KATE GOSSELIN: HOW SHE FOOLED THE WORLD - THE RISE AND FALL OF A REALITY TV QUEEN (83 page)

I have taken photos and video through the windshield of my car, and the paps have done so as well, showing the speedometer along with Kate’s car in view in front of me – driving in excess of 100 mph, often just to get to the post office or tanning salon.

The paparazzi,
which she says she hates so much, were even concerned about her driving habits and couldn’t understand why she would take such risks.  When I was in Las Vegas with Jon, one of the paps called to tell me to please pass on to Jon that
they had followed Kate at 110 mph that day with three of the sextuplets in the car
. They didn’t report her or release their video. They only wanted me to tell Jon so that maybe he could talk to her about it. When even the aggressive, low-life paparazzi are concerned for you, you have a problem. Even they know when to back off and be safe.

It doesn’t matter if you have Mario Andretti driving your car for you, you can’t control what other, less-careful drivers will do on the road, and all it takes is one miscue for you to lose everything. So why would Kate increase the probability that something tragic could happen by driving so recklessly? It isn’t worth risking the lives of your children.

I have followed Kate many times, but one early-morning experience sticks out in my mind as an example of Kate’s evasive tactics. I was out looking for Kate one night and into the early morning. Jon was at the house with the kids, and Kate’s whereabouts were unknown. It was a big deal back then to try and pinpoint where exactly Kate would go when she was not at the house with the kids during Jon’s custody time. I had pretty much given up and called it a night when, at 1 AM, I spotted Kate’s Land Cruiser in a local hotel parking lot on the way back to my house. I decided to wait and see what was going on and, sure enough, at 4 AM, Kate left the hotel with a police escort. The rest of this story is in the “Men in Blue” chapter, but this is an excerpt dealing with Kate’s driving.

August 16, 2009

… The police gave her an escort out of the lot and up onto the highway where I began to follow. She immediately gave it everything she had and was off to the races. Two other vehicles were in pursuit at high speeds. At least one of them had a New York plate. I was way behind going 85mph and losing ground. I could see Kate putting her turn signal on as though she was getting off at an exit and then turning off her headlights to try and fool the paps. She must be crazy to be driving like this at high speeds, in the dark. I kept with them as far as I could before she lost me around Premise Made Candies which is very, very close to I78 so I’m concluding that she was headed to NYC. It takes about 2 and a half hours from here which would get her there around 7 am. She may be taping another interview or something else today.

Here are some more excerpts from my notes on Kate’s driving:

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

October 2009

… There were two paps and two reporters circling around today, hoping to get comments from Kate about the TLC situation. She stayed in hiding though. There was no sign of her at all until I saw a black limo going up the road toward the house. I quickly drove up in time to see it pull up to the front door and Kate and Steve came out of the house. The driver got out of the car but Steve beat him to the door and opened it for Kate and got in behind her and closed it himself. They left the property with two paps and me following them. He drove pretty slowly at first because of the winding country roads but when he reached the highway, he sped up to 75 in a 55. They went to Kate’s UPS store and Steve got out and went inside and got her mail. He glared at me when he walked back to the car. He wasn’t happy about being followed. Once back out on the highway, the driver got back up to high speed again and was weaving in and out of traffic. After thirty minutes, we ended up at xxxxxxxxx School where Mady and Cara go. The limo pulled up near one of the buildings and Steve got out and went inside and a few minutes later, he came out with the girls and loaded them into the limo. Kate still hadn’t been seen at this point. We drove and chased for another hour at high speeds, going over 100 mph at times and I fell behind the paps in their sports cars. I was driving an older SUV and I got hung up at a traffic light after everyone else ran through it by about eight seconds. After that I never caught back up to them. I was in contact with both paps though the whole time by phone. They got on the PA turnpike heading toward Pittsburgh. I got on about five minutes behind them and headed back. There was no way I could stay with the chase. On the turnpike, they reached speeds over 105 mph according to both paps.

They pulled over at a rest stop halfway between Reading and Pittsburgh and everyone got out to go inside for a break. Steve told the driver to stay with the car while they went inside. He also looked at the paps like “WTF are you still doing following us??”

The driver told the paps that both Kate and Steve were very rude. Steve gave him an address to plug into his GPS and told him that’s where we’re going and then he had the divider put up so they had privacy. The driver said “these people suck. They’re total assholes” Once back in the car, the chase was on again – again going over 100 mph weaving in and out of traffic with two kids in the car.

They finally ended up in Pittsburgh at a restaurant. The paps took pictures of them going inside but then decided they’d had enough and began the five-hour trip back home. Both paps were very pissed off that they wasted the trip. They speculated that Kate maybe had a speaking engagement tonight or tomorrow in Pittsburgh or Ohio.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

October 2009

… Next stop was the dry cleaners in Wyomissing. It was very brief and no pictures were taken because of the location and it being a drive-thru dry cleaners. Now is when the fun began though. After doing a U-turn on the busy street, Kate got on the gas and began her quest to lose the paps so she could leave Reading for wherever she goes when she’s away from home. The paps were on her as she went 60 in a 35 speed limit until Kate went into a residential neighborhood and was racing around corners and up and down tight, tree-lined streets where children were playing. The three-car paparazzi caravan backed off at this point and Kate made her getaway.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

October 2009

… More aggressive driving at high speeds, going 80 in a 55 mph zone and she led me to Pier 1 Imports for shopping of all things. She stayed inside for an hour shopping.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

