Hannah Gosselin told Teen Vogue that she didn’t realize it wasn’t “normal” to have cameras filming her life 24/7 for Jon & Kate Plus 8
Jon and Kate Gosselin, who had sextuplets and a set of twins, documented their family until their divorce in 2009, when the show became Kate Plus 8
Hannah revealed that while the show pushed her parents apart, it actually brought her and her siblings closer together
Hannah Gosselin is being honest about growing up on reality television.
The 21-year-old recently opened up to Teen Vogue about her highly publicized upbringing on her family’s TLC docuseries, Jon & Kate Plus 8, which began following Hannah and her seven siblings in 2007. At the time, she said she didn’t think much of having cameras around — the crew even lived on the property in the show’s early years.
“That was our normal,” Hannah told the outlet. “You’re always surrounded. The film crew was there 24/7.”
Isabella Kahn
Hannah Gosselin
Hannah never realized that her life was different from other kids’ until she and her siblings started going to school, and paparazzi were waiting at the bus stop to get photos. When they’d get home, the cameras were waiting for them and filmed until they went to sleep, only to be there again when they woke up in the morning.
“School mornings are stressful as it is,” Hannah noted, joking that she and her siblings learned how to make sure something the cameras caught wouldn’t make it to air by shouting out brand names that they knew the network couldn’t include due to trademarking issues.
In 2009, Jon and Kate Gosselin got divorced, and the show was renamed Kate Plus 8 a year later. Knowing that everyone knew about her family’s personal business was difficult for Hannah, but she ultimately appreciates what the experience has done for her.
“[Filming] made my siblings and I closer to each other, even though it made my parents further from each other,” she admitted, also acknowledging, “It’s hard to go back and watch my parents argue.”
In the end, Hannah told the outlet she likes being able to go back and watch her childhood memories, and she was able to use the money she made from the show to pay half of her college tuition.
Heidi Gutman/NBC NewsWire
Kate and Jon Gosselin and their eight children
Hannah, along with brothers Collin, Joel, Aeden and sisters Alexis and Leah, make up the infamous sextuplets shared by Jon and Kate. They also have older twins, Mady and Cara, who are now 24.
At the time of the divorce, Kate was granted full custody of all eight kids, but Collin was later placed in a program for children with special needs due to what she called “unpredictable and violent behavior.”
After two years in the facility, Collin moved in with Jon in 2018. Hannah chose to live with her father that same year.
Years later, Collin alleged Kate “drove a barrier” between him and his siblings during an appearance with Hannah and Jon in a July 2023 episode of Vice TV’s Dark Side of the 2000s. Also, in a 2024 interview with The Sun, he further accused Kate of being “physically aggressive” and “verbally, very abusive” toward him.
Kate later reacted in a statement to PEOPLE.
“My son Collin, whom I love with all my heart, has received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years. 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 wrote at the time, adding, “Collin’s distorted perception of reality is one of the many issues that he has always struggled with.”
Jon also responded, telling PEOPLE: “Regarding these brand new false accusations, it seems clear that even today after not seeing her son since the 6th grade, Kate is unable to control her abusive words towards him.”
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If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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