The “haters” have taken what they have seen and heard from Kate on television and in interviews and have drawn completely opposite conclusions. They watched her ignore, ridicule and disrespect her children, her husband, and countless others, and saw that something was terribly wrong. They found her detachment from her kids disturbing. They were not blinded by celebrity or a well-crafted persona and, based on Kate’s own words and actions, came to understand that Kate is driven by greed and selfishness and an undying desire for fame. They have refused to excuse her blatant lies and are unrelenting in taking her to task.
Before I began writing this book, I had never read any of the blogs. I stuck mainly to the entertainment and tabloid websites to take the temperature of what was being reported about the Gosselins each day. My iPhone was a Godsend early on while I was staked out in front of the Gosselin home, and while I sat alone in my car waiting for something newsworthy to happen on Heffner Road. But once I committed to writing this book, I started reading the blogs from the beginning as part of my research, to see what people were saying and who, if any of them, really knew anything for certain.
There were four Gosselin blogs bookmarked on my computer that I read regularly during this period. By this time, I was privy to most of the details of what I was writing about, so I knew when somebody was posting comments just to give their opinion, or to speculate, or to see their words online, and I knew when somebody with factual knowledge of specific situations was posting. I knew when stories were planted on the blogs by the “players,” or by their girlfriends, friends, etc.
I did not, and do not, know everything about what was really going on between Jon and Kate. Only Jon and Kate and the kids know, and that’s the way it should always be. So, unless you were in that house, you just don’t know. And you never will. Unfortunately, both Jon and Kate have been caught in countless lies, making it very difficult for most people to believe anything they say.
I have read many emails between Kate, her manager Julie Carson May, and Discovery Communications, documenting how Kate would get bothered by something she saw online. She would immediately fire off an email to Discovery requesting that it be taken care of. “Can we sue??” was a question Kate was quick to ask.
Before there were fan sites and bloggers taking sides on the Gosselins, I saw firsthand the power that Kate, through Discovery, wielded. When my wife, Dana, made unflattering comments about Kate on her blog for the Reading Eagle, Kate and Discovery had the blog shut down. I worked at the Reading Eagle at that time, and I was in the office when the call came in. With one phone call, Kate and company had the world’s oldest family-owned newspaper cowering in the corner like a scared child. Dana’s blog was shut down within the hour because the people on the newspaper’s management team were afraid.
Kate monitored Google News alerts and scoured the Internet and the blogosphere for anyone speaking negatively about her. She kept files on her computer that were filled with material from blogs and tabloids. It consumed her. When ratings were huge, Kate had people to monitor the Internet for her. Once she hit the downside of her reality life, she again became totally consumed with personally scouring the Internet day and night for any mention of her.
Along with keeping tabs on various people and websites, Kate kept a close watch on the “Gwoppers” at gosselinswithoutpity.blogspot.com. She had a file on her computer with information from that blog, including who the moderators were.
Back in 2005, Kate kept one particular file folder on her computer titled “BAD BLOG.” When I looked inside the folder, there was my wife Dana’s blog, in all its glory, along with a Word document that contained a single comment from a poster to the blog.
I had forgotten about this era of my life, but there it was, before my eyes. The single comment that Kate Gosselin held up as an example of all things bad … was something I wrote, several years ago, showing my questionable sense of humor. So, for the sake of full disclosure, here is my comment that Kate Gosselin saved on her computer; it was the only individual comment she saved from Dana’s blog:
“Tsk, tsk, tsk Dana. Why do you persist in attacking this poor, helpless woman?
Yes, I did tell Kate that she should have many, many children and yes, I do communicate with the Gosselin family on a daily basis. Is that so hard for you to comprehend?? I chose her over thousands of other crazy people to carry this burden. This is all my fault. I thought she knew it would be a difficult road. The community needs to get behind this lost soul and raise these children as if they were their own. Maybe if everyone in Berks County could just forgo going out to dinner just once a week, they could give that money directly to Kate to help her on her journey. After all, put yourself in her shoes. Can you possibly imagine how exhausting it must be to have to spend every day watching someone else taking care of eight children?? I know I wouldn’t want to do it – and I’m God.”
Posted by: God at May 20, 2005 09:03 AM
Admittedly, it was not my most mature moment. I was just stirring the pot to get people engaged in conversation. I’m a bit of an antagonist. And, clearly, it bothered Kate enough to save it. So was this the reason that Kate Gosselin demanded a PR team a short time later? That comment is still out there in cyberspace. If you Google “Tsk, tsk, tsk Dana,” on the fourth Google search page, eight items down, you can read the battle being waged even back then, in May of 2005, between the haters and supporters. Those were the pioneers of the Gosselin blogosphere.
