KATE GOSSELIN: HOW SHE FOOLED THE WORLD - THE RISE AND FALL OF A REALITY TV QUEEN (52 page)

I don’t really know for certain anything different, but in interviewing people in Elizabethtown, PA, where Kate grew up, and more importantly, talking to one of Kate’s own siblings, who requested anonymity, I got a little better insight into what makes Kate Gosselin tick.

According to the sibling, “Kate is just like her father. She’s driven by power, control and money.” This sibling also revealed that Kate and all of her sisters and brother were emotionally and physically abused by their parents. Apparently, Kenton Kreider was the poster boy for Proverbs 23:13-14. He took the phrase “spare the rod, spoil the child” to the extreme. There were daily beatings for any and all disciplinary infractions. “Katie walked around on eggshells, never knowing when or where the next beating would occur.” (That sounds hauntingly familiar.)

Kate said on an episode of
Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht
that she was “very, very over disciplined.” That would explain where Kate learned how to raise her children, but it’s no excuse for abusing them. She also said cryptically on TLC’s
Kate: Her Story
that “There was a lot in my childhood that was not happy.”

Kate learned another very important lesson (to her) from her father. She learned how to separate good, church-going Christians from their hard-earned money. Kate got to see first-hand, watching her father in church, how easy it was to convince people to give – ’til it hurt. As a young girl, she watched the
collection basket being passed around and she wondered how she could get her hands on some of that money. She kept that thought tucked away for a rainy day.

When it rains it pours, and soon enough, Kate had found her own unique way to get her hands on the hard-working Christians’ money. She gave birth to six children at once, knowing full well and in advance that there was absolutely no way in Heaven or Hell that she and Jon were going to be able to afford to raise eight children on their own. Kate knew her target audience from doing her own research on the
McCaughey septuplets, and she wagered that when she announced to the world that she was dead set against even thinking about “selective reduction,” her new flock would hoist her on their shoulders and deliver her to the “promised land.”

Kate went to that well of Christian support many, many tim
es with statements such as “We truly believed that if God gave us these babies, He would take care of us.”

She played that card over and over again, and it was music to the ears of Christians everywhere.

Here is one last observation. In all of my research, I had never heard Kate speak of or write anything about her father. Whenever she mentioned her parents, it was always in the plural form: “My parents.” She never once spoke Kenton’s name nor alluded to a single happy memory of her father since the estrangement. Ever.

Kate is afraid of her father and what he might say about her in the media. In March of 2012 Kate got spooked when someone posing as Kate’s father on Twitter sent her several very cryptic tweets about things that only Kate, Kenton and the mysterious tweeter would know. Kate was afraid that her father could possibly be the person behind this book and, within days, she blogged about happy memories of her father paying the bills when she was a child:

Kate’s Financial Lessons for the Gosselin Kids

Posted on April 30
th
, 2012 by Kate G

Kate said as a kid, she would watch her father paying the bills on the dining room table. He sometimes let her help by playing mailman and putting the return address labels and stamps on the envelopes. He told Kate how important it is to always pay your bills first to keep a perfect credit score.

I don’t believe this was a coincidence.

“Happy Fathers Day to all great dads out there.

You are who your kids are likely to become.

B the best u can b for them today&always!”

– Kate Gosselin
  6.17.12

“Once again, if you read something about me
(or most other people in the media) in a tabloid
where information has been provided by an unnamed ‘source’
you can assume it to be completely fabricated and totally false.”

–
Kate Gosselin

Anyone who has ever watched Kate on TV, or has seen or heard or read interviews with her, will probably not be surprised to hear that she lies – a lot. Kate lies to make herself look good and to make others look bad. She lies to get sympathy. She lies to get people to believe she is something she is not. She lies to excuse her bad behavior. She lies to deflect criticism. She lies to blame others for her bad behavior. She lies to make people believe that her children are always happy and are constantly thanking her and singing her praises.
In 2013 on
Celebrity Wife Swap
to garner sympathy, Kate said “somewhere around 2011 the world watched Jon and I go through a divorce.” 2011? Jon and Kate’s divorce was finalized TWO YEARS prior in December 2009.

Kate has lied in every way imaginable. She has lied intentionally. She has lied by mistake. She has told lies of omission. She has denied things that are known to be true. She has lied by saying she does certain things as a matter of routine when, in fact, she has only done those things once or so for filming. She has lied by exaggerating her importance and acting as if she is more experienced, skilled, successful, deserving and important than she is.

In watching Kate on a daily basis and reading Kate’s words, both public and private, my opinion is that Kate Gosselin is not only a pathological liar, she is a hypocrite as well. By definition,
hypocrisy
is the state of pretending to have
beliefs
,
opinions
,
virtues
,
feelings
,
qualities
, or standards that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a
lie
. Kate claims to hate bullying, but she bullies others and encourages her fans to do the same.

