From Reality Star to Nurse: Kate Gosselin Looks Unrecognizable During Outing in North Carolina

Kate plus a clean slate? Former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star Kate Gosselin was spotted in North Carolina, going about her normal daily life as she transitions from reality star to nurse. 

Rare photos of the 46-year-old TLC alum showed the mother of eight out and about running errands on January 4. First, she was spotted loading her car with her sons. Then she was seen pumping gas into her Toyota while wearing a black Killington Ski Area t-shirt, white plastic slides and black leggings. She opted to wear her long hair in a bun. The Kate Plus 8 star was also spotted walking the family’s large white dog and dropping off one of her sextuplets to her shift at Chipotle.

It is a far cry from the family’s previous life on reality TV. Kate shares eight children with her ex-husband, Jon Gosselin — twins Mady and Cara, aged 21, and sextuplets Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel and Leah, 17 — and relocated from Pennsylvania to Troutman, North Carolina, in March 2021. 

Kate found success in Kate Plus 8 from 2010-2017, plus an episode about Mady and Cara’s journey to college in 2019. She also appeared in Say Yes to the Dress in 2008, was on The View for four episodes between 2009 and 2010, competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2010, appeared on Celebrity Wife Swap in 2013 and competed on The Apprentice in 2015. 

She had another Jon & Kate spinoff, Kate Plus Date, in which she attempted to reenter the dating scene, which lasted for six episodes. She has not appeared on television since 2019.

“Kate had been living a relatively normal life in Pennsylvania for years after her reality show fame began to fizzle out. The kids were in school and they kept her busy,” an insider told In Touch. 

In September, In Touch confirmed that the matriarch of the family obtained a “multi-state license” from the North Carolina Board of Nursing on June 30, 2021. It is set to expire on March 2023. When Jon & Kate Plus 8 originally aired in April 2007, Kate was a labor and delivery nurse at the Reading Hospital and Medical Center. 

Jon, 44, and his ex remain in a heated custody battle. As of now, Jon has full custody of Hannah and Collin, while Aaden, Alexis, Joel and Leah live with Kate. Mady and Cara, who currently attend colleges in New York, spend their time with their mother during breaks. 

Jon and Kate continue to be locked in an intense custody battle — although the sextuplets do turn 18 in May. The former pair have been divorced since 2009 after 10 years of marriage. As of December 2021, Jon is representing himself in the ongoing battle after dropping his legal team. 

“I haven’t talked to my twins in eight years,” Jon revealed on The Dr. Oz Show in November 2021. “I text them every single year. And every time I come here to your show or interview, I text my daughter every single time.”

When asked if his daughter Hannah missed her mother, he told host Dr. Mehmet Oz, “No, I know that.” 

“[Hannah] feels a little bit slighted from what things have transpired,” Jon said at the time. “I know she misses Leah and Alexis. She’s been snubbed by her brothers, so I don’t know what’s going on with that.”

He added that Mady and Cara keep in touch with Hannah and that Mady, who attends Syracuse University while sister Cara attends Fordham University, visited Hannah in Pennsylvania before returning to school. 

Earlier in 2021, while appearing on The Dr. Oz Show while he was in the hospital battling COVID-19, he made an eager plea to his estranged children.

“I guess my plight to them, or what I really want to say is, ‘I love you, my door is always open, you’re welcome anytime, there’s no regrets or hard feelings or any of those negative things,’” he said at the time. “’You can always come see me or come see Hannah and Collin.’”

Keep scrolling below to see photos of Kate looking unrecognizable while out and about running errands with her kids in North Carolina.