KATE GOSSELIN: HOW SHE FOOLED THE WORLD - THE RISE AND FALL OF A REALITY TV QUEEN (57 page)

Here’s an excerpt from
that poignant and hard-hitting interview:

Interviewer: 1.) We have to say – we missed YOU and are thrilled that
Kate Plus 8
is back for a 2nd season. What can we expect to see this season? 

Kate: “We've not stopped filming at all so our crazily wonderful schedule has never missed a beat
, but you can expect lots of travel to amazing places, some helping others, local history/education... Fun, fun, fun and lots of kid noise and mom's loud voice, as always! :)”

Here are the girls of CupcakeMag wrapping things up. Kate should thank her God for people like this.

We seriously adore Kate
(we need TEAM KATE shirts around here!)
and can't wait for Season 2 of Kate Plus 8! Set your DVR's now and remember to watch Kate Plus 8 on TLC this Monday, April 4th! Check your local listings so you don't miss it! 

http://cupcakemag.blogspot.com/2011/03/kate-plus-8-is-back.html

“I’M JUST A MOM AND WE’RE JUST A FAMILY, LIVING OUR LIVES”

On August 4, 2008, Kate Gosselin officially turned her “just a family” into a corporation – JKIG, Inc., filing the official paperwork with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of State, Corporation Bureau, through her attorney, Paul J. Datte.

Kate hogs up three of the four letters in the corporate name of course.
K
atie
I
rene
G
osselin. I hope the J at least stands for Jon. Given Kate’s narcissistic tendencies, though, it probably stands for “Just.”

This is just a family living their lives?

Here’s a quote from Kate, taken from one of her Q&A episodes of
Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht
:

“First of all, people say that we don’t work. That’s the hugest misconception,
like they feel like we’re just literally living our lives
… which we are … but they don’t see like, the background scheduling, the what we have to do to struggle to get down here to do interviews, um, the emails, the conference calls, the phone calls, the phone meetings, the in-person meetings, the magazine article shoots, the phone interviews that we do for all that press stuff. They don’t see the background of that and that encompasses, for Jon and I, horrendously more than forty hours a week, besides writing books, traveling and speaking, book signings, I mean, that’s all aside from that so to say that we don’t work actually makes us laugh because this is beyond words the hardest job we’ve ever had and um, while it’s the most rewarding because we’re working from home and we can kind of choose our schedule to a certain degree, it’s definitely the hardest.”

“MY FAMILY CHOOSES NOT TO BE A PART OF OUR LIVES”

This is an excerpt from a very long email discussing Kate’s estrangement from her family that Kate’s sister Clairissa sent to Kate on Thursday, June 19, 2008. The subject line was “Hi Sis!!!”

Kate’s sister tells Kate that she loves her and that she prays for her everyday. She says she misses Kate terribly and she often thinks of the memories of their childhood together, watching TV, baking and playing in their rooms together, etc. She apologizes over and over to Kate for posting personal information about Kate on her blog, the apparent reason that Kate no longer speaks to her or her family.

She ends the letter by saying that she hopes that all ten of them are doing great and she’d love to hear from Kate, but she knows how busy Kate is. She tells Kate to hug her dear nieces and nephews for her!!

She ends the letter with ‘Love you sis’

Does this sound like someone who doesn’t want to be a part of Kate’s or the kids’ lives? It’s sad to think that the Gosselin children are missing out on all of this love from their own family.

KATE’S (UN)SOLICITED FREEBIES

In
her book,
I Just Want You To Know,
and many times during interviews, Kate always makes sure to say that the free things she received from companies were “unsolicited.” Here are a couple of examples:

Kate says that while their schedule got crazier with the show, their financial pressures eased up because of increasing fringe benefits. Kate says thankfully companies unsolicited started sending them products and the kids were happy to open the surprise of the day. She said that so many of the generous people didn’t want anything in return – they just wanted to help them through a difficult time.

The reality, however, is that while “helpers” watched the Gosselin children, Kate spent many hours a day writing letters and making phone calls and sending emails to every business under the sun, seeking freebies and handouts, whether she needed them or not. She was, and is, addicted to all things free.

Here’s just one of many, many examples of her solicitation letters that I know about and have in my possession. Kate wrote this letter a few months after giving birth to the sextuplets. Notice how enthused she is to begin “marketing” her new babies, or “the six” as she calls them.

Hello Everyone at Gymboree!!!

My name is Kate Gosselin. I recently (05/04) gave birth to sextuplets.

We also have twin 4-year-old girls

!

Since my twins were born, I have been an avid and eager shopper at our local Gymboree (store #467). I was famous for calling
all
the local Gymborees if two of things were not available! The employees at our local store are awesome, always willing to help me find what I want. Since I found out I was pregnant with
“the six,”
as I get a chance I go to Gymboree. The last time I was there, Kelly wrote down the customer service phone number and urged me to call – explaining that she feels that Gymboree should hear my story and should donate to our eight children! I held the number for a while and finally called! Kelly was very insistent – she knows my passion for Gymboree and understands that with eight children, times are tough!

If you have a desire to help, please contact me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
In addition, if there is a way my children could be a help in marketing your clothing lines, we’re all for it!
Gymboree’s wholesome and hearty clothing is definitely worth our time! Thank you for your style and kindness in my unique situation! Please feel free to visit our website
www.sixgosselins.com
.

Sincerely,

Kate Gosselin

I also found a handwritten list of some of Kate’s “Ideas to pitch” from the very early days. She wanted her own product line consisting of umbrella triplet strollers; highchairs that convert to strollers; carseat juice cup holders; her own show on the Travel Channel showcasing large family traveling; and a list of the books that she wanted to write. The cookbook was on there but according to the list, we can look forward to another fake book about the secrets of shopping for
ten
nine.

There were so many examples of Kate trying to cash in on her babies, I had to devote an entire chapter to it.

I HAVE NO MONEY TO FEED MY KIDS AND PAY MY BILLS

“You’ve left your children and their mother unable to pay for the roof

over their heads.… I need that money to provide for them.”

– Kate Gosselin

On October 5, 2009, Kate sat down with Meredith Vieira on the
Today
show
and gave a tearful, emotional interview about her tragic financial circumstances. Here’s some of the text from that interview, as published on
msnbc.com
:

Kate Gosselin: Jon Took the Money and Ran

Mon., Oct. 5, 2009 7:47 AM PDT by
BREANNE L. HELDMAN

The family as a whole may have made major bucks from their hit TLC show, but
Kate Gosselin
is currently living hand-to-mouth.

Reports that
Jon Gosselin
removed $230,000
from the family's joint bank account and leaving her with only $1,000 are true, she tells
Meredith Vieira
on the Today show this morning.

"I have a stack of bills in my purse I can't drop in the mail," she says, choking up. "The last thing I wanted was to do this show and end up not being able to pay our bills."

Given all the drama, the star of Jon & Kate Plus 8 admits, "Every morning, I don't know what I'm going to wake up to…[Jon] has gone way far off the trail."

Kate admits for the first time that she feared Jon might do something like this, and removed $100,000 from the account earlier in the divorce process.

"At some point, I removed it to keep it safe on the suggestion of my lawyer but needed to put it back, according to the arbitrator," she says. "I did that."