 The reality show, John and Kate Plus 8 was attracting 10 million viewers per week. People want to know where the money went. We filmed every single day except for two. They forgot the points where I was pushing camera crew out of our house. Is that the right decision or does it kind of, that continued exposure, and it continued the injury to them? Um, I mean there is no injury to begin with. All she wanted was legal custody, to film my kids, to sustain her lifestyle. A former famous reality star now struggling with finances amidst reports that she stole upwards of $100,000 from her own children, who she exposed to millions of viewers on reality TV and who now claim that reality TV tore their family apart. John and Kate Plus 8 basically ruined your family. I think so. Another who pretended to be perfect, but whose leaked diary tells a much darker story. And of course, a father who is far from perfect too. Yes, this is the story of John and Kate Plus 8, and John and Kate's public feud that tore their family apart. John and Kate Plus 8 was attracting 10 million viewers per week. Once you have that in that lifestyle, you can see certain tendencies in people. It just feeds and feeds and feeds. Before getting into this video, I want to put out a few disclaimers. First off, please respect the children's privacy. Even though all of them are over the age of 18 now, they were still sort of forced to grow up in the spotlight. So I really want to focus on the parents of this story and not as much the children besides those who have come out and spoke publicly as adults. I think the story of John and Kate Plus 8 is very illuminating because it's the closest similarity to family vlogging of today. John and Kate Plus 8, which is actually a major tongue twister if you have to say it again and again, was a reality show that filmed John and Kate's 8 children as they grew up in front of a camera. And so the aftermath of this kind of lifestyle is shown in this family. And I think we'll be seeing a lot of situations like this to come in the future when children of family vloggers grow up. Do you believe that Kate is an unfit mother? Her belief system is skewed. Once fame and money got involved, it twisted her belief system. So if you don't know who John and Kate Goslin are or what the reality show John and Kate Plus 8 is, let me explain. John and Kate Goslin rose to fame through basically giving birth and having kids. If only it were that easy, am I right? Just kidding. It would never be a thing in the first place. And the reason why John and Kate's children were the reason they became famous is because John and Kate had a set of twins and then a set of sex tuplets. And as soon as they flashed the ultrasound screen, I saw too many circles to count. And, um, I was thinking this cannot be babies. There's too many. How someone has six babies at once, I cannot even comprehend. I don't think my body could even handle having twins. I barely got through the pregnancy I already had. Kate's pregnancies were the result of fertility treatment, and I've heard it is somewhat common, or at least more common, for people undergoing fertility treatment to have multiple births. Following the birth of the sex tuplets, the Goslins were featured on the Home Improvement reality show, Home Delivery, when their home was renovated to accommodate the large family. And I think when they appeared on this show, people were really interested in this family and how they could handle having eight children. So the family was then featured on a special on Discover Health. In September 2005, titled, Surviving Sex Tuplets and Twins, then a year later, another special titled, Sex Tuplets and Twins, one year later. And with high ratings from these two specials, Discover Health signed the couple to a reality series titled, John and Kate Plus Eight. But it started out as an hour special. It did so well for Discovery Health. It became a second hour special, and at that time they said, would you like to do a series? Our first season was eight episodes. Our second season was 12. Our third season was 40 episodes. And then our fourth season was 52 episodes. To produce the show, the family was filmed three to four days a week. Think about how grueling that must be for little tiny children to be filmed three to four days a week. Was it something that was hard to tell where the family ended and the show, the show began? Oh, absolutely. February 2008, we filmed every single day except for two. There got to points where I was pushing camera crew out of our house. Something that you never forget is like the presence of the cameras. There's always cameras there. They're always on you. The show's first two seasons aired on Discovery Health until switching over to the Learning Channel, also known as TLC. You know, the channel where everyone goes to learn. That is, if you want to learn about things like courting and strange marriages. It's informative in some way, at least. The show ran from April of 2007 to July of 2017. Though there was about a three-year hiatus, so in total the show ran for six years. Imagine six years of your childhood where three to four days a week you have to film a reality show. To me personally, at least, that does not sound fun. And in 2010, the show rebranded to Kate Plus 8 because of the messy divorce between John and Kate. We have decided that we will separate. It's just not good for our kids for us to be arguing in front of our kids. While on the show, John and Kate Plus 8 looked like a seemingly happy family, things were definitely not picture perfect. The couple split in May of 2009, only two years after the reality show started. 10.6 million viewers tuned in to watch John and Kate's televised separation announcement. Kate and I have decided to separate. I'm not very fond of the idea. There were rumors before the separation that John was having an affair, something that Kate confirmed in a public statement stating, Over the course of this weekend, John's activities left me no choice but to file legal procedures in order to protect myself and our children. Really just airing it all out in public? Okay. John fired back publicly, this seemingly being the start of their public feud where they would talk to the press about each other and make headlines from statements that they'd make publicly. John alleged that Kate boosted him and told the press he took custody of the children. I took a lot of a boot from her. I was put down. I'm taking care of the kids. Kate is on book tours and doing all these things. John told ABC News. He says off camera, the relationship was much worse. I don't trust her anymore. I was a f***ing loser. What does that mean? You being a f***er? I was verbally f***ed. I was beaten down. There are tons of clips of Kate yelling at John in the show itself. Because you need to stop playing toys and come help. I've never done that since. And I don't care what he said. So we have. When? Crayola factory. I don't know what you're talking about. Now the corn maze in our show open and you yell, hello? Honey stand up and help them in. I'm sorry. Can you stop breathing so loud, honey? He's like... Are you really going to be that immature and sit here and with your arms folded and neck like a ding dog? We're part of it. Thanks for interrupting me. I love when you do that. Now would you like to speak? Of course, I think every couple has moments where you're yelling or you're a little bit agitated. But the amount of clips of Kate losing her temper in public and while being filmed makes me wonder how often she lost her temper behind the scenes as well. I was verbally f***ed. I was beaten down. She separated me from my family, my mom and my brothers. I was portrayed as the villain. We were already divorced and then the paparazzi started taking pictures of me dating other women. On TV it was shown as me being married so the public was being fooled. Though the tabloids were telling the story that John was unfaithful to Kate and turned into a bizarre playboy, John says that there's a different side to the divorce. She didn't want to be married anymore. Why? Because I didn't want to film anymore. I wasn't part of the business model anymore. John claims that Kate liked the fame and money that came along with their reality show. Fame, things are given to you. You're held to a higher standard. You're put on a pedestal and once you have that in that lifestyle you can see certain tendencies and people just get feeds and feed. But John became increasingly worried about the negative consequences of being on reality TV especially for their children. It's not like going to work and coming home. I mean we don't have privacy at all. I'm loving what we're doing so we just have to figure it out. It's really difficult for me at my end. So eventually John wanted to stop doing reality TV. I literally hung a sign on my gate saying if any crew members show up I'll have you arrested for trespassing. They sue me for breach of contract. I pretty much bankrupt myself. But I did for moral reasons obviously. But Kate and the network wanted to continue on because the show was incredibly successful and making the network a lot of money. We made them $186 million a quarter. When you're making $186 million a quarter for a company you can't just go quit. So both the network and Kate worked against John in a legal battle to try and gain custody of the children to continue filming this show that brought in everyone millions. I've spent $1.7 million in lawyer fees from when TLC sued me and my divorce. Kate on the other hand, TLC paid for her attorneys. I didn't understand at first why but now I understand why. All she wanted was legal custody to fill my kids to sustain her lifestyle. And Kate began to do more and more public appearances, book releases, tours and it seems she became very preoccupied with fame rather than focusing on family in the wake of a divorce. Then in 2010, less than a year later, Kate went on dancing with the stars. Kate was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars season 10. She was told by her children that she can't dance, but she wanted to prove them and herself wrong. But when we saw her dance, her kids weren't wrong on that one. A career move that John again called out publicly. She referred to her as an absentee mom and accused her of not spending enough time with her kids. And it did seem, at least on the outside looking in that at this time, Kate was really off doing a lot of things. I mean, you look at that and it's pretty impossible to take care of eight kids and also go on Dancing with the Stars and go on a book tour. And in my harshest opinion, it seemed like she kind of used her kids as an avenue for fame and personal success and then discarded them to focus on her own success. At least during this time period. But Kate continued filming her kids in her reality TV series until 2011 when the show took a brief two and a half year hiatus. Then in 2013, John Goslin sat down with Oprah for an interview and he said that reality TV gave his kids problems developmentally. Yes, they got to travel the world. And yes, they got these fabulous things. And yes, they have trust funds and they're taking care of educationally. Goslin, who now works as a waiter in Pennsylvania, told Winfrey. But developmentally, they have problems with their peers and they have problems with talking to other people and they have problems with wants and needs and manners and morals and what's right and wrong. I think more so than someone who grows up off TV. It just became stressful on the kids and stressful on me and we're super public now I can't go here anymore because we're filming all the time and I saw my kids not growing up normally like I grew up and and I was having community. It does seem that John was throughout his children's life really looking at how it is being in front of the camera and being on reality TV affect his children and what will be the negative consequences of that. I tend to look more towards my kids and what's the best for them. Once I had them, I went through tons of therapy. I still get a therapist. Following John's statement, Kate brought her two eldest daughters, the twins Maddie and Cara onto the Today Show so that they could claim that they have no problems and are totally normal and there's absolutely no negative consequences of growing up on reality TV. Good morning to all of you. Good morning. At least I assume that was Kate's intention with this interview but it kind of backfired and led to the most uncomfortable TV interview I have ever seen. Maddie, what would you want to say about how you and your sister and your family are doing? Maddie, your words. That's hard. It's a hard question. Oh, what about you, Cara? Maddie, go ahead. Sort of the things that you said in the magazine that years later they're good, they're fine. Go for it, Maddie. You just said it. In my opinion, you really get a look into how Kate treated her children behind the scenes in this interview. Do you think people had the wrong impression of you guys, Cara? What, Cara? Yes, I know. And again, in my opinion, this interview comes across like Kate's children really are in fear of her. Well, let me ask you, Kate. I mean, to have them come out here to do a big magazine article, to have them come on national TV and sort of put them on the spot like this, is that helpful to them? Is that the right decision? Or does it kind of that continued exposure continue the injury to them? I mean, there is no injury to begin with. If anything, this interview just convinced me and the public in general that the kids were struggling with being on reality TV and maybe felt like they didn't have a voice to articulate their wants and needs. Then in 2015, court documents emerged in which John alleged that Kate is abusing the children. The official court statements made in 2015 alleged that Kate hits the kids, scolded them in public, and failed to provide adequate food and weather-appropriate clothing, which I know divorce processes can be very complicated sometimes. And especially in a long custody battle, parents can exaggerate certain things. But it is important to mention to show a sort of pattern here over time that uncovers on really how Kate acted as a mom behind the scenes, when she wasn't directly profiting from her children. Though to her credit, of course, it is never easy being a single mom, especially a single mom of eight children. I can't imagine how anyone would be able to do that. So of course, no one ever knows the full story. But it seems like the cracks were beginning to show in Kate's perfect exterior and the way that she presented her home life. Because in 2018, during an Instagram Live, John Goslin confirmed that he had full custody of one of the daughters, Hannah. Soon after, more controversy started to come out because Kate admitted to institutionalizing her son, Colin, for what she claimed was his special needs, even though she said he wasn't formally diagnosed and instead has a fluid diagnosis. Your mom said Colin had special needs. There's a fairly fluid diagnosis of what those needs are. This has been a struggle we've had for a very long time. It's unfortunate that that's how my mom, you know, phrased me as a person. I don't see those things and I don't think anybody else sees those things. And I hope that if we met again one day, she would understand that, you know, it's not the case. Apparently, Colin was institutionalized for three years and the reality show continued on without him. I was in two different institutions, scary place. I was actually 12 when I got admitted there and it was like I spent my 13th and 14th birthday there. All the while, his dad had no idea where he was or that he was at an institution. I did not know where he went and it took me two and a half years to find him. He did not need to be an institution. Just because he was a difficult child did not mean he needed to be sent away. Why were you there? Because your dad said you shouldn't have been there. You know, I came to the conclusion that everybody has their own agenda. You know, my mom had her own agenda. I don't know exactly what that was, but my agenda was to make it out on top of that tough spot. Finally, Colin was able to get out of the institution through sending a letter he wrote in crayon to his dad, begging his dad to help him get out of the institution. Colin told me he was finally able to leave the institution after writing John this gut wrenching letter begging for help. And the only way I found out that I knew where Colin was is Colin wrote a letter and his roommate smuggled it out. And that's how I found out that where Colin was. Now he's doing well in school, happy, healthy. And how's he doing now? I'm a straight student. He's in JROTC. Then in December of 2018, John gained custody of Colin after Kate failed to appear in court. Later on, John made a statement claiming that Kate alienated him from his kids, not allowing him to see them and creating a circumstance where he had virtually no relationship with them. John told entertainment tonight, I feel it's a really poor decision on Kate's part because she alienated me from those kids. I think it was a poor parenting decision. It would have been much better if she would have been more open with them and explained things better. I've been alienated from those children. And it's sad to see over the years how many brutal public statements John and Kate have made about each other with little forethought into how their children will feel seeing all these public statements as they get older. I'm sure so many people who have either gone through divorce or their parents have and they've witnessed it can relate to this, but it seems like John and Kate went through this endless battle to see who could win in divorce court instead of truly working as a team to help raise eight children, which is no easy feat together and much harder when you're alone. And on top of this brutal battle going on, the children were also being filmed on reality TV the entire time, with very little privacy while going through something that's emotionally straining at the very least your two parents divorcing and being alienated from one of your parents for most of your childhood. But later on, more and more information was revealed about how Kate not only treated John behind the scenes, but treated her children. John and Kate have seemingly had an endless feud and brutal battle that not only alienated them from one another, but caused severe damage to their reputation and undoubtedly to their children. And the custodial warfare between John and Kate only subsided when the sex tuplets turned 18 in May of 2022 and then TLC cut ties with Kate in 2020 after a judge found her in contempt of court for filming their underage children without John's permission. Just let that sink in. The children were on this reality TV show and John never signed off on it. He never agreed to it. He thought reality TV was damaging for them and bad for them. And yet Kate still continued to put them in front of a camera. Throughout this entire messy divorce, publicly and on Kate's TV show, she still tried to appear like a great parent who is acting responsibly and doing her best to be present. I'm not out to win any awards. I'm out to be the best mother that I can possibly be. That is, until her diary was leaked to the public and to those who think that's an invasion of privacy for Kate's personal diary to be released to the public. Remember, she filmed her children on a reality TV show three to four days a week for most of their childhood. Kate's journal was first released by writer and show insider Robert Hoffman, who claimed to have witnessed Kate's mean outbursts. Robert then discovered Kate's diary in a box she had thrown away. In the book called Kate Gosselin, How She Fooled the World, Robert revealed that Kate wasn't very sweet to her children. In a September 5th journal entry that was released by Robert on Pastebin, Kate revealed she was too rough with two-year-old son Colin. Kate said she was awful to Colin because he was awful to her. You know, as two-year-olds can be sometimes because they're two years old and just a toddler. Kate said that her son purposefully did things to irritate her as a two-year-old. Writing, I need to pray for my relationship with Colin. I can't explain it. I don't understand him. Kate even laid out a prayer asking for God to make her slow to wrath. And this was not Kate's only time targeting Colin. Another diary entry showed on January 2nd, 2007 that she s***ed him so hard that she was afraid that she would severely injure him. Kate shared that she s***ed him into his crib, thinking she may really lose it. Then sadly, again, an entry made on May 16th of 2007 was Kate's worst yet. She wrote that she pulled Colin up by the hair after he snuck some M&Ms. Kate noted she put Colin back into his bed for his own safety, after once again s***ing him tremendously hard. Kate was often shown emotionally stressed and sometimes depressed on the reality show as she was trying to raise eight children. But to most viewers, they thought it was the normal amount of a reaction when you're raising eight children on your own. Everybody has days where they go to sleep at night, moms, and you think, I was really hard on so-and-so, I really dropped the ball there. But the great news is that tomorrow you can get up and start over. And of course, TLC never filmed and posted anything of Kate acting violent towards her kids. But over the years, Kate has been accused of behind the scenes, forcing her children to be on camera, alienating them from their father and institutionalizing her son Colin, who it seems she's been targeting for a very long time. Speaking of Kate's son, recently more controversy has sparked because Colin has spoken out publicly. Colin Goslin has spoken out in a public interview about his estrangement from his mother and how the family's reality TV show affected their lives. It's unfortunate that we didn't have a relationship. I think every son wants to have a relationship with their mom. But I'm doing very well. If you guys hadn't done that reality show, do you think your family