KATE GOSSELIN: HOW SHE FOOLED THE WORLD - THE RISE AND FALL OF A REALITY TV QUEEN (73 page)

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

Kate always plays fast and loose with the facts. Here she is lying on Twitter in December of 2011. Kate’s tweets are in bold:

xxxxx @
Kateplusmy8
are you still in touch with Beth and other old family friends???

yes… Have amazing supportive friends u may not c but r here :)

This was another Twitter exchange from December 24, 2011:

xxxxx @
Kateplusmy8
Are you planning on writing anymore books? Or doing book signings? Would love to meet you! You are such an inspiration!

more books in my head… Looking for literary agent and help organizing onto paper :)

Reading these tweets brings up an obvious question. If Kate was still really good friends with Beth Carson, and she was looking for help organizing her thoughts onto paper to write more books, why would she not collaborate with Beth Carson again? Beth wrote Kate’s most successful,
New York Times
Bestseller List
book, so why would Kate not turn to her “friend” again for help writing all those other books that were residing in her head?

The answer is:
Kate and Beth Carson are no longer friends. This fact was made abundantly clear to me on Saturday, March 24, 2012. That day, I was grocery shopping at the Giant in Wyomissing, PA, where Kate also does her shopping. In the dairy aisle, I came across Beth Carson shopping alone. She didn’t see me, and I doubt if she would have even known who I am. In that very same aisle, at the very same time, within sight of Beth, was Kate Gosselin, looking uncomfortable, tense, and as angry as I’ve ever seen her. There was no contact between the two – no hellos or how are yous – just silence. There was absolutely zero contact between Kate and Beth; they both just looked uncomfortable to be in the same place at the same time. That made three of us. Fortunately, we were all pretty much finished shopping, so the whole encounter lasted only about 10 minutes for me.

No goodbyes were spoken or implied when both ladies left the store separately
soon after. If there were still a glimmer of friendship between Kate and Beth Carson, they would have stood in line together, or at the very least, had a goodbye smile or wave as they left the store.

Beth
just went about her business. Kate looked like she was ready to explode with rage.

“Aunt Jodi” is Jodi Kreider, Kate’s sister-in-law, who is married to Kate’s brother, Kevin. Aunt Jodie and Uncle Kevin were featured often on
Jon & Kate plus Eight
. Despite having four children of their own, Jodi frequently babysat for Jon and Kate, and Kevin was on hand to help Jon with various projects. They were presented on the show as kind, loving and protective parents. They were also shown to have some common sense and respect for the Gosselin children. In one particular instance of this, Jodi refused to allow a film crew to keep the bathroom door open when one of the children was going to the bathroom.

In an episode most memorable for Kate’s viciousness, Kate called Jodi to admonish her for giving gum to the sextuplets. One of the little boys had gotten gum on his special blanket, and Kate went completely ballistic, screaming at the child and threatening to throw his blanket away. His older sister had to step in to try to help him. It was disturbing and horrible to witness a mother terrorizing her child.

I don’t know what happened between Kate and Jodi and Kevin. I know what Jodi and Kevin have said, and I know what Kate has said about them, but only they know what really went on. The following are various sides to the story of what happened and differing versions of why Aunt Jodie and Uncle Kevin are no longer a part of the children’s lives. I gave Kate the final word at the end of this chapter because, well, this book is about Kate.

The message below is from Aunt Jodi’s sister, Julie. It was taken from the blog, “Gosselin’s Without Pity,” also known as GWOP (http://gosselinswithoutpity.blogspot.com). To be clear, I have never had a conversation with anyone involved with GWOP, nor have I done any research directly from their site. But in doing a little background research on who Aunt Jodi is, for the people unfamiliar with the Gosselin story, I followed a Google link that led to this posting on GWOP. It would seem to accurately portray Aunt Jodi’s side of the story since the author of the message, Jodi’s sister Julie, was, at one time, involved with the GWOP website.

A Message to the Group:

****I'm sorry to announce that Aunt Jodi will no longer be part of the show Jon and Kate plus 8. Jodi was not given the option, and although she loved being part of the show, Kate decided it was in her best interest (Kate's) to cut Aunt Jodi from the show. She may still be in a few episodes that have been previously taped, but she will not be in Season 4 which begins filming in May.

I now feel comfortable with letting everyone in on who I am–I am Jodi's sister. Maybe those of you who felt I was being cruel or was taking some things a little too personally will now understand where I am coming from.

