Trigger Warning: This story contains descriptions of child abuse.
Collin Gosselin says he isn’t nervous about the upcoming release of his memoir, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood, though there is someone who should be nervous: his estranged mom, Kate.
While attending an event for his upcoming appearance on Season 5 of ‘Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,’ the former ‘Jon and Kate Plus 8’ star was asked if he’s “nervous” for people to read his memoir once it hits shelves next month. Without skipping a beat, the 22-year-old proceeded to deliver a true mic-drop moment.
“I mean, I’m just going to say this: I’m not the one that should be nervous,” he replied, clearly referring to his estranged mother.
As The Ashley previously reported, Collin’s memoir is set to detail his childhood on reality TV– where he starred alongside Kate, his dad Jon and seven siblings. It will also detail the horrific emotional and physical abuse he alleges his mom Kate inflicted on him as a child. That abuse, Collin claims, included Kate zip-tying his hands and feet together and locking him in a basement. (Kate, through her attorney, refused to comment on the allegations when Collin came forward in 2024.)
As you may remember, Collin was also sent by his mom to live in a mental health facility at the age of 12. Collin maintains that Kate made this decision after people started noticing his abuse. Kate, however, has claimed that she chose to institutionalize Collin due to his behavioral issues.
Collin remained in the mental health facility for nearly two years, at which point Jon was granted custody of the then-14-year-old. Collin moved in with his dad and sister Hannah, and the two siblings remained in Jon’s care until adulthood. Meanwhile, Collin and Jon remain estranged from Kate, as well as the other Gosselin siblings (Mady, Cara, Alexis, Leah, Joel and Aaden).
While promoting his book last week on social media, Collin shared with followers how he’s managed to turn his childhood pain into motivation to help others with similar experiences.
“For a long time, I carried my childhood struggles with me and let them tear me down,” Collin wrote. “Today, as an adult, I choose to use those hardships as fuel to keep moving forward and to help others who may be facing their own struggles.
“It’s important to remind ourselves that our deepest wounds don’t have to define us,” he continued. “They can become the very reason we choose to heal, grow, and help others.”
Collin’s recent (and rightfully snarky) remark about his mom’s reception to his memoir comes a few months after Daily Mail reported that Kate was “spiraling” over the contents set to be revealed in Collin’s book.
Collin reacted to the report at the time by posting a screenshot of the New York Post’s version of the story to his Instagram Story, along with a comment left on the post by a fan. (Collin also took it upon himself to blur the photo of Kate that was featured with the story.)
“What’s done in darkness will always come to light,” the fan wrote.
Fans can watch Collin compete on the new season of ‘Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,’ premiering Thursday, September 24 on FOX.
His book, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood, hits shelves October 13 and is currently available for preorder.
Click here to preorder Collin’s book using The Ashley’s Amazon Associates link!
You can watch Collin’s mic-drop moment– which was posted by his book’s co-author— below.
RELATED STORY: Collin Gosselin Says He Used His Rough Childhood to Motivate Him on ‘Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test’
(Photos: Instagram; TLC)
Next up, Jace from Teen Mom’s book
I’m not familiar with them, but she looks absolutely deranged. I love the top photo. What a meme or screen saver that would make.
Looking forward to reading this book. I read the unauthorized bio of Kate Gosselin years ago and, y’all…….shes an absolute monster. The author received a copy of Kate’s journal where she writes about beating her baby boys and feeling out of control to stop. Anyone who watched the show saw some of Kate’s monstrous behavior.
Poor Colin has had lies told about him and was forced to “perform”his entire childhood. Good for him for taking back his power and voice. I hope this brings him peace.
He’s a good looking young man. All the best to him.
Colin turned out .. fine lol
Truly the best looking brother!
I’ve been estranged from my abusive mother for almost 20 years now. It was the best decision I ever made. But what I did not do was threaten to expose my mother or try to get at her like Collin is doing. He’s really fixated on getting revenge. I don’t think it’s healthy.
