
So what happened?!
It turns out network execs went ahead with filming anyways, getting footage of the family at their Pennsylvania home and on location in North Carolina, apparently brazenly defying the court order.
Four of the couple’s minor children — 15-year-olds Alexis, Aaden, Joel, and Leah — all appeared on camera. (FWIW, the other 15-year-olds, Hannah and Collin, both live with Jon full time now; meanwhile, twins Mady and Cara were both 19 at the time, and thus adults who can make their own decisions about filming.)
Per the court docs, the decision came about when Kate and TLC lodged eight applications for “a Minor in a Performance” permits back in 2018. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Labor Law Compliance completed a review of the applications, and decided NOT to provide any entertainment permits for any of the Gosselin children, though, stating in their decision:
“There are serious questions about whether Kate Gosselin has the legal authority to agree to have her children filmed as part of this reality television program.”
No kidding!! As we’ve previously reported, Jon and Kate have held joint legal custody of their minor children since at least late 2016 — and Kate would’ve needed Jon to sign off on any filming license requests for the kids. (Spoiler alert: he didn’t sign off.)
Related: At Least Kate’s Latest Reality Venture Doesn’t Involve Minor Children…
Then, when Kate and TLC went to court to appeal the decision, things got worse for the mom and her TV exec biz partners. Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Timothy J. Rowley slammed the mom of eight and the TV network in his order affirming the original labor law decision, stating in his opinion:
“Based on the limited information available – and in large part because of Mother’s and her counsel’s repeated failure to provide further information to Father, the guardian ad litem, and the Court – the Court concluded that involvement of the children in filming is not in their best interests.”
Seems pretty definitive to us…
But Judge Rowley didn’t stop there, further making it VERY clear Kate’s lack of information provided to the courts about the children’s psychological well-being related to filming was his major concern (below):
“Though several of the children indicate they enjoy filming, one does not and is experiencing physiological symptoms apparently brought on by the general stress of the custodial disputes, and another is in a facility undergoing treatment for mental and emotional issues tied in part to the filming and fame. It is reasonable to be concerned that one or more of the children who currently claim to enjoy filming may at some point suffer negative consequences they cannot foresee now as young teenagers. As the guardian points out, even those children who do not participate in the filming may be negatively affected by the show continuing without them. Indeed, the statements of several of the children to the effect that they need filming to survive, that it is their normal way of life, and that it feels weird not to film, although apparently intended to make filming seem innocuous or positive, raise concerns in the Court’s mind as to whether continued filming is healthy for these children.”
They need filming to survive?? Oh, that’s messed up…
And a statement like this — from a judge — should firmly have kept the kids off camera and away from any reality TV production of any kind for the rest of their underage years, right?! …Right??
Wrong!!!
According to Jon, who now lives in Reading, Pennsylvania and works full-time as an IT manager, the court order allegedly did nothing to faze Kate and TLC (below):
“TLC were completely aware of the court order but filmed anyway. They filmed in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Now I’m even more upset because Kate plus Eight has aired against my permission, Kate filmed my kids without written consent from me … It’s just disheartening that I have to read about it. First of all, it’s called Kate Plus 8 which is absurd. There’s not eight children there. Two kids live with me, Hannah and Collin, they’ve lived with me for over a year. At the end of the show Kate said that kids keep leaving – kids don’t keep leaving, you threw one out. Institutionalized one. So he didn’t leave on free will, Collin was kicked out of your house, thrown into an institution, mentally abused by you and the institution, so he didn’t leave. Let’s just put that on there. My daughter Hannah, she did leave and she chose to live with me.”
Unreal. Kate’s house almost sounds like a cult or something, doesn’t it? And how is TLC just going along with this, openly defying court orders and all?!?!
(BTW, the mental institution situation that Jon references there is one hell of a jaw-dropping story on its own. This family, man…)
Anyways, at one point, Jon even asked Kate to give him and the court a filming schedule — locations, payment details, hours filmed, you know, simple stuff — but according to the furious father, his ex-wife wasn’t even able to provide that. Jon explained (below):
“You just wanted my signature for something that I didn’t know anything about to film my kids. And I said no. It’s not just me that is concerned. It’s me, Berks County Courthouse, Superior Court, and the guardian ad litem. Everyone agrees it’s not in the best interest of the kids to film, they’ve actually taken testimony from them that it is not in their best interests. Kate had to prove, within a reasonable doubt, that it was beneficial to the children, other than financially, to film them and she couldn’t prove anything.”
We’re with you on this one, man! There’s just one problem…
As Jon himself is quick to point out, the fines involved with breaking the court orders here are small enough the network is apparently cool with paying them as though they’re another cost of production. And the money rolling in is too important to Kate’s apparently-lavish personal lifestyle for her to seek a change, either.
Jon explained (below):
“They literally don’t care. They’ll pay the fine. So that’s what I tell people … that big business will do whatever they want to do because they have the money to pay all the fines. This is all about money. This is a fiduciary thing. This has nothing to do with anything else other than Kate’s lifestyle, not the kids’ lifestyle. Go get a job. Support your own family. It’s disgusting. My kids work for her lifestyle. Kate does nothing. Zero. Absolutely nothing.”
Yikes…
Related: Kate Cries To Dr. Phil About Being Physically Hurt By Tabloid Reports
Ultimately, Jon sounds like he just wants a normal life for his children — or, as normal as can be, considering all that’s happened already — as he told the outlet (below):
“There is no reason my kids need to be on television anymore, it doesn’t benefit them in any way. It is very confusing for them. I love all my kids. I want them to grow up to have a normal life. I know Mady and Cara are in college doing what they want to do, but my young kids are in ninth grade. I just want them to experience high school, kind of like I experienced high school – just as normal as possible.”
Amen to that.
Reactions, Perezcious readers?! What do U think about what’s allegedly going on here, with all the filming that appears to be going on against court orders?? Sound OFF about everything in the comments (below)…
[Image via Joel Ginsburg/WENN]
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