Collin Gosselin announces memoir detailing alleged abuse by mother
Former reality-TV star Collin Gosselin promoted his upcoming memoir, which alleges physical and emotional abuse by his mother Kate Gosselin, prompting a public exchange on social media.
Collin Gosselin, the son of former "Jon & Kate Plus 8" stars, used Instagram to preview his forthcoming memoir, "In the Shadow of Eight," scheduled for release on Oct. 13. The book’s cover shows a cropped family photo in which Kate Gosselin appears to cover his mouth, and the former reality-TV participant said the memoir will reveal details of a turbulent childhood that were not visible to the television audience.
In a June 17 post, he wrote that he had long doubted he would tell his story, adding that millions had watched his family on TV but had missed much of what happened behind the scenes. A later Instagram story shared a screenshot of a New York Post article that suggested the memoir would be a "bombshell" and included a comment noting that hidden wrongdoing eventually emerges.
Kate Gosselin responded to the online discussion in a TikTok video on June 29, stating that as a public figure she could not sue her son for defamation, and she dismissed criticism of her handling of the comments on her page.
Collin Gosselin previously told The U.S. Sun that his mother was "physically aggressive" and "verbally abusive," alleging that she sometimes zip-tied him and confined him in a locked basement room for days. His father, Jon Gosselin, corroborated the claim in 2022, recalling a visitor’s question about a locked basement room.
Jon Gosselin also alleged in a 2019 interview that Kate Gosselin had "institutionalized" their son without a mental-health diagnosis. Kate Gosselin has previously described her son as having multiple psychiatric diagnoses and said he was placed in a facility for safety reasons.
Collin said writing the memoir was a cathartic process that gave him a voice and allowed him to revisit the hardest moments of his life.
"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 a long time: my voice," Collin Gosselin wrote in his Instagram announcement.
The dispute highlights ongoing tensions within the former reality-TV family as the memoir approaches publication.
