Jon & Kate Plus 8 star pens bombshell memoir after | TV Shows

Collin Gosselin, who starred in the TLC actuality sequence Jon & Kate Plus 8 as a little one, is releasing a new bombshell memoir about his experiences growing up in the highlight after explosive allegations of abuse against his mother.

The TLC actuality sequence adopted the household of 10, including mother and father Jon and Kate, twins, and sextuplets, as they navigated life on digicam until the couple’s divorce in 2009. The 22-year-old announced the upcoming e-book titled In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood in an Instagram post shared on Wednesday, June 17.

Collin, one of the sextuplets, didn’t seem in every season of the hit 2007 TLC actuality show, even after it was rebranded as Kate Plus Eight following the couple’s 2009 break up.

The actuality star stays estranged from his mother and siblings after alleging that Kate subjected him to extreme bodily and emotional abuse, including institutionalizing him as a little one and alienating him from his siblings.

On June 18, Collin shared an image of the e-book’s cowl, which featured a harrowing image of his mom overlaying his mouth with her hand when he was a small little one, along with a prolonged caption.

“For a long time, I wasn’t sure I’d ever tell this story,” he started.

“Growing up, millions of people watched my life on television. People felt like they knew me. They knew my family. They watched me grow up. But there was so much they never saw,” he added.

He continued, “For years, I kept those experiences to myself. Some because I was afraid. Some because I didn’t think anyone would believe me. And some because I just wasn’t ready. Writing this book forced me to revisit some of the hardest moments of my life, but it also gave me something I’ve been searching for for a long time: my voice.”

The former actuality star concluded, “This isn’t the story people think they know. It’s the story I’ve lived.”

In 2024, Collin revealed that throughout his childhood, his mom singled him out and remoted him from his siblings, alleging that she also used to zip tie his palms and ft and lock him in the basement before sending him to a psychiatric establishment in 2016 when he was 11 years outdated.

The teenager spent two years at the power over what Kate described as “unpredictable and violent behavior” before he was reunited with his father, Jon, who was awarded sole custody of him after Kate reportedly failed to show up in court.

In a social media post shared in 2025 addressed to his siblings, 25-year-old twins Cara and Mady, and 22-year-old sextuplets Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Leah, and Joel, in which he mirrored on being “forced apart” and puzzled what their lives “could have looked like” if they’d maintained a relationship.

In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood by Collin Gosselin is set to be launched on October 13, 2026, and is now accessible for pre-order.