Please show your support for Aunt Jodi and let her know how much she'll be missed on the show. This is her actual email address (created for this group).****

This is how Julie describes herself and her purpose on her blog, Truth Breeds Hatred:

“Truth Fears No Questions” — “I am Aunt Jodi’s sister, and hopefully what I have to say will open eyes and help raise awareness for the need for laws to protect children in the entertainment industry. This is a tragic example of how money and fame can blind parents, preventing them from making decisions that are best for their children. I urge you to realize that these children were not brought into the world to be used for anyone’s entertainment. Just because this is all they know doesn’t make it ‘normal’. They deserve privacy and protection.”

http://truthbreedshatred.blogspot.com/

SISTER JULIE SPEAKS UP

On June 29, 2008, the following was posted on GWOP based on information given to the author of the post by Jodie’s sister, Julie:

Aunt Jodi: The Tribe Has Spoken

While the Gosselin children may have many material "blessings", thanks to being exploited by their parents and complicit others, nothing can compare to their Aunt Jodi.

Jodi is married to Kevin Kreider – Kate Gosselin's brother. Jodi and Kevin have four children of their own, but live near Jon and Kate and have been relied upon heavily to babysit the Gosselin children while Jon and Kate tend to the heavy demands on their time that frequently take them away from some or all of their children.

We have seen quite a bit of Jodi and her interaction with the Gosselin children, and although she is wonderful to behold on her own merits, when contrasted with her shrew of a sister-in-law, she seems even better. We've seen Jodi play with the children – actually play with them in a natural, spontaneous way, with no tension about grass stains or melted ice cream. We've enjoyed the children cooking with her in the kitchen, playing dress-up, chilling in front of a video, going for walks around the neighborhood, etc.

Jodi seems to have this refreshing mixture of humor, grace, patience, gentleness, and above all an essential maternal nurturing that we feel starved for when watching the children under Kate's jurisdiction. But we've seen her ability to be stern, too, when Mady needed it, although even that situation she approached (physically) on Mady's level, on her knees and locking eyes with her niece and speaking firmly and directly.

Not only is Jodi a joy to watch, but when the children are in her care, they are like different people… we don't see the tension, the pathologies, the whining, the overall desperation displayed so often when it is only Kate herding them through the day. Many of us will never forget how relieved we felt when we saw sick little Joel finally getting a kind word, a rub on his back, a hug and some reassurance when he was feeling so ill... it helped remove the sting we felt at seeing that same little feverish boy berated for vomiting on his comforter and banished to the laundry room floor lest he add any more to Kate's laundry.

Now for the pale underbelly of this scenario. Before filming began for the Jon & Kate Plus 8 second season, Figure 8 Films wanted to pay Jodi for her role in the series. Not only for her babysitting time, of course, but also for the intrusion of the camera crew and equipment into her home... the disruption to her own home and family.

This never reached Jodi's awareness at the time because of Kate's response – an adamant NO. Her reasoning? In summary and to paraphrase, 'No way! No one gets paid but us!'. The issue of remuneration for the Kreiders was dropped, with Jodi never being aware of it and continuing to help out with the children as she had been doing even back when Jon and Kate were nobodies and the children weren't the nationwide stars they have become; they were simply the nieces and nephews Jodi and Kevin adored.

Fast forward to Season 3, and this time Jodi was approached directly with the offer of a paying contract for continuing to do the show. By now Jodi had seen the scenes in which she was filmed aired on various episodes – footage that included both Jon and Kate badmouthing her to the camera, characterizing her as an irresponsible ditz, saying condescending things about her way of handling the Gosselin children – "She tries, bless her heart!".

To her credit, Jodi cared more about her relationship with her nieces and nephews than she did about what Jon and Kate had to say about her and, even though Kate AGAIN vetoed the idea of compensating Jodi, Jodi said that she loved her nieces and nephews and wanted to be in their lives regardless. She said that it wasn't about the money; as long as she could maintain a relationship with the Gosselin children she wanted to keep doing so.

This wasn't good enough for Kate, who was also suffering from the nagging realization that Jodi made Kate look pretty bad by comparison, so a third party was hired to provide the babysitting (and other) services and Jodi is seemingly no longer of use to Jon and Kate.

You know how they do that little ceremony at the end of each season of Survivor, where the remaining two or three players reminisce about all the players who are no longer in the picture? The list of players voted off of Jon and Kate's island continues to grow, with Jodi being only the most recent fatality.

I hope Jodi's replacement doesn't make Kate look bad or her days may already be numbered. I am 48 years old and I wish I had an Aunt Jodi. As much as I am going to miss seeing her on the show, I'm sure it can't compare to how much the children will miss having her in their lives.

Posted by Serena on
6/29/2008
based upon information granted with permission by Jodi's sister,
Julie
.

http://gosselinswithoutpity.blogspot.com/2008/06/aunt-jodi-tribe-has-spoken.html