October 2009

…After ten minutes at the gas station, Kate made a dangerous move out of the parking lot and across two lanes of traffic to try to lose the paps. Horns blew as she drove through, nearly getting into an accident. There was no reason for the erratic driving because she just drove the ten minutes straight home after that.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

October 2009

… At a little before 8:30am, a woman in a white van showed up at the house and went inside. About twenty minutes later Kate left the property in her Land Cruiser followed by the paps. Kate took off at high speeds on the highway driving in and out of cars and getting off and on various exits. The paps were still on her until she started speeding through a residential neighborhood and running stop signs. They backed off of her a bit and she ended up losing them.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

November 2009

… She left the FedEx lot and sped back up State Hill Road toward home. The speed limit is 40 mph and she was going 55 mph approaching the blind hill at the State Hill boat launch parking lot. A pickup pulling a boat pulled out in front of her crossing her lane and she barely avoided hitting him. She swerved to the right and just got around him and kept going. I was following – not chasing. She drives erratically all the time. It’s going to end badly one of these days. I hope I’m not there when it happens.

On the winding country road leading to her house, she drives into the other lane going around S turns. Very dangerous.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

November 2009

… A few minutes after she left, Kate went to the garage and got her Land Cruiser and came flying out of the front gate trying to lose the paparazzi from the start. She went way over the speed limit along the winding country roads around her house and ran two stop signs along the way.

She bypassed her usual first stop at Dunkin Donuts and got on the highway and sped to the UPS store. She parked beneath the sign that reads No Parking Fire Lane, facing the wrong direction. I parked right behind her. It seemed like the thing to do at the time.

… It was now almost 3 pm and she had to get back to the house to get the van to pickup the kids. We raced out of the shopping center and headed toward her house, when she made a very dangerous U Turn across four lanes and headed in the opposite direction. Three miles of aggressive driving later and we were at the Dunkin Donuts drive thru getting coffee. I waited for her at the exit and followed her the rest of the way back to the house. She unloaded all of the bags and took everything inside. Then got the Sprinter van and headed to the bus stop to pick up the kids.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

November 2009

Kate left the house at 8:15 this morning hoping to go undetected. I just happened to be rolling by the house in a different vehicle that she’s used to seeing so she didn’t see it was me initially. She sat inside the gate until I passed and I kept going, anticipating the direction she would be driving. In a rare change, Kate was driving behind me for several miles. I was going ten miles an hour over the speed limit and she was right up my butt, talking on the phone the entire time. When we got to the highway entrance I let her pass me and then proceeded to follow her at speeds reaching 95 mph for the next ninety minutes. You can’t imagine what it’s like to follow Kate Gosselin for ninety minutes. You need to pretty much strap in and pray. I broke more traffic laws and some laws of physics trying to stay with her. She is an extremely aggressive driver and goes from zero to 80 as fast as her Land Cruiser will allow. She did everything she could to lose me, weaving in and out of traffic and getting off at exits at the last second.

When we got to the Harrisburg area she was especially aggressive. She pulled into a realtor’s office and parked and then quickly drove over a curb and back out onto the street and took off. Fortunately I guessed right at her direction and caught up to her as she was parking at her hairstylist – Diane’s Hair Design at 3853 Derry St.

… The chase began again with more of the same evasive measures and we ended up in Hershey Pa, driving through the attractions and up to the Hotel Hershey. Kate drove around to the left side of the hotel where the spa is located and stopped by the doorman/valet and talked to him for a few seconds, then
preceded to her parking space. The man instantly started walking toward me and I knew she ratted me out so I peeled off and drove around the building and parked in a different lot where I could still see her car.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

November 2009

It was now ten minutes to bus drop off and Kate pulled out of Starbucks and turned right to head towards home. I didn’t know what she was doing and I guess, neither did she because she drove a hundred feet and then suddenly made a U-Turn across four lanes of traffic and went to the bus stop. I had to wait a few minutes to turn around and I don’t know why she would make such a dangerous turn but that’s Kate. She’s a very aggressive driver.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

December 2009

The paps shot her as she was coming out of the nail salon and into her car. Then she made another trip to Dunkin Donuts for a large coffee. She was gesturing to the person at the drive thru window about the pap who was standing right in front of her car. He got the hint and backed off. When leaving the Dunkin Donuts lot, she pulled a very dangerous move, cutting into oncoming traffic so the paps and I couldn’t get right out behind her. Horns were blowing but we kept up pursuit. She got on the highway heading toward Lancaster and after a very speedy 80-95 mph chase, we ended up at the kids school in Lancaster.

… Repeat the 90 mph car chase home, but this time with a child in the car.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

December 2009

… A few minutes after Noon, Kate went flying out of the gate and sped down the road toward Wyomissing shopping area. She was going 70 in a 40 mph zone and passed a car illegally on a single-lane road with dangerous curves. All of that crazy driving and she ended up at her bank in Shillington.. The bank branch closed at Noon but a woman
from the bank came outside and met her at her car and gave her a large envelope. Kate opened it in the car and looked at some papers for a few minutes, then got on her cell phone and talked for five minutes before driving away.

Jon and Kate Gosselin PA Reporting

December 2009

…A second nanny and a housekeeper were all at the house early today. The kids are off from school for Christmas vacation. Kate got in her Land Cruiser and left the house at 8 am this morning and headed toward Lancaster. She drove at speeds reaching 90 mph on Rt. 222, even though there were patches of ice on the roads. She didn’t call the police so I’m guessing this was just a routine trip somewhere but I couldn’t keep up with her and lost her near the Park City Mall. I drove through the mall lot several times looking for her with no luck.