Collin Gosselin, who was one of eight child stars on the hit TV series “Jon & Kate Plus Eight,” has claimed in a shocking interview that his mother “tied his arms and legs with zip ties” and locked him in the basement as a child.
The 20-year-old made the shocking accusations against his mother, Kate Gosselin, in the interview. Rice San It was announced on Monday.
He claims his mother would lock him in an area of the basement “specially created” for his punishment, spending hours, sometimes entire days, alone in the dark while watching him on security cameras.
“It was literally like a holding cell,” he told media. “There were mattresses on the floor and we were living there.”
Colin claims that Kate committed him to a psychiatric hospital when he was 11 after he was diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses that he did not suffer from, and provided The Sun with his personal medical records as evidence.
“It was difficult. My mum really put me through a lot as a child, so it was hard,” Collin told the paper.
“I remember being isolated from my siblings and always being made to take responsibility for her emotions and the difficult things going on in her life,” he continued. “I remember being made the scapegoat and always being put in the tough position.”
But Collin's siblings were not treated the same way, he said.
“I was treated differently 100%. [than my siblings]”I was isolated, I was separated from my family, I couldn't even have dinner with my family,” he said.
He said he was forbidden to play with his brothers and sisters and “never really had a relationship with them growing up.”
The abuse allegedly escalated when he was around eight or nine years old.
Around this time, Kate allegedly began regularly locking him in the basement for “much of the day,” and at some point he stopped going to school.
Collin's allegations come just weeks after TLC announced plans to start airing old episodes of the reality show, 13 years after it was abruptly canceled.
Lawyer Richard Puleo, who represented Kate in her previous lawsuit against Jon, told the US Sun that Kate had done nothing to “intentionally harm” Collin.
Rather, “she did it to protect herself and her family” because of Collin's “behavioral problems” as a child.
“If Kate had done what Mr Colin is accusing her of doing, she would have been investigated and prosecuted by the authorities,” he said.
His claims are backed by her father, Jon Gosselin, who won a bitter 14-year custody battle with Kate.
John said the alleged abuse happened after he and Kate divorced and he moved out of their Pennsylvania home. At the time, he didn't have custody of his sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Alexis, Aaden, Leah and Joel, and twins Maddie and Cara.
According to medical records submitted as part of the custody battle, Collin reported Kate's alleged abuse to counselors and teachers at the time.
“My mother became very violent on many occasions, and most of the time, both physically and verbally,” Collin said.
“The many times my mother put me in that room, she would bind my hands and feet with zip ties, bolt the door, turn off the lights and put a camera in there to watch me,” he said.
John told the US Sun that he had spoken to the people who had bought the Gosselin family's house and had been told the basement where Collin had suffered was still there.
“It must have been terrifying for him.”
John said, “I didn't know about her.” [Kate] “It wasn't until much later that I took up just Colin and the basement and the zip ties. That didn't happen until I was gone.”
The father recalled that John received a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services' Office of Children, Youth and Families informing him of nine reports of abuse, but called the allegations “unfounded.”
John said reading the letter left him feeling “helpless.”
“Look at that letter and look at those 'baseless' words. It's complete bullshit.
Collin believes he was then given a false diagnosis and committed to a psychiatric hospital.
He stayed there for 22 months, during which time he received no formal education.
When he was 12, he sent his father a letter, scribbled in crayon on a notepad, begging him to come rescue him and let him live with him.
“Dad, I'm not trying to deceive you, but I still love you. I told mom I wanted to live with you and she said no, but you know, she can't choose for me. I'm old enough now and I'm your son, not hers,” a tearful Collin read.
“After I left her house, she became violent towards me. I am sorry, I am sorry, please take this matter to court…Dad, you are my saviour. Please help me and let me see Colleen. I am counting on you to get me out of here.”
John described the letter as “heartbreaking” and immediately took steps to gain custody of Collin and bring him home, which he did in 2018.
Colin stopped taking his medication. Graduated from high school with excellent grades He eventually fulfilled a lifelong dream of joining the U.S. Marine Corps.
But last year, Kate claimed in a lengthy social media post that Collin had in fact suffered from mental illness and had “multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years.” A month later, Collin Dismissed from the military Because he “kept his pre-enlistment history private.”
of Marines Collin said he would have to undergo a psychiatric evaluation if he wanted to reenlist, and he reenlisted in October last year.
The doctors concluded that “he does not meet the criteria for any of the diagnoses of concern listed in your request for evaluation, and we do not see any evidence in his current functioning to suggest any other psychiatric diagnosis or behavioral disorder.”