Throughout all the blogging drama, Discovery maintained the power to control Kate Gosselin’s message. The following email samples provide a mere glimpse into Kate’s communications concerning the Internet and its bloggers.
In January of 2008, a concerned viewer sent an email to [email protected] to complain about TLC filming and televising the children being potty trained. The sender cited the following post from Television Without Pity (TWoP):
You guys should be more careful regarding what you allow to be shown on tv...the following post from TWoP:
It doesn't matter WHERE the potties were or WHO put them there.
Both the girls and boys were televised, nationwide, sitting on potties. Kate let that happen for the girls. Even took photos. I can't believe that Jon/Kate couldn't put their foot/feet down and say "enough is enough."
So here are little children doing very private things in various stages of undress...with various non-family adults watching and filming, perhaps against their will...but as they are so young they do not have a voice in the matter. Is this a case to be reported to Child and Family Protective services? I am a CASA advocate in Illinois...and I would say yes."
I would be inclined to report the behavior...in fact I'm looking for the appropriate office to contact.
Instead of considering for a moment that filming the children potty training was a terrible violation of their privacy and extremely dangerous considering that perverted individuals were, no doubt, viewing their images, Kate emailed Wendy from Discovery to ask for help. She told Wendy that they were being reported to child protective services for showing the kids going potty on TV and asked “Can you guys please help?” She also asked Wendy to “please take care of this with the network” and to have Bravo take down the TWOP forum on them because it was “hurting our family in all ways.” Since she was on a roll, she asked Wendy to “remove the DHC forum as well.” Kate finished by saying “This email is exactly what we don’t want to happen.”
On May 19, 2009, at 9:43 AM, Julie May sent an email to Kate, with a copy to Laurie Goldberg of Discovery, informing her that she saw a video of an interview with Jodi and Kevin on Radar Online. Laurie Goldberg sent a reply at 12:46 PM that same day, saying that they had gotten a long interview and were clearly “milking” it for all it was worth. She said that they had been the MOST damaging on many levels.
After being alerted that Kevin and Jodi were speaking negatively about her, Kate emailed her three favorite words to Laurie Goldberg: can we sue? Kate Gosselin wanted to sue her own br
other and sister-in-law.
In another email, Kate gave Jon his hourly instructions about monitoring the Internet. She told Jon to please do a search on Facebook to see who was saying they were going to be in Canada in October. At least she said “please” and “Thx” this time.
There are many other emails just like those.
I spent a lot of time reading the comments on the blogs, mostly the “anti-Kate” blogs. I did so for a very good reason: I was trying to figure out who was on there leaking inside information. Clearly, to me there were, and continue to be, several possible sources.
The one thing you must remember here is that everyone, including immediate family, who ever worked for or had any extended contact with Kate Gosselin and her children had to sign a confidentiality agreement. It was made very clear to each and every one of them that a breach of this agreement would bring down upon them all the legal power that Discovery could muster. They would be left penniless.
So if you were someone who was close to the Gosselin family at one time, maybe inside the house with them or going on trips with them, etc., and you were cast off like Kate’s trash, or if you were one of Kate’s infertility doctors or nurses, or a doctor’s office staffer with access to gossip and information, and you were angry, very angry, but you knew you couldn’t utter a peep about what you had seen or heard, how would you get your story out? How would you let people know about the awful things Kate Gosselin was doing to her children and family without losing your career or everything you owned?
You’d become an “anonymous” Internet blogger: a “Gosselin Insider.”
So, interspersed among the Kate groupies, the lonely housewives, the grandmothers, the lunatics, the hate-mongers, and all those who sincerely care about the fate of the Gosselin children, there are some real Gosselin insiders on the blogs. I know they are there because I have read the comments back to the start and, armed with the inside story myself, I can see them. I may not know all of them, but I recognize some. I know who the “insiders” are, and I applaud them for doing what they felt comfortable doing in trying to expose Kate’s lies while protecting themselves.
The list of possible insiders is long. It includes so many people who Kate purged from her life because they had the nerve to question or criticize her, or to express alarm and concern about her children. Beth, Jodi, Kevin, Carla, Kendra, Christen, Clarissa, Jon, Ashley, Mark, Rhonda, Jacob, Jamie, Ariel, Judy, Kathryn, Clark, Jen, Jeff, Tracy, and Anne are just a few of the many possible choices.
THE HELP
“My day is, make a meal, serve a meal, clean up a meal,
clean up everything.”
