Collin Gosselin reveals real reason why he believes mom Kate sent him to behavioral facility at age 12
Collin Gosselin revealed he believes his famous mom, Kate Gosselin, sent him to a behavioral facility at the age of 12 because he didn’t want to be on camera with her.
“Even as a 12-year-old, before I was sent away, I could start to consider both sides of things,” Collin told the US Sun during a September 2025 interview, which has now been published in its entirety, adding that he “really could look at things in retrospect.”
“And I was stubborn enough to question my mom,” he continued. “I questioned her about everything, and that came before the rebellion of me not wanting to be on camera and be a part of her circus,” he added, referring to her decision to continue on with “Kate Plus 8” following her 2009 divorce from Jon Gosselin.
“That questioning led to me later not wanting to be on camera, and that really killed her.”
Collin, who was sent to a facility back in 2016 due to Kate’s claim that he had “unpredictable behavior and violent tendencies towards” family members, also wondered if the reality star’s “reputation” played into the decision.
He was there for nearly two years before his Jon obtained sole custody of Collin in 2018. Prior to his institutionalization, however, Kate had custody of Collin and his siblings — sextuplets Collin, Alexis, Aaden, Leah, Joel and Hannah, 22, and twins Cara and Madelyn, 25.
Hannah seemingly sided with their father as well, moving in with Collin and Jon, though she’s since seemingly bonded with her mother.
“I don’t know what reason it was, whether it was her reputation she was saving by sending me away from home, or whether it was the fact that maybe it’s easier to sign a work permit for seven children that are voluntary, instead of seven children that are voluntary and one that’s involuntary,” Collin said during the interview, claiming that there “are a lot of things to question there.”
He also said that while he was away at the institution, he was visited by his mother “one time for probably about 20 minutes,” and that “the whole time I was blamed.”
Collin said it was “about a year of me being there, and the whole time I had these glasses on and tears coming down my face,”
He recalled being “overweight” and “sick” as he was “on all these medications” at the time.
He also alleged that during the visit, his mother, now 51, told him “that I broke her family, that my siblings want nothing to do with me, all that stuff.”
A legal rep for Kate did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on Wednesday evening.
Collin — who recently announced the impending release of his bombshell memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight,” in which he plans to expose Kate’s alleged wrongdoings during his childhood — previously claimed she had sent him to the institution in order to hide what he says was abuse.
“I was starting to tell people what was going on at home, and she caught wind of that and had to put me somewhere where I wouldn’t be able to get the secrets out,” he said in 2023’s “Dark Side of the 2000s.”
Kate, meanwhile, has consistently claimed mental illness has been behind her son’s accusations. “My son Collin, whom I love with all my heart, has received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years,” she said in part in a 2023 statement.
“For the safety of myself, his brothers and sisters, and for his own well-being, he was placed in a facility following years of outpatient treatment which proved insufficient for his needs.”
She added that she believes he “remains a very troubled young man who continues to need a lot of help,” and claimed that 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.”
In a Tuesday TikTok comment, Kate doubled down, writing that “only parents who have a mentally ill child understand,” after a follower wrote that her “heart is with” the “Dancing With the Stars” alum amid Collin’s escalating claims of wrongdoing by his mother.
Collin alleged back in 2024 that he was discharged from the Marines due to his time in the behavioral institution.
“Being in an institution, that’s good enough … to discharge me,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “It was the fact that I was in an institution and that’s it.”
On Monday, Kate told a follower via social media that she would not respond to her son’s 2025 challenge to take a lie detector test over his claims she locked him in the basement, with zip-tied ankles and wrists.
In 2024, lawyer Richard Puleo told the Sun that he did not believe Kate had engaged in anything that would “intentionally harm” Collin, adding, “she did what she did to protect herself and her family” from what he claimed was “troubled behavior.”
If you or someone you care about is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
