Kate Gosselin Details Her and Jon Gosselin’s Kids Struggling With Racism
Kate Gosselin is getting candid about her thoughts on raising mixed-race kids.
The Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum revealed she worried that her and ex-husband Jon Gosselin’s kids—24-year-old twins Mady and Cara and 21-year-old sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Aadan, Joel, Leah and Alexis—might experience racism as young children.
“When I was pregnant with Cara and Mady, I worried CONSTANTLY about it bc we were in a predominantly white community,” Kate wrote in the comments section of her Sept. 1 TikTok video. “BUT I started noticing advertisements, billboards etc with one white parent and one Asian parent.”
The 50-year-old also referenced the popularity of Tiger Woods—who is Thai, Chinese, Black, white and Native American—as a possible reason for diverse representation in advertising, adding, “It started happening a lot and I think this was a time when (sorry for lack of a better word) it was looked at as ‘cool’ to be mixed race!”
But while Kate admitted her kids “didn’t go through too much” racism when they were younger, that has not necessarily remained the case.
“Until they were older and things changed a lot,” she continued, “and not for the better.”
Although Kate didn’t provide any other specifics about her kids’ experiences with racism, she recently provided insight into how her kids have dealt with other pivotal experiences in their childhoods. In fact, she explained that both Mady and Cara had a difficult time adjusting when they first left for college.
Donna Svennevik/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
“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 said in an Aug. 15 TikTok. “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.”
The matriarch had her own difficulties, too, noting, “I unhealthily pretended for the first three months that they were just upstairs sleeping. I couldn’t accept the fact that they had left, they were gone and I wasn’t gonna see them until the holidays.”
Nowadays, however, she embraces the fact that her kids are living their independent lives.
“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,” Kate explained. “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.
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Leave a comment