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Collin Gosselin laid bare disturbing allegations of physical and verbal abuse he claims to have endured during his childhood in his tell-all memoir.
The son of Jon and Kate Gosselin released his book, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood, on October 13. The bombshell memoir “is the first account of a secret childhood lived in the gaps between the frames,” according to its official description.
It adds, “Collin is finally sharing the truth about being held down, the basement cell where he was hidden for years, and the cocktail of powerful antipsychotics forced on an eleven-year-old boy. This is a reckoning with the dark side of fame: the systems, the entourage, and the institutions that allowed one boy to be erased. This is the never before told story of how he escaped and found his way back from the dark.”
The former reality TV star announced his memoir in a June post, saying the book “forced [him] to revisit some of the hardest moments of [his] life,” but it also gave him “something [he has] been searching for for a long time: [his] voice.”
Scroll down to discover the biggest bombshells from Collin’s memoir.
Collin Gosselin Has Not Seen All His Siblings in 8 Years
In In the Shadow of Eight, Collin revealed he had also become estranged from most of his siblings amid ongoing tensions with Kate.
He disclosed he last saw his six other siblings during a court-mandated outing at an arcade eight years ago when he was 15 years old.
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Collin Gosselin Alleged He and His Siblings Were Pressured to Act Happy for the Cameras
Collin said Kate maintained a commanding presence on the set of their family’s reality show, Jon & Kate Plus 8.
“You couldn’t miss how the energy tilted the second she entered a room,” he wrote, per an excerpt shared by Us Weekly.“I watched producers, people with real authority, just go quiet around her, softening in submission.”
Per Collin, he and his siblings were pressured to smile, behave and appear happy on camera regardless of how they actually felt.
Amid the purported conditions, Collin revealed that his aunt Jodi Kreider and her husband, Kevin, raised concerns about the children’s treatment during filming, with Kevin even testifying in court regarding child labor regulations.
“They were among the first to raise public awareness about kids in reality TV being unprotected,” Collin penned.
Collin Gosselin Claimed Kate Locked Him in a Basement and Restrained Him With Zip Ties
After mentioning the basement incident in several interviews, Collin detailed how Kate forced him to live in an unfinished section of their family’s basement following a visit from Children and Youth Services (CYS) and his parents’ divorce.
In his memoir, Collin claimed he was “separated” suddenly and “moved out of sight.”
“For me, it was a message: My place in the house wasn’t fixed, and it could always get worse,” he added.
He claimed he was made to sleep on an air mattress in a small area equipped with surveillance cameras. He was also unable to leave the room without her permission, with Kate allegedly locking the door from the outside.
In one incident, he reportedly called out for Kate “through the cameras so she could let [him] out if [he] needed to use a bathroom upstairs.” When he no one responded, he was left with no choice but to relieve himself in the room.
Collin estimated he endured the arrangement for approximately two years, spending about 70 percent of his time confined in the basement.
“The rest was split between meeting with my teacher, eating alone without my siblings, cleaning up after everyone, or pretending to be happy when the cameras came around,” he wrote.
At age 11, he claimed he attempted to escape the alleged mistreatment but returned home because he had nowhere else to go. Kate became furious that she restrained his wrists and ankles with zip ties while verbally berating him.
“At some point I might have fallen asleep,” Collin scribed. “This was the last time she ever put her hands on me. My resistance that day convinced her that the only solution was to have me removed completely. If she couldn’t control me at home, she’d make sure I was locked away somewhere else.”
Collin Gosselin Detailed Kate’s Alleged Abuse
Elsewhere in In the Shadow of Eight, Collin alleged he was not the only child in the family subjected to physical punishment.
“She spanked all of us frequently. And she did it hard,” he wrote. “There was one time she pulled my brother’s ear so hard it was actually injured.”
Collin Gosselin Was Reportedly Forced to Take Psychiatric Medication at Age 11
Collin’s attempted escape led Kate to arrange for emergency medical workers to restrain him on a gurney and transport him to Fairmount Behavioral Health System without telling him where he was going.
During his stay at the facility, he claimed he endured further physical and emotional mistreatment. At 11, Kate allegedly began making him take psychiatric medications, including mood stabilizers, anti-anxiety drugs and antipsychotics.
He later discovered he had been prescribed more than 13 medications, recalling Kate “sometimes pinch [his] nose and push down on [his] neck in a rubbing motion—the way [he has] seen people administer meds to dogs.”
- Collin Gosselin Says TLC Producers Were Too ‘Afraid’ of Mom Kate to Stop Her Alleged Abuse: ‘She Was the Master of the Operation’
- Collin Gosselin Wrote Secret Note to Dad Jon Begging Him for Help Escaping Institution Amid Mom Kate’s Alleged Abuse: ‘Take This to Court’
- Kate Gosselin Fires Back With Cryptic Comment Amid Son Collin’s New Memoir Detailing Abuse Allegations
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Collin Gosselin Said His Father Jon Was Unaware of His Institutionalization
Per Collin, Jon became aware about his placement in a behavioral health facility only after receiving a handwritten plea for help. He then claimed in the tell-all book that he had spent around 18 months at the institution without his father’s knowledge.
The patriarch subsequently sought custody of Collin, who had stopped taking all psychiatric medications by age 14.
Kate Gosselin Allegedly Told Collin He ‘Broke’ Their Family
Being blamed for his family’s problems was another painful experience Collin recalled in his memoir.
He wrote that Kate visited him once at the facility with all his siblings. At the time, she apparently told him his “siblings are doing so much better without you at home. They’re happy and well behaved.”
“You broke our family,” Kate allegedly told Collin.
Kate Gosselin Reportedly Had 14 CYS Reports
According to Collin, he learned as an adult about 14 complaints were filed against Kate with CYS. He said his father possesses documents detailing concerns about her treatment of her children.
Still, Collin said “none of it mattered,” explaining, “My mom knew how to perform, how to stay just inside the lines. To the system, she was untouchable.”
TLC Allegedly Offered Jon and Kate Gosselin $2 Million to Stay Married
Before Jon & Kate Plus 8ended in November 2009 following Jon and Kate’s separation, TLC supposedly offered the former couple $2 million to stay married and “pretend the marriage was intact.”
He further alleged his parents held private meetings with Dr. Phil McGraw, who had a “real interest in preserving the TLC empire.”
Collin Gosselin Suspected Kate’s Romance With Steve Neild Years Earlier
Collin wrote he had long suspected Kate’s affair with the former family bodyguard, Steve Neild, before she officially confirmed it in 2025.
“Before I had been sent away, Mom and Steve shared a bedroom when we went away on vacations, and they went to dinners alone all the time,” he wrote in his memoir.
