Kate Gosselin Makes Financial Confession After Returning to Full-Time Job
Kate Gosselin just wants to give some T.L.C. to her kids.
The Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum reflected on how she was beside herself when her eldest kids, 24-year-old twins Mady and Cara, went off to college in 2019.
“I unhealthily pretended for the first three months that they were just upstairs sleeping,” Kate said in an Aug. 15 TikTok. “I couldn’t accept the fact that they had left, they were gone and I wasn’t gonna see them until the holidays.”
The 50-year-old—who is also mom to 21-year-old sextuplets Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Collin, Leah and Joel with ex-husband Jon Gosselin—added, “I unhealthily coped, and that’s how I dealt with it.”
And apparently Mady and Cara also had trouble adjusting to the separation from their mom.
“The first few weeks when they both went to college—two different colleges—they were on FaceTime, all three of us, crying every night for at least a week or two,” Kate continued. “After that, they slowly found friends and I didn’t hear from them as much, which scared me. I wanted to know that they were safe, I wanted to know that they were OK.”
To grapple with the new phase of her and her kids’ lives, the TLC star channeled her energy into making gifts for her first-borns.
“Every holiday, little or big, I sent them really nicely decorated boxes to make it exciting for them and help them miss home less,” Kate explained. “That was fun for me, and that was really fun for them to get mail.”
After clearing the hurdle of sending her eldest off to college, the mom of eight had a much smoother transition when she officially became an empty-nester, especially since the sextuplets are attending college a little closer to her home in North Carolina.
Raymond Hall/GC Images
“It was a little easier because they could come home on the weekends,” Kate, who is estranged from her son Collin, shared. “It didn’t feel so final. By then, I already had a trial run of kids leaving home.”
And while she has adjusted to a quiet house, Kate still believes “the most wonderful, wonderful thing” is when her kids come home for the holidays.
“They’re all catching up,” Kate said. “They all live in different places or go to different colleges, so I get to listen to them catching up and be a part of that. We cook big meals together. It’s really loud here, and I love it.”
Read on to look back at Jon and Kate’s kids through the years.
Instagram / Kate Gosselin
Sextuplets Turn 21
Sextuplets Hannah, Collin, Alexis, Aaden, Leah and Joel turned 21 May 10, 2025 and Kate shared pics from the latter four’s birthday celebration.
Instagram / Stephanie Lebo
Hannah’s 21st Birthday Celebration
Hannah celebrated her birthday with her dad and his fiancée Stephanie Lebo.
Instagram / Kate Gosselin
Sextuplets’ 20th Birthday
On Mother’s Day 2024, two days after the former couple’s sextuplets turned 20, Kate shared a tribute the four who lived with her: Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah.
“No more teenagers in this house! Happy 20th birthday, my forever babies! I love you!” she wrote on Instagram. “Who feels old? I know I do! #20yearsold #ItsaPICKLE.”
Instagram / Hannah Gosselin
Hannah’s Birthday Post
Hannah shared new pics of herself on her and the other sextuplet’s 20th birthday.
Instagram / Hannah Gosselin
Hannah the Graduate
On to the next chapter! The sextuplet graduated from high school in 2023.
Instagram / Collin Gosselin
High School Graduates
Jon shared a pic of sextuplets Collin and Hannah graduating from high school in 2023, years after they had moved in with him.
Raymond Hall/GC Images
Girls’ Trip
Kate appeared with twin Mady and Cara in New York City in this 2019 pic.
All Grown-Up
“Happy 18th birthday!” Jon wrote on Instagram in 2022. “Today is your birthday we gonna say it loud. I love you. Love, Dad.”
Birthday Bash
“Our big celebration of #15 is finally winding down here! We celebrated ALL DAY LONG, beginning with a present at 6:30 am before school! I’m so very thankful for my ‘babies’…. somehow they are 15 already?!” Kate wrote on the special milestone in 2019. “I’m amazed by them each day! I’m so proud of the positive qualities I’ve seen developing as they edge closer to adulthood.”
Back to Class
“This was yesterday! Feels like school never ended…and they’re already back! #SeniorYear #EighthGrade #ProudMom,” Kate wrote on Instagram in 2018.
Instagram / Jon Gosselin
Birthday Greetings
“Happy 15th Birthday Hannah, Collin, Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah!!!! Wow I can’t believe you are 15!!! Time is flying by!!!” Jon Gosselin shared on Instagram when posing with Hannah and Collin Gosselin. “I love you all very much. I wish you the best day ever and I hope you enjoy your birthday celebrations today and this weekend!!! Love always, Dad.”
Girl Power
“My beautiful ‘little girls’ …. they keep reminding me how many days until they turn 14. Today it was ’12 days til we turn 14, Mom.’ HOW’S THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!” Kate shared with her followers in 2018. “I told Leah that she’s too small to turn 14. She said ‘Yeah, true. Are you sure I’m not turning 11 or 12?’ I’m positive. I gave birth to you. They’ll always be my babies….I love them so very much!”
Growing Up Gosselin
“I can’t believe they’re 13!” Kate Gosselin wrote on Instagram when celebrating a major birthday for her sextuplets.
Donna Svennevik/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Greetings From Alaska
Rewind to 2014 when Kate and her children found themselves visiting Alaska.
Doug Meszler/Splash News
Girls Trip
Kate also treated her twin daughters Cara Gosselin and Mady Gosselin to a trip to New York City in 2014, where they stopped by the Manhattan Hotel.
Happy Holidays
“A precious Christmas memory. My 6 were 6. Christmas Eve 2010 and they’re SO excited for Christmas!” Kate Gosselin wrote on Instagram with a throwback photo. “Look at those adorable smiles! #TheyAreMyHeart #My8ReasonsToKeepOnKeepingOn #NoMatterWhat #TrueLoveX8.”
Heidi Gutman/NBC NewsWire
Camera Ready
Back in October 2007, Jon and Kate Gosselin gathered their eight kids together for a trip to New York City. First stop? A visit to NBC’s Today show.
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