Kate Gosselin’s estranged son Collin details horrific alleged abuse from reality star mom in bombshell memoir: ‘My face was purple and bruised’

DAILYMAIL.COM • 1h ago

By JACQUES PETERSON, US ASSISTANT SHOWBIZ EDITOR 02:18 14 Oct 2026, updated 02:20 14 Oct 2026

Collin Gosselin is going scorched earth on his estranged mom Kate Gosselin in his new memoir, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood.

The scathing tell-all, which hit shelves on Tuesday, delves into Collin’s upbringing on reality television and accuses Kate of emotional and physical abuse – which Kate has denied.

The Gosselin family originally skyrocketed to fame in their TLC reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8, which followed then-married couple Kate and Jon Gosselin as they raised their sextuplets.

The couple eventually split and Kate got custody of all eight children. She then continued doing the series, under its new title Kate Plus 8, until it was canceled in 2017.

Kate sent Collin to live in a residential behavioral health facility in 2016, shortly before his twelfth birthday, where he remained for two years until he went to live with Jon full time.

Collin, 22, now claims that he was sent to the facility because he ‘pushed back against filming’ their reality show and that he was painted out to be a ‘troubled child’ by his mother.

‘I was difficult because I was the only one out of my siblings who pushed back against filming and that whole facade that my mom spent building,’ he told ABC News this week.

‘I was a danger because I could have so easily dismantled that facade,’ he continued.

‘The truth is that my siblings and I were being overworked, we were being exploited. There were just no adults to say, “Maybe this isn’t okay for children.”‘

Collin also detailed the alleged abuse he suffered while living with Kate, which she has previously denied.

He said that it started out ‘in the emotional space’ and he ‘became the problem’ before things allegedly escalated.

‘And then there was the physical side. I learned early that my mom’s anger didn’t stop at words. Sometimes it was a sharp yank to my ear. Sometimes a slap across the face. She would always stretch her fingers outward and hit us with the palm of her hand. Right across the cheekbone. Quick, decisive, meant to correct.’

Collin then claimed that the strikes were so brutal that they would leave his face bruised.

‘It was always the same side of my face that carried the evidence. It would turn purple, bruised, tender to the touch, marks that faded just in time to be replaced by new ones,’ he wrote.

‘I learned to angle myself away from her without making it obvious, to anticipate her hand before it moved,’ he continued.

Collin claimed that he wasn’t the only sibling to suffer Kate’s wrath, alleging that she once pulled his brother’s ear ‘so hard it was actually injured’.

He also reiterated previous allegations that he had been forced to live in a ‘locked basement’, where he slept on an air mattress and was monitored via a camera.

‘There were no toys, let alone any furniture. Just books. The cameras were connected to a device about the size of a baby monitor, it hung from a lanyard so it could be worn around someone’s wrist,’ he wrote.

‘My mom carried it, then passed it off to a nanny or assistant when she left the house. It moved from person to person, a small screen that meant eyes were always on me.’

After he attempted to escape the basement one day, Collin alleges that Kate ‘zip tied’ his hands before sending him to live at the Fairmont Behavioral Health Institute.

Daily Mail has contacted Kate for comment.

I’m Andrew Court, LA Showbiz Editor and celebrity connoisseur.

I’ve spent the past decade chasing down celebrity scoops and scandals, and now I’m bringing the best of them straight to your inbox.

Kate was recently asked by a TikTok user why she hasn’t taken legal measures against Collin over his abuse claims against her.

She replied: ‘I can’t bc I’m a public figure. Rules are different unfortunately. Or I def would! The rules are different for ppl in the public eye.

‘I consulted a high power LA attorney (you’ve definitely heard of him) years ago when other ppl were putting crazy stuff out there and that’s what he said. The courts don’t honor it if you’re in the public eye [sad face emoji].’

Collin spent nearly two years in the facility after Kate said that he displayed ‘unpredictable behavior and violent tendencies towards’ his relatives.

‘My son Collin, whom I love with all my heart, has received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years,’ Kate told People magazine in 2016.

‘For the safety of myself, his brothers and sisters, and for his own well-being, he was placed in a facility following years of outpatient treatment which proved insufficient for his needs.’

She called Collin at the time ‘a very troubled young man who continues to need a lot of help.’

Kate added that his ‘brothers and sisters and I have not been directly involved in his life due to his history of unpredictable behavior and violent tendencies towards us.’

Collin was previously diagnosed with multiple mental health issues, including autism, ADHD, and bipolar.

He was later re-diagnosed as an adult and was found by a clinical psychologist not to have any current psychiatric or behavioral issues.

Jon was granted full custody of Collin in 2018, as well as his 22-year-old sister Hannah in 2016.

Collin is estranged from his 22-year-old siblings Aaden, Alexis, Joel, and Leah as well as his 25-year-old twin sisters Madelyn and Cara who also starred in Jon & Kate Plus 8.

Collin is currently starring on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.

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