Kate Gosselin celebrated her sextuplets’ milestone birthday with a rare photo on Instagram.
The Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum, 50, took to the social media platform on Sunday, May 11, to share a snap of herself and four out of six of her and ex Jon Gosselin’s sextuplets celebrating their 21st birthday with drinks at a restaurant. Alexis, Aaden, Leah and Joel could be seen smiling for the camera beside their mother as they all held up their glasses for cheers.
Kate also shared a photo of Alexis and Leah with their drinks, as well as a selfie of the girls and a pic of the kids’ chocolate birthday cake with gummy decorations.
“And just like that, they turned 21! Happy Birthday to my 6!” the North Carolina-based reality star captioned the post, adding six red heart emojis and the hashtag, “GosselinSextuplets.”
Though she wished all six of her sextuplets a happy birthday, her and Jon’s remaining two sextuplets, Hannah and Collin, were notably missing from the photos. They moved in with Jon, 48, in Pennsylvania in 2018, nearly 10 years after he and Kate divorced.
Jon and Kate also share older twin daughters Mady and Cara, 24.
Collin has had a complicated relationship with his mother and siblings in the years since he moved in with his dad. In a July 2023 Vice TV interview, he accused Kate of institutionalizing him twice when he was 12 years old as a form of punishment. He claimed that he was sent away for speaking out about the “abusive” treatment he experienced at home.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJfuR66pBiV/?img_index=1Joel Gosselin, Alexis Gosselin, Leah Gosselin, Aeden Gosselin, Kate Gosselin
“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.
Kate added, “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.”
Despite their fractured relationship, Collin has expressed hope that he would work things out with his estranged family members.
“So, first and foremost, my relationship with my brothers and sisters is of top priority to me,” he told The U.S. Sun in October 2024. “And I think the only way that my mother and I would be able to reconnect and fix our relationship in the future is, if she would just come forward with the truth and all the things that she has kept under wraps.”
He continued, “And you know the many times that she’s tried to soil my name and my father’s name. I just would want her to come forward with the truth. [But] yes, that door would be open, 100 percent.”