KATE GOSSELIN: HOW SHE FOOLED THE WORLD - THE RISE AND FALL OF A REALITY TV QUEEN (72 page)

"That's what I'm really proud of," she said. "It's kind of the American dream. Put your mind to it - little by little, day by day and in a year, voila."

Money was never an issue for Beth Carson. All she wanted was to go out on the book tour with Kate to enjoy a little of the glory and great success she had earned through all of her hard work in writing a bestseller. But Kate refused her that reward. She no longer needed Beth Carson, and she wanted the spotlight all to herself. She decided that she alone would be the face of
Multiple Blessings
on the book tour. Once the book became a bestseller, Kate had the opportunity to thrust herself even further into the spotlight, and there was no way she was sharing it with anyone. Not even with Beth Carson, her closest friend in the world and the woman responsible for the success of the book.

In addition to Kate not wanting to share the spotlight with Beth, she very publicly disrespected Beth, as
can be seen in this very interesting interview on YouTube.

Kate Gosselin signs book at Rivertown Mall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vSSoZHDWgY

NBC 8: “More than 1,500 people stood in line for hours last night, to get her (Kate’s) autograph in Grandville, MI.

KATE: “In being here in Grand Rapids reading the book this week for CD I am reading through the book again, and it is an amazing story and I still can’t believe it’s our story.”

NBC 8:
“Was it hard to write the book?”

“Um that process wasn’t hard, it was the time to write the book, uh, it took us a year and a half, I started when the little kids were two. Um and uh to relive all of those things that we have been through was probably the most difficult part.
As far as the book went, that was easy
.”

So if you were Beth Carson, who actually wrote
Multiple Blessings
from Kate’s hodgepodge notes and experiences, and you were watching the news or saw this on YouTube, and you heard that question put to Kate, “Was it hard to write the book?” and you watched and heard Kate NOT MENTION YOU AT ALL, and then heard her say this about the writing, “As far as the book went, that was easy,” wouldn’t you be a little bit miffed at your good friend, Katie Irene?

There was one final nail to be driven into the Gosselin-Carson relationship, and that, too, had to do with money. Just as they had done with Aunt Jodi and Uncle Kevin, TLC approached the Carsons about paying them for filming at their house. And in predictable Kate fashion, she reacted in exactly the same way as she had when the offer of payment was made to Aunt Jodi and Uncle Kevin. Kate again went crazy and said “nobody makes money off my family except me.” The Carsons, of course, didn’t need Kate’s or TLC’s money. They were very financially well off on their own. But the idea of Kate showing such disrespect to them ended the relationship for good.

The online community speculated that something must have happened between Beth and Kate during their televised trip to Park City, Utah, because in the middle of the trip, Beth suddenly disappeared. I explored that speculation as best I could through sources close to the family, but they told me that the trip had nothing to do with the falling out, and that Beth flew back home for her daughter’s birthday, as was reported.

So that was that. No more Beth and Bob Carson. No televised explanation given. Just gone.

And Kate didn’t so much as blink. She had gotten everything she needed out of their relationship and tossed them aside. Kate was now quickly approaching her goal of acquiring every material thing that her “friend” Beth Carson had.

Now it’s as if Beth Carson never existed. But she does exist. Everyone saw her on the TLC shows and saw what a huge part of Kate’s and the children’s everyday lives she and Bob were. Kate’s insatiable thirst for wealth and fame caused two more people who loved her children to be ripped away from them.

ARE YOU THERE KATE? IT’S ME, GOD

The events and actions that led to the falling out between Kate and Beth, and ultimately destroyed their personal and business relationships, are pretty cut and dry. Things get a little blurry, however, when trying to understand the role Beth played in developing Kate’s image as a devout Christian mother overwhelmingly committed and devoted to God. Remember, it was that image that made Kate a figure to be admired among the church-going faithful; it was an image that helped her sell a lot of books.

In reading through Kate’s emails and her journal, and in seeing her up close and personal in real life, it is very hard to believe that Kate really has the deep love of God she claims to have. If she did, she never would have been able to pull off the church scams, and she never would have been as mean and deceitful as we have seen her be. What is more likely, and what I believe, is that Kate modeled her “God complex” after Beth Carson, taking it as her own.