To prove that Kate is a liar and a hypocrite, I have included some of Kate’s blatant lies in this book, and then given the facts. It was a difficult task, choosing only some, because the list of possibilities is so long, and it continues to grow with every television interview Kate gives and every tweet that she tweets.

THE HOUSE

“That’s why TLC wants us to continue to be ‘normal’ ….

Wonder how we will explain the $2M house?  :) ”

– Kate Gosselin

There has been a great deal of speculation that Jon and Kate didn’t actually buy their new million dollar house in Lower Heidelberg Township near Wernersville, PA, but that TLC/Discovery planned on moving them there for filming purposes because Kate complained that their Elizabethtown, PA, home was too small for them.

Kate has always denied this and in 2011 even tweeted in response to a question from a fan about their current house. As in preceding chapters, I have omitted the names of those who tweet Kate in an effort to protect the naive, ignorant or deceived.

xxxxx
@Kateplusmy8
Just read that TLC owns your house. Is it true & do u have to move again?

LOL. Not a penny was payed for this house other than what I paid w my hard earned $. Did the company u work for buy ur house?

Let’s dissect Kate’s response and provide some history and facts here. Jon’s father bought them their first house in Wyomissing, PA. God bought them their second home in Elizabethtown, PA. We know this because Kate told us so when she said, “God had answered our prayer by supplying a house for us that met our every need.” (That really means they got it for free.) But Kate’s tweet above was intended to make everyone believe that the huge, new million-dollar home was paid for by only Kate and her hard-earned money.

Never mind the fact that Jon and Kate were married at the time they bought that house, so it was Jon’s hard-earned money as well, and never mind that the only reason they had that money in the first place was because the eight Gosselin children were made to work like dogs having their every move filmed. So let’s look further into Kate’s assertion that she bought the house and “not a penny was payed” other than what she paid with her “hard earned $.”

In August of 2008, a
communication was sent from TLC/Discovery to Jon and Kate Gosselin that lists specific ideas for what would be needed in a new house for the Gosselins. The house was to be “designed with production in mind,” have rooms “big enough for film crew to film activities,” and have a “separate entrance for crew with room for equipment storage.”

             
The “Overall Goal” was to build a functional and secure home for the Gosselins while filming the ups and downs of the design and building process to share with the viewers.

The focus of the “Draft Plan” was twofold: functionality for the family and to be designed with production in mind.

A few h
ighlights of the plan include:

• No show entrance or foyer
  
• No dining room. Just a very large kitchen for the family to gather to eat and film
  
• Family room large enough for the entire family to gather to have their activities filmed
  
• Separate entrance for the film crew with plenty of storage space for their equipment, the interview set storage and a bathroom for only the crew to use to take stress away from Kate because she freaks out if any of her family, the crew, uses her bathroom
  
• Area for the kids to have desks and homework area for filming
  
• Home office for Jon to film the “working from home” angle
  
• Master suite that would be off limits to cameras
  
• Of the 7500 sq. ft. planned, the actual space that will be for filming would feel like only 4500 sq. ft. of house.
  

The “Projected Expenses” highlights of the new house would be:

• The house would be approx.. 7500 sq. ft and the budget would be approx.. $1,275,000 PLUS land costs and furnishings.
  
• Jon & Kate are prepared to purchase the land only and to pay all taxes going forward on the house after the initial tax burden.
  
• The home is being designed by Jon & Kate to be very “crew/production” friendly in terms of interview set space, storage space for crew equipment, entrance for crew/crew bathroom, etc.
  
• Lane furnishings will provide furnishings and gross up for taxes.
  
• For the remaining actual house expenses, they’re looking for sponsors like Allstate, Whirlpool, etc
  . combinations of in-kind and funding will cover both the house and money toward the initial tax burden on the value of the house.
  
• Lumber is one of the major expenses so they’re hopeful a lumber sponsor will step up to reduce that cost.
  
• Many environmentally friendly “green” product companies would be able to highlight their products on the show (windows, heating, insulation, flooring, etc.)
  
• Appliances are another large expense so they’re hoping that Whirlpool or another sponsor would be interested to provide washers, dryers, ovens and ALL appliances.
  

Thoughts on Show Creative:

• Picking the land and selecting the finishing touches would give the network countless decisions and great points to cover during filming.
  
• Jon & Kate are committed to organic foods so they would really be looking forward to learning about green building and making similar choices and sharing with the viewers what they learn. This is a good opportunity to cross-promote TLC experts/hosts and Planet Green hosts/talent.
  
• The show will appeal to Jon & Kate fans so it will be perfect to run with other TLC programs related to renovations, building, etc. and will migrate viewers to watch other TLC shows as well.