Kate Gosselin’s Lonely Life ‘Nothing Like It Once Was’: Fame and Fortune Is ‘All Gone’
She used to be one of the most famous moms in America. After becoming a household name on Jon & Kate Plus 8 in 2007, Kate Gosselin divorced husband Jon 10 years into their marriage then chronicled her life as a single mother raising two sets of multiples on the renamed Kate Plus 8.
But after its final season aired in 2017, Kate’s TV appearances dwindled along with her social media presence: She’s only posted two things on Instagram in the past four years. Her latest message, shared in May, featured four of her sextuplets — Alexis, Leah, Aaden and Joel — posing with a cake to mark their birthday. “No more teenagers in this house!” Kate captioned the pic. “Happy 20th birthday, my forever babies! I love you! Who feels old? I know I do!”
Kate’s not just feeling old — she’s also feeling lonely, sources exclusively tell In Touch. The four kids in her photo reportedly left for college last year, leaving Kate alone in the four-bedroom property in Troutman, North Carolina, that she’s called home since selling her 23-acre Pennsylvania estate in 2021.
Hannah and Collin — the two sextuplets glaringly absent from Kate’s Instagram post — are also now in college after moving in with Jon years ago. And after earning degrees in 2023, twins Cara and Mady, 24, are now living in NYC, where they have “really great jobs,” Jon revealed in April.
"Kate went from being one of the country’s most popular reality stars, even appearing on Dancing With the Stars, to living a quiet life in North Carolina with hardly any friends and only some of her kids to talk to,” the insider reveals. “It’s very sad.”
Kate Gosselin's Different World
The 49-year-old former nurse was spotted in nearby Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 13, marking the first time she’s been photographed publicly in nearly two years. “Kate was visiting a friend in a park, but that’s very rare,” says the source. “Her life is nothing like it once was. She made a lot of money, she was on the cover of magazines, doing talk show appearances. She had business opportunities, and now that’s all gone.”
So is her relationship with Collin. In August, he blamed Kate after he was discharged from Marines training following the military branch’s discovery that he’d been “in an institution at one point in my life.” Kate admitted him to a long-term live-in psychiatric hospital at 12 because he was prone to “unpredictable and violent behavior.” (Collin countered that she was trying to silence him after he began telling people she was abusive.)
In September, Collin also alleged Kate routinely isolated him from his siblings and “zip-tied my hands and feet together” in a basement “containment room.” (She maintains she’s never done anything to intentionally harm Collin.) “Kate lost her son and possibly some of the other kids,” says the insider. “It’s pretty heartbreaking — although some may argue she made her own bed."