As with most things, Kate overdid the religion angle to the point that it became unbelievable, especially since her words and actions contradicted everything in Christian teachings. (It takes a very special kind of evil to prey upon unsuspecting, generous people who are just trying to make a difference in the life of someone they believe is struggling.) And there are just too many things about Kate’s trumpeted relationship with God that don’t add up as genuine, starting with this.

Kate gave birth to the sextuplets on May 10, 2004. According to
Multiple Blessings
, which chronicles Kate’s first date with Jon through the birth of her six, Kate supposedly used phrases like: God will always provide for us; the God I served was loving, kind and generous. He was an almighty God who provided every breath I needed; I trusted God to see all of the details; And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Also in
Multiple Blessings
, through Beth Carson’s writing, Kate says that she knows her God, and knows how much he has blessed her, and has spoken directly to her, and acted through her. Why then, in November 2006, two-and-a-half years after Kate supposedly used all those phrases about God, and had those beliefs about God, would Kate write this in her journal:

Kate said that Beth told her that God provides and it’s right in front of us and sometimes we don’t see it. Beth also said that she thinks that God provided Kate and Jon with this series and the amount of money that they made so that Kate can stay home with the kids until they go to school. Kate said that the thought excites her so much, just thinking that she won’t have to go to work is soooo amazing!

If Kate’s faith in God were so strong, why would she need Beth to tell her that sometimes God provides and we don’t realize it? Why would that have not occurred to Kate on her own? If everything Kate said about her trust in God was true, why would Kate need Beth or anyone else to tell her how God operates?

The most obvious answer is that the “trust in God for all things” persona represented in
Multiple Blessings
is Beth Carson’s, not Kate’s. Beth somehow took the lying, narcissistic, mean-spirited, greedy, selfish, angry and controlling Kate Gosselin, and turned her into a modern day Christian heroine … to sell books. And once Kate was so viewed among Christians, she no longer needed Beth.

The upside to this sad tale is that Beth and Bob Carson are probably enjoying their beautiful family and thanking God they are no longer involved with Kate Gosselin. I see Beth quite often, playing with her children at the local playground or shopping at the local craft store or at the supermarket. She looks very happy and at peace.

A BLIND EYE

A great, nagging question and, yes, disappointment, for me regarding Beth Carson is that she chose to remain silent and hide in the shadows, rather than speaking up in an effort to protect those beautiful little children that she so lovingly took care of, and was going to raise as her own if anything ever happened to Jon and Kate.

Multiple Blessings
was written in 2008. Kate’s journal, which she used to write both
Multiple Blessings
and
I Just Want You To Know
, was written from 2006-2007. Surely Beth had Kate’s journal and notes in her possession, and surely she read the same passages Kate wrote about physically harming her children that I read. Even on the outside chance that Beth never personally saw Kate abusing her children, she must have read the words Kate wrote in her journal recounting her verbal and physical ragings against them. So why would Beth ignore what she read, and write a book of lies about Kate being a loving, nurturing, God-fearing woman? If Beth knew what was happening to the children, how could she walk away and do nothing to help them?

It’s hard to imagine what Beth Carson, who was in the Gosselin house and around Kate and the children so often, was thinking and how, as a Christian woman, she was able to write a book that was so full of lies.

If you were an outsider reading
Multiple Blessings
, you would have no way of knowing it wasn’t an accurate portrayal of Kate. You might even believe that Kate Gosselin was handpicked by God Himself to walk the Earth and spread His word. As it turns out, at the time the sextuplets came home from the hospital, I lived less than 2 miles from Kate’s house in Wyomissing, and coincidentally, a close friend of my family was one of Kate’s “helpers” and was in that house on a daily basis. She tells quite a different story.

Multiple Blessings
was nothing more than propaganda and an excuse for every bad thing that Kate Gosselin ever said or did, and for everything ever written about her in the early days of her pregnancy and life when the sextuplets first came home from the hospital. It was also a vehicle to elevate Kate among Christians by making her appear to have a special or “unique” relationship with God.

Multiple Blessings
is filled with references to “miracles” from God, given specifically to Kate Gosselin. Miracles like getting a discount on an appliance at Lowes or saving money on strawberries.

Multiple Blessings
is a book filled with lies and mistruths, and Beth Carson wrote it. Did she naively take Kate at her word and write everything she told her without question? Or did she know that much of what Kate wanted her to put on paper was untrue?