Maybe you don’t think it’s healthy for you but your not Colin
She lied on him for decades plus. He is just setting the record straight, and calling out the abuser is at the prerogative of the victim, not onlookers.
Proud of the young man, hope he gets some peace.
I believe he was abused by her. She’s one of those people who takes her anxiety and stress out on other people. Was he a perfect kid? Prob not but usually people don’t lie about this stuff
Kate is one thing but what about the multiple siblings that say you were awful…are we forgetting about them and most of them in their mid 20s?
Mady IS awful, publicly, on social media. And she’s the ONLY one who has ever said anything negative besides Kate and she’s had anger issues since SHE was a child beating up on her siblings on TV. Collin didn’t even respond to her. Please tell us all where he was awful to his siblings besides in Kate’s imagination? Are you saying he has to hide his abuse for the sake of his siblings? Yeah…no. His story is his story. Oh, and having a name like FrostyQueen when defending someone like Kate is one hell of a choice. 😂
Are you comparing an abused child acting out to a parent who committed the abuse? I think you need to re-think that argument.
The ones who have been solely raised by Kate and fed her version of the story for all these years? Only 1 sibling said anything and that was Kate’s mini-me who is her clone in personality so no surprise. The other kids have been basically told not to talk to him by Kate or there would be consequences. She has made that clear. They haven’t said anything negative but also haven’t been allowed to form their own opinions and try to reach out. Only Kate’s mini-me has anything to say and based on how she has acted on the show and in interviews for years, it’s clear she just regurgitates what Kate tells them and has the same attitude and personality as Kate (which no one can deny Kate’s personality is horrible). But sure throw a kid under the bus and tell him he didn’t experience what he did, that’s totally healthy and normal. This kid clearly experienced bad shit and it has been confirmed by others. He’s worked thru it and has shown growth but people like you want to continue to discount him and say he’s bad cuz Kate says so. That’s sad. He has no reason to lie about all of it; maybe some of it is exaggerated but it clearly is based on actual experiences he had so who are you to discredit him when you don’t even know him. Kate has showed who she is over the years and that person lines up with everything he says. Try to be objective and not shut down a kid who is trying to grow and heal.
So just because only one kid suffered from abuse the abuse don’t happen? Cool logic…wish I was simple like that 🤣
Like there is no such thing as a scapegoat.
Let’s pretend that he was “awful” (and that came from only Mady – not the others). He was sent away before he even hit puberty. So, anything Mady and Kate say he did would have happened when he was a literal child. Of course an abused child is going to have behavioral issues. Kate was the adult and the parent. She abused that boy, had him locked up, wouldn’t even disclose his location to Jon, never went to visit the poor kid, and then washed her hands of him completely once Jon freed him. Saying “Kate is one thing, but…” is not a good look here.
I cannot wait for Kate to get what she deserves- which is to be outed for the absolute narcissistic monster she is! Get her Collin! I feel so bad for him honestly- I have three boys and they all have ADHD. It’s chaos sometimes but my two older boys have grown out of a lot of the behaviors and have matured a lot in the last two years. But I cannot imagine treating any of them differently from the other. I love them all the same amount but just in different ways because they are all so unique and are their own person. while things might be a little more… calm? I allow them to be themselves and I celebrate them for who they are even if it makes my life a little crazy. Collin deserved SO much more and while I’d like to say Kate was just overwhelmed by being a mom of 8, that wasn’t what it was because she was able to parent the rest of the kids and get them all essentially on her side and to follow her wishes. Regardless, if she wasn’t up to parenting 8, she should not have chosen to go through everything she did to have them. They weren’t created to supply her cash flow- they were meant to be kids and to be loved. She failed.
I believe him. Everything he says she did, I believe him.
I’m proud of him honestly. It looks like he has worked through the trauma of what Kate did to him. I wish him nothing but success for his book.
I think he will definitely do better on Special Forces. Kate was laughably horrible! I will be rooting for him all the way!