It’s an understatement to say that “Jon & Kate Plus 8” turned out to be very different from what was expected. What began as a seemingly heartwarming and lovely story of a big family, resulted in a family beef, separation, legal issues, and lots of drama for the Gosselins.
While all of these aspects make good reality TV, there’s no denying that it was heartbreaking to see a family go through so many highs but especially lows. Following the cancellation of “Jon & Kate Plus 8” and Jon and Kate’s divorce, a new show entitled “Kate Plus 8” premiered in 2011, airing for six seasons before being canceled in 2017. From then on, Kate and Jon have dealt with shared parenthood away from cameras, but they still attracting the media’s attention for negative reasons.
So what’s going on with the Gosselin kids these days? Who of them is still living with Kate and who of them moved away with their father Jon? Keep with us to find out!
Cara
The oldest kid of the Gosselin pack is Cara Nicole, who was born on 8 October 2000 alongside her twin Mady. Just like the rest of the Gosselin kids, Cara grew up in front of cameras, and was used to the attention that being a TV star brought to her.
Cara is far more secretive compared to her twin and some of her siblings, though. Her Instagram account hasn’t shared any posts since she joined the platform in 2019, and her Facebook hasn’t been updated in years. Whether she wants to stay away from public life as opposed to her very publicized childhood or because of something else is unknown, but that doesn’t mean that Cara’s life has stopped moving forward.
In 2019, Cara matriculated from Pennsylvania-based Lancaster Country Day School, and enrolled into New York City’s Fordham University to study Mathematics and Economics. She graduated in 2023, and according to her LinkedIn, now works at a famous bank institution as a financial analyst.
Mady
While it would have been expected from the Gosselin twins to follow similar paths in life, the truth is that each of them have kept a sense of individuality which isn’t hard to see even from the outside. In the case of Madelyn “Mady” Kate, she attended the same high school as her twin Cara in Pennsylvania, and also moved to New York City with her, but her creative interests led her to enroll into Syracuse University, from where she graduated with a major in English Film and Screen Studies in 2023.
Nowadays, Mady is quite popular on TikTok, where her follower count goes well over 230,000, and has accumulated over 6.6 million likes of her videos. Her usual content is centered on her life in New York, trips, and her current job in the beauty and entertainment industry.
Neither Mady nor Cara are in contact with their father Jon, with both sides publicly addressing their lack of relationship throughout the late 2010s without whose fault it was. Nonetheless, in late 2023 the Sun reported that there was a chance for the twins to reconnect with their father, if the opportunity arises.
Collin
One of the most-commented situations regarding the Gosselin family is that of Collin Thomas’s relationship with his mother and other siblings. He’s one of the sextuplets born on 10 May 2004, but the life of Collin has differed from the rest of them for several reasons.
Collin was institutionalized back when he was 12 years old. The situation was described by Kate as an effort to help him with his ‘special needs’, though she didn’t specify what his diagnosis was, only that he needed to develop tools to ‘deal with things’. The development wasn’t taken lightly by Jon, who opposed Kate’s decision and for not being consulted about it. He also affirmed that Collin didn’t have a psychiatric diagnosis except for ADHD, at the time he was sent away to a facility.
After getting Collin out of the institution, Jon obtained custody of him. In 2024, Collin opened up about his struggles in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, affirming that his time in the hospital was ‘scary’ and uncertain. He also affirmed that Kate blamed him for the ‘destruction’ of their family.
In 2023, he matriculated from an Army Junior school, and revealed his plans to enlist in the Marine Corps, though the following year he stated that this dream was stagnated, due to his institutionalized past.
Hannah
Besides Collin, Hannah Joy is the only Gosselin kid who lived with her father Jon most of her teens. She’s the fourth oldest child of the family, the second of the sextuplets, and was adopted full-time by Jon at 14 years old, after her parents embarked on a tough legal battle over her custody.
Despite all the issues between her parents, Hannah isn’t estranged from her mother, and keeps in contact with her and her other siblings. As she affirmed in a 2022 interview, it had been ‘tough’ to live away from the rest of the family, but had been her decision to do so, as she was ‘closer’ to her father at that time.
Hannah matriculated from high school in 2023 and invited her mother Kate to the ceremony. It’s unclear what Hannah’s plans for the future are, but she’s very active on social media, and also has a YouTube channel with her boyfriend Lennon.
Alexis, Aaden, Leah, and Joel
Of all the Gosselin kids, the rest of the sextuplets Alexis, Aaden, Leah and Joel are the ones who make it to the headlines the least. The oldest of the pack is Alexis Faith, who is known for being an animal lover, and affirmed that she wanted to work in a related field someday. Not much is known about Alexis nowadays, as she has no public social media.
A similar thing could be said about her brothers Aaden Jonathan and Joel Kevin, who despite making usual appearances on Kate’s Instagram, don’t have any public social media accounts. As seen in some of their mother’s updates, Aaden is also an animal lover, but not much is known about Joel.
Then there’s Leah, the second-youngest of the Gosselin pack. While details of her future plans are unknown, she shares constant updates about her current life on her TikTok account.
With that being said, in 2021, the four kids moved alongside their mother to North Carolina, and maintain very toned-down public lives. Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped the media and long-time fans of the show from wanting to know more about them, and the rest of the family – perhaps they will be satisfied if the family become more open to their fans.
