Hannah Gosselin Makes Rare Comments About Her Siblings While Recalling ‘Jon & Kate Plus 8’

Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum Hannah Gosselin is peeling back the curtain on what it was like for her and her seven siblings to grow up in front of reality TV cameras.

“That was our normal,” the former TLC personality, 21, said in an interview with Teen Vogue published on Wednesday, May 14. “You’re always surrounded. The film crew was there 24/7.”

Hannah and her sextuplet siblings — Alexis, Aaden, Collin, Leah and Joel — plus older twin siblings Cara and Mady, 24, first appeared with parents Jon Gosselin and Kate Gosselin in the one-hour specials Surviving Sextuplets and Twins and One Year Later in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The success of the documentaries led to the creation of Jon & Kate Plus 8, which premiered in April 2007 and ran until July 2017.

Viewers watched the Gosselin kids go from toddlers to teens, and though Hannah said they were used to the cameras, she admitted that the constant attention caused difficulties as she and her siblings went through their adolescence. She revealed that she struggled to make friends because she didn’t know whether they really wanted to get to know her or if they only wanted to be on TV.

As the kids got older, Hannah said they discovered ways to get around the constant presence of the cameras. For example, they knew footage couldn’t be used if a brand name was said due to trademark and product placement issues, so one sibling would repeat a brand name over and over while another would say or do something that they didn’t want on TV. Hannah said that the camera crew eventually caught on and told the siblings to stop.

“[Filming] made my siblings and I closer to each other, even though it made my parents further from each other,” she said. “It’s hard to go back and watch my parents argue.”

Jon, 48, and Kate, 50, got a highly publicized divorce in December 2009. Nearly 10 years later, Collin and Hannah moved in with their father in Pennsylvania, while their siblings lived with their mother. Kate, Alexis, Aaden, Leah and Joel later moved to North Carolina.

Hannah said that, whenever she misses her siblings, she watches clips of Jon & Kate Plus 8.

Hannah previously admitted to Entertainment Tonight in April 2022 that she “chose” to live with her father because she was “closer” to Jon than Kate. However, she said it was “difficult” to leave her siblings behind.

“I did not want to be separated from them or even, like, live in a different household than them,” she explained. “But I just feel like there was unfair treatment in my mom’s house and I just wanted to live with my dad.”

Collin, on the other hand, has been estranged from his siblings and his mother for years. In 2023, he accused Kate of institutionalizing him twice when he was 12 years old to punish him for speaking out about the alleged abuse he experienced at home.

Kate denied the allegations in an Instagram post.

“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 the years of outpatient treatment which proved insufficient for his needs. The decision to admit him was made by emergency room doctors following one of his many attacks/outbursts – this one involving his use of a weapon,” she wrote.

The reality star continued, “Unfortunately, I believe Collin remains a very troubled young man who continues to need a lot of help. His brothers and sisters and I have not been directly involved in his life due to his history of unpredictable behavior and violent tendencies towards us.”