Jon Gosselin Reveals What He Would Say To His 8 Kids If They Would Talk To Him

Jon Gosselin is speaking out on his ongoing custody battle with his ex-wife, Kate, and his strained relationship with six of their eight children. In a new interview posted by Us Weekly, the former Jon and Kate Plus 8 star revealed that he last saw all eight of his kids together about a year ago and that the visit was “not good.”

“It was just volatile and a lot going on,” Gosselin told reporters. “It was just not a good time. Like, forced custody and all that kind of stuff.”

Gosselin also revealed that he is not on speaking terms with “most” of his kids at this point, but that he has made peace with it.

“Hannah lives with me full time, and then Collin. Leah, Alexis, Joel, and Aaden, they’re with their mom, and then the twins are 18, so they’re adults. The other four [sextuplets] aren’t talking to me, but they’re talking to Hannah. It’s what the kids want to do. If they don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine, as long as they keep up with their sibling connections. Eventually, if they come around and they want to talk to me, that’s cool.”

While Jon Gosselin made it clear that while he won’t force his kids to have a relationship with him, he also wants them to know he is always there if they need him. The dad of eight said that he longs for a good relationship with all of his kids.

“[In a perfect world] I’d have just like, a normal relationship with my children, meaning, just communication. It wouldn’t have to be all lovey-dovey. Just like, ‘How you guys doing? Where are you going to college?’ Maybe call me for advice. Like, hey, I’m thinking about going to this school, college, whatever. With Madelyn and Cara, because when I think back, like, I was part of their life a little, and then all of a sudden there was nothing, you know what I mean? And just with the other four, just like, ‘Hey, you guys wanna go bowling or something?’ So we can spend time all together.”

Jon and Kate Gosselin’s twin 18-year-old daughters, Mady and Cara, will head off to college in the fall. The teen girls have been notoriously estranged from their father for at least two years. In 2016, Cara Gosselin told People she “wouldn’t even know what to say” about her dad.

Mady Gosselin was even more vocal, telling the celebrity magazine of her dad, “He makes it seem like we’re being kept from him, which is insane. He should maybe spend some time thinking about why we don’t want to see him, and maybe realize that if he ever does want a relationship with us, talking about us on TV is not the way to make that happen. He doesn’t even know us. How can he dare to talk about us?”

Jon Gosselin has been at war with his ex-wife Kate since their 2009 split and, unfortunately, their kids have been in the middle of the battle. The exes were originally awarded shared physical custody of their children — twins Mady and Cara and sextuplets Hannah, Collin, Leah, Alexis, Joel, and Aaden — with Kate granted full legal custody of the eight kids.

But earlier this year, Hannah Gosselin began living with Jon and started at a new school apart from her siblings. In addition, Jon, a Pennsylvania-based DJ, was recently granted sole custody of his 14-year-old son Collin when Kate and her lawyer skipped a custody hearing last week. Collin Gosselin has been living at a boarding school for children with special needs and is expected to be released to his father’s home before Christmas.