Collin Gosselin, who previously accused his mother Kate of physical and emotional abuse, is set to release a memoir on his tumultuous childhood this fall.
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When it comes to telling the truth, Collin Gosselin is an open book.
In a new social media post, the former reality-TV star and son of Jon and Kate Gosselin teased the emotional revelations about his relationship with mom Kate from his upcoming memoir.
Gosselin, who starred on the TLC series “Jon & Kate Plus 8” alongside his parents and sextuplet siblings, has been open in recent years about his estranged relationship with his mother, including allegations of physical and emotional abuse.
The 22-year-old aims to pull back the curtain on his tumultuous childhood with the release of his memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight,” which is set for an Oct. 13 release. The cover of the book features a cropped family photo of Gosselin and his mother, which shows Kate covering Gosselin’s mouth with her hand.
“For a long time, I wasn’t sure I’d ever tell this story,” Gosselin wrote in a June 17 Instagram post. “Growing up, millions of people watched my life on television. People felt like they knew me. They knew my family. They watched me grow up. But there was so much they never saw.”
Gosselin took to his Instagram stories over the weekend to double down on his raw account.
In a June 27 post, Gosselin shared a screenshot of a New York Post article that featured the headline “Kate Gosselin ‘spiraling’ ahead of estranged son Collin’s bombshell memoir: ‘She knows it’s about to hit the fan,'” according to People magazine.
The since-expired post, which included a photo of Kate Gosselin with her face blurred out, also contained a quote from a commenter: “What’s done in darkness will always come to light.”
Following her son’s post, Kate Gosselin responded to the online commentary surrounding Gosselin’s abuse allegations in a series of social media comments.
USA TODAY has reached out to Kate Gosselin’s representatives for comment.
Kate Gosselin says she would ‘sue’ son Collin over abuse allegations
Kate Gosselin addressed the news of Gosselin’s memoir in a TikTok post Monday, June 29. Although Kate’s video, a recap of recent events in her personal life, did not discuss her son’s comments, several users brought up the controversy in the comments section.
“If you are 100% certain that the accusations against you are lies, my suggestion would be to take him to court and sue him for defamation!” one user wrote, to which Kate replied, “I can’t [because] I’m a public figure. Rules are different, unfortunately, or I [definitely] would!”
“I consulted a high-power LA attorney (you’ve definitely heard of him) years ago when other [people] were putting crazy stuff out there, and that’s what he said,” Kate continued. “The courts don’t honor it if you’re in the public eye.”
The “Jon & Kate Plus 8” alum also responded to a commenter who appeared to suggest she was deleting critical comments about Gosselin’s allegations.
“Yep, I sure am!” Kate wrote. “This page is about my real life, and it’s all about kindness, love, honesty and definitely not for made up accusation discussion.”
Collin Gosselin responds to Kate Gosselin comments
Gosselin responded to his mother’s social media comments on his Instagram stories Tuesday, June 30.
The former reality-TV star shared a reaction video reviewing Kate’s remarks, which also included a screenshot of a user’s comment that read, “People have obviously not read her diary that was leaked, where she admits to feeling anger toward Collin…”
“Never forget the fact that my mom would write in her diary how she ‘had to pray to God to stop hitting me’ (this was while I was 2 years old by the way),” Gosselin wrote. “And this is why using my voice to put these things in the light is so important.”
What Collin Gosselin has said about mom Kate, alleged childhood abuse
In a 2024 interview with The U.S. Sun, Gosselin got candid on his “rough” childhood with mom Kate, who he said became “physically aggressive” and “verbally abusive” toward him. He alleged that Kate would sometimes zip-tie him and lock him inside a basement room for days at a time.
Gosselin’s father Jon, who divorced Kate Gosselin in 2009, backed up his claims at the time and told The Sun that when his friends’ in-laws bought the house, they asked, “Why is there a room in the basement with a bed and a lock on the outside?”
During an appearance on “The Dr. Oz Show” in 2019, Jon Gosselin alleged that his ex-wife “institutionalized” their son without a mental health diagnosis and later “created a diagnosis.”
Kate Gosselin addressed her fraught relationship with Gosselin in a statement shared on Instagram in 2023. The TV personality said her son had “received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years” and that he was placed in a facility for the “safety of myself, his brothers and sisters and for his own well-being.”
She added that Gosselin “remains a very troubled young man” and that he has struggled with a “distorted perception of reality.”
In his recent Instagram post announcing his memoir, Gosselin shared that the writing process proved to be cathartic in processing his past trauma.
“Writing this book forced me to revisit some of the hardest moments of my life, but it also gave me something I’ve been searching for a long time: my voice,” Gosselin wrote. “This isn’t the story people think they know. It’s the story I’ve lived.”
This story has been updated to add new information.
Contributing: Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY
