Law&Crime Sidebar - 'Jon & Kate Plus 8' Scandal: 6 Bombshell Abuse Claims

Episode Date: October 13, 2026

Former reality TV star Collin Gosselin is coming forward with harrowing allegations of abuse against his mother, Kate Gosselin. His new memoir reveals dark claims of being zip-tied and locked in a basement containment room at their family home in Pennsylvania. How do his experiences behind the scenes of "Jon and Kate Plus 8" compare to other high-profile family exploitation cases? Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the shocking details alongside celebrity criminal defense attorney Bradford Cohen.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Go to https://quince.com/lawcrime to get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Jay Cruz, Christina O'Shea, & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson, Heather Berzak & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Another child of the reality show, social media age, is speaking out about what allegedly happened behind the scenes. And these claims are eerily similar to accusations of abuse against other alleged supermoms. We are examining the allegations from Colin Gosselin of John and Kate Plus 8 fame as he releases a stomach-turning memoir. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Webber. There is a new memoir from Colin Gosselin that is drawing comparisons to claims that were made by the children of notorious mom fluencer turned abuser Ruby Frankie. And to be clear, as we get into this, these are just allegations, okay? But the famous family at the center of these latest allegations is, of course, the Gossilins, right?

Two parents, eight children. They were big stars for years in the early 2000s, and it was thanks to their show on TLC, John and Kate Plus 8. Colin Gosselin is one of the Gosselin Sex Tuplets that was born in May of 2004. And he was featured in TV documentaries, reality television series, basically from the time he was born. But Colin claims that there was a much darker side to the family, much darker side to the family-friendly programming. In fact, in an interview with Juju Chang for Good Morning America, he claims that everything you saw on TV was, quote, lies. Back during the summer, when Colin announced the pre-order details for his book, it's called In the Shadow of Eight, he posted this on Instagram, quote, 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. For years, I kept those experiences to myself, some because I was afraid, some because I didn't think anyone would believe me, and some because I just wasn't ready. 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 for a long time, my voice. This isn't the story people think they know, it's the story I've lived. And he also posted a photo of himself as a toddler, writing, Dear Little Me, You Weren't. won't always carry this alone. One day you'll turn your pain into purpose, your silence into a voice, and your story into hope for other children. You will be the reason someone else

speaks up. I'm so proud of you. In the Shadow of Eight is now out, and it contains some really startling allegations. According to Column, things really took a turn in 2009 when John and Kate Gosselin announced their divorce. Kate was granted apparently primary custody of all eight kids and they continued doing reality TV. You might remember this. It was the show short and title, Kate Plus 8. So Colin claims that Kate isolated him from his dad, made him sleep in a locked room in a basement. At one point, he claims she dragged him across the room by his earlobe. Teacher reportedly saw his swollen ear, asked him about it, had him talk to a guidance counselor. When he told the counselor about it, Colin claims Kate wasn't happy and she would eventually go on to

pull him out of school while his siblings still got to go. Colin told Jiu Chang during his GMA interview, quote, simply put, my whole life that I lived was a lie. All the things you see on TV lies. We were redoing takes. It was like cry a little harder, laugh a little louder, and that's what caused me to say, I don't want to be part of this machine anymore.

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Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. You get free shipping on your order, 365-day returns. It's now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know that it was right here on Sidebar. It really is the best way to support our show here. Hope you enjoy. Colin says he was offered framed on the show as being one of the difficult children. He told Chang, I was difficult because I was the only one. one of my siblings who pushed back against filming and that whole facade my mom spent years building. I was a danger because I could have so easily dismanted that facade. The truth is that my siblings were being overworked.

We were being exploited. There was just no adults to say, maybe this isn't okay for children. And Colin claims as things got worse, Kate even allegedly zip tied his hands and feet together and locked them in the basement. Now, when I say that and I talk about that allegation, I go back to what I mentioned at the I go back to what I imagine a lot of people are going to make a comparison to, right? Doesn't that eerily remind you of some of the allegations from Ruby Frankie's children made against her when they were finally rescued from Jody Hildebrand's house out in Utah?

Frankie's two youngest children, boy and girl, right? Duck tape on wrists, ankles, the young boy managed to escape, run to a neighbor's house for help. Children were part of a family of eight that documented their lives on the YouTube channel, eight passengers for years. And in a prior interview in 2024 with the son, and that's important. So it's not like these allegations are just coming out now. There was allegations from years before. Colin said at the time, my mother had a room built in our unfinished section of the storage basement. She had a room put up with cameras in it, a tiny window in the corner, and it was bolt locked it from the outside. It was like a containment room, literally, and it had a mattress on the floor, and that's how I lived. Colin was also reportedly separated from

his own siblings. He told ABC News that his mom had him forcibly removed from his home just days before his 12th birthday and taken to an institution where he was given medication. I was told this is for your own good. I threatened my mom's income. I threatened her image and people will do anything to protect their reputation, especially my mom. Colin says he was in that institution for around a year before he managed to sneak out a note to John, his father written in crayon, which he says read, I'm counting on you to get me out of here. Daddy, I love you, save me. And it was another year before Colin was ultimately released.

But he says once he was, he went to live with his dad and one of his sisters who decided to leave Kate's care. And Colin reportedly had no contact with his other siblings. John told the son in 2024 that he had no idea about any alleged physical or verbal abuse claims all that happened after he left the home. Colin claims that Kate was investigated by child protective services or youth services, but says paperwork shows the allegations were put down as, quote, unfounded. Over the years, Kate has responded to this. She has responded to some of Colin's claims in 2023. She posted a statement to Instagram saying in part,

My son, Colin, whom I love with all my heart, has received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years. For the safety of myself, his brothers and sisters, and for his own well-being, was placed in a facility following years of outpatient treatment, which proved insufficient for his needs. The decision to admit him was made by emergency room doctors following one of his many attacks, outbursts. This one involving his use of a weapon. Fast forward to the present day and following John's removal of Colin from treatment, my son's unpredictable and violent behaviors have sadly continued regularly towards John, Hannah, and others around him. She went on to say, all parent-child relationships are complex, but when mental illness is involved, it is incredibly

complicated and painful and certainly not easy for others on the outside to understand. All measures that were taken in our home were at the explicit recommendation of his pediatric psychiatrist and or his team of specialists and were put into place to safeguard every member of our family, our friends, as well as our family pets. And she also claimed in 2023 that Colin had been diagnosed with, quote, multiple psychiatric disorders. So oppositional defiant disorder, PTSD, there's also references to autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder. And by the way, Colin himself denies that he has these conditions, says he was falsely diagnosed. He says he underwent a psychiatric

evaluation that concluded he did not meet the criteria. But the specifics haven't been released. So we don't have a clear sense of this. But so far, the only response from Kate about Colin his book came in a response to a follower on TikTok that was back over the summer, and this is per In Touch magazine. She wrote, quote, 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. I can't because I'm a public figure. Rules are different, unfortunately, or I deaf would. In a podcast interview with Life Coach Jay Shetty, Colin responded to that or seemingly responded to that saying, quote, my mom has claimed that because she's a public figure, she can't take legal

action or whatever. Yes, you can't. Anybody can go and sue for defamation, but I'll tell you, and I'll say this right now publicly, she won't because I have evidence that she has abused me. And if she does decide to take legal action, she will lose. And I can say that confidently. So aside from how ugly this, of course, is, there are some legal issues that are coming to place here, both, I think, in the civil arena and in the criminal arena. And that's what I want to talk about. Okay, so I was thinking, who's the perfect person to talk about this? Well, attorney to the stars, Bradford, would be great. Thank you so much for coming on, Bradford. Really, really appreciate it. Look, you know, I'll be completely honest. I didn't know anything about that much about this story,

that much about this family. I remember the show back in the day. And as I was looking at this, I was listening to what Colin was saying. You know, first you would look at this and say, oh, my gosh, a memoir coming out. This is when allegations fly. This is when people make salacious claims. But if you read a little bit more into it, these are allegations that were made back in the day. Kate had responded to allegations years past. You're talking about a potential documentation, a report, children's youth services, potentially getting involved.

You wonder, is there substance to these allegations? And if there's something there. So just overall, when you hear what he is saying now in public interviews and what is being mentioned in this published memoir or about to be published memoir, what's your overall take? I think that both kind of stories can be true, in my opinion. So the mom thought she was doing the best that she could for her son. I don't think that she was purposely trying to abuse, you know, him or try to mentally mess him up or anything like that. I think that her truth is essentially, hey, listen, I had a kid. He was a little out of control. And I think she doesn't know how to handle that.

I think that there was a lot of kids, you know, to take care of. She was going through a divorce. I don't think she knew quite how to handle it. And she probably handled it incorrectly. So that's kind of her truth that she's living like, okay, you know, this kid was in a lot of trouble. I had to send him away because he was messing up every other kid that was involved in this thing. And then his truth is really true, too, that it really did mess him up. And she was locking him in rooms that, you know, he didn't think he deserved.

But he could have been really a wild kid that she didn't know how to handle. And did she handle it inappropriately? you know, there's probably some validity to that. Is he insinuating that he's the victim of criminal child abuse when you read these allegations? Yeah, I think he is. Yeah, I think he's trying to say that it was a crime. I think that he's, you know, asserting that she did certain things to him

that were abusive physically. You know, some of the things, you just, you know, she dragged him across the room by his ear. You know, I'm bald because my mom used to drag me, my hair. So, you know, when we're growing up, you know, parents do things that they think are appropriate at the time that might in, you know, you look back on it when you're 40 years old or 30 years old and you go, man, that that probably was inappropriate at that time. This kid's 22 and he's looking back and saying, my mom dragged me across the room by my ear. Things like that, I think,

are you look at it from both sides. You can see really both sides. I've seen parents. I've seen parents and smack kids on the tush, I don't get offended by it, but the kid grows up and he's 23 years old and then he says to his psychiatrist, my parents used to hit me on my tush, and then all of a sudden it becomes, you know, they're asserting that there's a crime there. So I think that she handled it. Some of those things, when I'm listening to him, I think she handled it inappropriately. I don't think either side is really lying about it. I think that she thinks she handled it appropriately, and he thinks she didn't handle it appropriately. And I think both can be correct.

And, you know, like I said, I think a single mom handling eight kids and then one of them she perceives as being a troublemaker, and he may have been a troublemaker, but I don't think she handled it correctly. But again, that's Monday morning quarterbacking. I don't know because you're not in it with them and you're not living it every day. So like, did she think she needed to send him away to get right? Maybe she did. And then the kid feels like I am right.

I don't need to be in this institute or wherever she sent them to. And he sends a letter to his dad saying, please rescue me. You know, kids do that. When you're in, when you, you get, I had friends that got sent away to sleepaway camp at six years old. Now today you'd say, holy cow, you're sending a kid to sleep away camp at six years old. That to me sounds crazy. But these kids were getting sent away to the cat skills, you know, and they're six years old

and they're running around the camp. And they're sending letters, please save me. You know, so I'll get it. Well, well, in all fairness. And an institution is different than a summer camp. But I just have to make this point. I have to ask you, generally speaking, generally speaking, is it possible? Like when people, if an adult is now making allegations that they were abused as a child,

is there a statute of limitations, generally speaking? Or do investigators look at this and say, no, we can charge a caregiver, a parent, with child abuse, whether it was 10 years ago, 15 years ago, whatever it is, or is there a statute of limitations, generally speaking, on the law? And I'm not saying that she committed a crime. I'm not saying that this is going to amount to an investigation. But I'm just curious. Have you ever seen that materialize? I think that generally there's a statute of limitation on these type of crimes. If it was a sexual crime, I think that you'd be looking at something differently. But if it's a crime of child abuse when the child was younger and there was never an investigation done a full

investigation there was no accusations made at the time it would have to be kind of like an ongoing thing in order to fit within a statute of limitations which i don't think they have here so no i i don't think that there's going to be any kind of criminal uh liability on behalf of of or investigation you don't think there's going to be an investigation no listen it who knows these days would there be an investigation that goes nowhere, maybe, but I don't even think somebody would pick up this investigation unless they wanted the press. You know, there's, you know, if it was in certain jurisdictions that I think the AGs of those state really look for press, I think that, you know, they could say we're opening an investigation. It's going to go nowhere. I don't see any criminal

liability whatsoever. I want to talk about how Kate may respond to this. Look, in the past, she's denied allegations of abuse. She called it heartbreaking in 20. She said these were complete fabrications, that they were just the distorted perception of reality is one of the many issues that he always struggled with. She went on TikTok this past summer that she doesn't feel the need to defend herself. I will also tell you in 2016, Kate told ABC, I'm in the public eye. I have been investigated many times. It's always unfounded.

Obviously, this is respect to the youth agencies. and in 2023 also she had said that Colin had received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years, that he was prone to attacks and outbursts, one allegedly involving the use of a weapon. She called him a, quote, unpredictable and violent person, that he was very troubled. And so there is something interesting going on here. He's not just a random stranger. It's her son. But there is a question in someone who is in the public eye, does she say, there's not much more for me to respond to this?

You know, people will make their own judgments, but she seems to be suggesting there's a credibility issue. Or does she file a defamation action? I mean, there even seemed to be referenced to that recently about, you know, him making these claims. Is he prepared for what that response could be? But again, it's her son. And someone in her position in the public eye, is, you know, he's. Is this something if you were representing or maybe not even you, but just generally speaking, do you think this is something where she's looking at a civil lawyer and saying, what are

my options here to respond to what I'm imagining she's going to claim are false allegations? I think it, yeah, I think if she is, it's not the right decision. This kind of story has been out for a while and she made her reply to this story years ago. I don't know if she released his medical records or she made reference to his medical records. that he had some diagnoses that were consistent with, you know, being, you know, a troubled kid. I don't think there's much more to say on that. And if you really believe and you think that he is a troubled kid, I don't know you get anywhere filing a defamation act. It just prolongs it. It draws it out. It gives him more of a stage to say that he was treated unfairly. I just don't. And if you're looking kind of to heal the situation,

which I don't know if it's even possible, I don't think that's the solution. And like as a lawyer, it's funny because people come to me all the time. And there's sometimes there's cases where, you know, I could make a really probably good living off of the case where they want to sue someone for defamation or they want to sue someone for something else. And, you know, the case would go well into the six figures in terms of attorney's fees. But I just, I give the advice sometimes that it's just not the right way to get. something resolved if that's what you're looking for. I guess it's kind of like you always, when someone comes into your office,

you always ask him like, what does a win look like to you? Is a win, you know, some sort of getting back together at the end of this? Is a win getting a money judgment? Is a win getting an injunction for him never to talk about it again? But doesn't that make it worse? That she's saying, hey, you know, he's asserting that she always kept him quiet. And then all of a sudden she plays into it seeking an injunction to keep him. quiet. I think a win here is exactly what she's doing in that she's not responding. She already

responded. She said that he's got, you know, certain psychosis that brings him to these conclusions that he was abused. And I think that's really all she needs to do. I wouldn't go further than that. Does it, does it support his credibility that this was published or about to be published? In other words, does a publisher have a responsibility to fact check to do their own? own research, to do their own due diligence, to make sure that if they're about to publish what are, you know, really, really going to be public, arguably salacious claims or allegations, do they have a duty, a legal obligation to make sure there's something to support it? Because they have to imagine that they could be on the hook for potential lawsuit.

So I wonder if someone is publishing this and making these claims in a memoir, does you know you're thinking about the it had to get through the publisher does that support his credibility and like i said it does but like i said before both things can be true right it could be true that um that these things happened to him it also could be true that there was a reason these things happened to him in terms of you know his different psychosis that he was going through in terms of the type of abuse or non-abuse that was happening to the family that put him into this institute, that did all these different things. None of us were there.

So it's just two individuals, really, and I guess his brothers and sisters. But that also speaks to whether or not this is a valid thing, right? He had two older sisters, and then he had, you know, I don't know, five other brothers and sisters that were all. witnessing these things and none of them have said anything. It's very difficult to keep everyone quiet, right? So, you know, Kate would have to be a magician to say every single one of his brothers and sisters, none of them are saying, hey, you know, this is what I perceive happened or what I thought happened. It's very unusual to have that happen. So like I said, I think his allegations could be true, you know, that he was institutionalized, that, you know,

he was locked in a room, that, you know, she dragged him across the room by his hair or his ear or smacked him in the tush. All those accusations could be true. The question is, does it amount, in my opinion, does it amount to a child abuse? Because we weren't in those situations. We don't know really, you know, what the rest of the family was going through. But I think, I think it does speak volumes that none of the other relatives are essentially saying, hey, you know, it happened to me too. Or, you know, because this kid, the Colin, he's saying, oh, I was just the, I was the only troublemaker of the family, and it only happened to me.

It's just, it's unusual. It's an unusual situation. I don't doubt his, his veracity for truthfulness, but the way that he perceives it could be different. Let me ask you this before we wrap things up. And I just, it's, my legal mind's working on this. Do you think this is setting up him filing a lawsuit against his mother, Fairmont behavioral health system? Do you think that this potentially could be something we should be looking out for? And I don't know if he's going to do it or not.

I don't know if he has a claim or not. I don't know if he wants to or not. But it's just as we're talking about the law, we're talking about allegations. Got to ask it. So that is the better question whether or not he would have a lawsuit. The problem with that is also statute of limitations. Now, there's some statutes in some states that say, you know, because you were going through it as a child, you weren't suey jurors. Essentially, you weren't old enough to file your own lawsuit.

Or, you know, these memories just came to fruition as you got older, and that's why you could sue. There's some ways that you could kind of fashion that. The problem with his case is that he's been making these allegations for, I think, five, six, seven years. and never filed any lawsuit or never did anything. I think it would be a difficult case to get around the statute of limitations. In some states, a smart attorney could fashion some way to get around a motion to dismiss, but I really think that the statute of limitations would be limiting on that. I think he's writing this book, in my opinion, is to attempt to self-heal

and get his story out in writing. When you see it in writing, it gives him, like you said, some validity. And he finally, quote unquote, has his own voice. I think that's an important thing. And I think he was probably advised to do it by a psychiatrist or psychologist to say, like, this would be a healing thing for you. Obviously, it's not very healing for Kate. But she could come out with her own book to say like, hey, listen, you know, I wasn't

the greatest mom. I wasn't the worst mom. And, you know, I did the best I could as a single mom with eight kids. And I think the dad did the best he could as a single dad with eight kids. I just think eight kids is a lot. Anybody who has children will tell you one is a lot. You know, two is even more. Eight is just next level where you're dealing with.

And they're all the same age, essentially. You know, and the dad's supporting essentially nine people in the household. I think there was a lot of pressure in that family, not to make excuses for wrongdoings, but I think there was a lot of pressure around. And when they're little kids, and he's saying, I felt like we were being taking advantage of. I mean, the kids five, six years old. I think that's tough to make that decision

at five or six years old. But I think as they got older, he realized, listen, I didn't want everything about my youth being on TV. And I think that also harbored a lot of animosity. I remember when the show was on and to what we're seeing now, it's sad to see a lot of these things, how they've developed and what's happened to the family. But we'll continue to

to monitor it, see if there's any legal developments from it. Bradford Cohen, thank you so much for taking the time, sir. Always appreciate it. Thanks, Jess. It's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.