would be intact? I think so, yes. I think the pressure of being in front of the whole world and everything, every mistake you make is out there. I think that was a big influence of them not being together. John and Kate plus eight basically ruined your family. I think so, in my opinion. Kate has said in the past that Colin went to an institution for three years for his special needs. But according to ET, Colin said he stayed there for three years before going to live with his dad. After being there, I didn't have a relationship with her. Even before that, I don't think we had much of a relationship because of TV and what being in the public eye did to our family. I think it tore us apart. In a previous interview with ET, Hannah Goslin also spoke out about why she chose to live with her dad. I've always been closer with my dad and we've always had a good, strong relationship. It's a lot growing up in a very busy household with lots of kids. And there's not really a one-on-one relationship for attention that you have with your parent. I felt like my dad gave me that attention and a feeling like I had a good solid relationship with a parent. It seemed like both Hannah and Colin felt like they didn't really have a relationship with their mom at all, which is heartbreaking to hear about. On top of that, recently John also went to the press and claimed that Kate stole $100,000 from both Hannah and Colin. But Kate claims she just borrowed the funds. Still very sketchy, Miss Kate. In legal documents obtained by The Sun, Kate admitted to making two separate withdrawals of $50,000 from two of her kids' trusts, but said it was to survive. In the 2019 court filing, Kate claimed that the assets from Hannah and Colin's account, yes, of course the two kids who were no longer living with her are the ones that she took money from. Apparently those assets were being used to meet her and the children's expenses. Yes, steal from your children to give to your children makes total sense. And that same year, Kate bought a $750,000 home in North Carolina. It's disgusting and it's morally wrong, John told The Sun. Parents are not supposed to withdraw any money from these accounts without permission and without drawing up paperwork that they will pay it back. But she has produced no paperwork and no payments have been made. Wow. That's just mind-blowing and honestly, I'm very upset. I'm very angered by that. So I'm trying not to show my emotion too much on this whole situation, but when you are in show business, particularly on TV or on movies, Hollywood and California have Cougars Laws in place where you are obligated to A, always have a teacher on set, either only allowed to film for a certain amount of hours and C, a portion of whatever money is being made from the show is reserved in a trust in the children's names so that when they turn 18, they're able to have that money saved in a trust for them specifically. Being 18 also means that you now get all that money that you earned as a kid on TV. I do. I mean, I don't know how much it is, but I've always said like when I take the money that I'm going to use it to pay for my college. The fact that not only did Kate film these children throughout six years of their childhood, three to four days a week, but then the fact that she took money out of two of her kids' accounts that we know of for her own personal expenses is so upsetting to me. It is so, so morally wrong in my opinion and so infuriating. At least the one thing these children had from working their entire childhood for you, Kate, in your reality show was their trust and the fact that you took from that with very little shame and with no promise to pay it back, at least no written promise. I mean, I have no words. I'm just like infuriated. But in the court documents, Kate actually claimed that her children actually owe her money because she paid for private school tuition out of her own pocket. The thing that parents do help their kids get an education, but no, that was apparently her paying for school out of her own money. So all of her children owe her money from their trusts. Are you kidding me? Kate claimed in the filing, so I mean, I'm not looking to collect that, but I borrowed $100,000 from the kid's trust and it owes me $387,000, technically. Wow. And on top of that, John claims Kate still has not paid back Hannah or Colin's trust despite a judge ruling that she should make plans to do so. Imagine $50,000 of your savings from when you worked as a kid just gone because your mom took it. Are you kidding me? So where is Kate Goslin now? Kate claims that she is happy and at peace in her new downsized North Carolina home. She moved from the 24 acre, 7,300 square foot home in Pennsylvania to a less than an acre, 3,500 square foot modest house, I guess, in North Carolina. And it seems like she is doing just fine with no real consequences for what she put her children through and stealing from her own children. And honestly, that anchors me. Kate recently starred in Fox's new upcoming reality series, Special Forces, World's Toughest Test and was seen in the previews for the show. So it seems that she's still able to do reality TV show and her love affair with reality TV has yet to end. And that's how Kate and John Goslin were destroyed by greed and how they practically destroyed their family and their own lives in the process. I hope as adults, the children are doing okay and living healthy and happy lives, just as I hope all of you are. As always, thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.