– Kate Gosselin
“Our church body is 750 people. They’re hoping to have 100 people
on the volunteer list. And, actually, we’re getting calls and
resumes sent for people that we don’t know that want to help.”
– Kate Gosselin
Kate was once asked by one of her fans on Twitter if she does everything by herself, or if she hires some help. This was her response:
lol. I DO have help.. But it's my kids! Does that count as help? Lol
Kate Gosselin is notorious for taking credit where credit is not due, from writing a book like, say, Multiple Blessings, to more mundane tasks like, perhaps, doing her own grocery shopping. The entire Kate Gosselin “brand” is built on the illusion that one woman is single-handedly raising eight children – on her own – with little to no outside help.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Not only does Kate Gosselin have more hired help than anyone I have ever met, but she squeezes every last drop of “help” out of the only people she calls friends.
This is a paraphrased entry from Kate’s journal about her best friend, Jamie, who had come for a visit.
August 2006
We had water fun today! After breakfast we went outside and played in the pool. We went in and dried off the kids and cleaned up their mud and rediapered. Kate told Jamie that it’s no wonder that she doesn’t do this by herself. She said “it’s so hard!!!!!”
This was taken from my online research. It’s funny that Angie Krall, the nurse that Kate fought so hard for and whom she wanted to keep around, ended up turning on Kate by speaking to US Weekly.
The new issue of US Weekly reports that Jon & Kate mom Kate Gosselin – known for being short with her husband, Jon Gosselin – is even more combative with her family and employees.
Baby nurse Angela Krall, who watched the sextuplets as infants for more than a year, tells US that the short-fused Kate fired 40 nurses and nurse’s aides in the three months before she was hired. A 2005 AP story reported that a pre-TV Gosselin had petitioned the state to extend payments for Krall, whose fees were first paid by Medicaid (Jon was unemployed; Medicaid provides limited assistance to premature babies). “Kate Gosselin said she feels society has a responsibility to help with the children, since modern medicine promotes the use of fertility drugs, which can lead to multiple births,” the AP reported.
While Kate praised Krall in the same story, Krall reveals that Kate posted “demeaning” signs in every room detailing rules, and fired one woman on the spot for washing her hands in the kitchen instead of the bathroom. “Kate flipped,” says Krall. “She thought it was cross-contamination.”
When Kate sent her now infamous letter begging the State of Pennsylvania to continue to pony up the bucks to pay for Angie Krall to serve her family, she certainly didn’t sound like someone who ever had any intention at all of raising her children on her own.
Angie Krall may have technically been a nurse, but to Kate Gosselin, she was nothing but a free helper, plain and simple. Medicaid was paying for Kate Gosselin’s full-time babysitter.
CARLA’S LIST
Kate’s own personal “to-do” list reads something like this: Go tanning. Get nails done. Get hair done. Get mail. Go to Starbucks. Go tanning. Get nails done… Her “to-do” lists for others look a lot different. Here is an example of Kate’s many orders and instructions to Carla Turner, who was her main “helper” at one time. Carla, who is Ashley the babysitter’s mother, was considered one of Kate’s best “friends.”
The recurring theme seems to be that to be a “friend” to Kate Gosselin you have to be doing chores and running errands for her constantly. With a friend like that …
This was part of Carla’s chore list for May 3, 2009:
Fold laundry and put away (check washers and dryers)
Clean kitchen and appliances/table high chairs, etc. – can’t stress this enough!!!
Pull all hand towels out of all bathrooms and replace (give kids and Jon junky ones and powder rooms nice ones)- check to see if Judy did that
Take out trash and lock up garage, turn off lights, etc.- if Jon hasn’t.
Straighten up all toys/clothing in rooms etc.. Including kids rooms
Carry Katherine dishes downstairs.
Clean windows: front door, side door into family room, and basement sliding door... inside and out.
Water all plants
Organize kids movies in rooms... put back in cases etc and dresser tops etc.
Straighten dog kitchen and take out their trash.... dumb dogs! :(
Wipe out cabinet that has coffee mugs in it.... to right of sink
Throw lily on front porch away (or plant?) and cala lily on mantle in dining room
Take Easter decorations off table and mantle and store in built in glass cabinet below christmas dishes... put in cabinets not in glass part!
Fold table cloth and table pad and put in buffet that is in dining room near kitchen entrance
(you will see other table cloths - fold Miss Bev style ;)
Go through kids closets and match up all like things.... there are stray pieces hanging in laundry room and on top of dryers to be put away etc.
Hang ironing AND dry cleaning in correct closets.
Kate al
so told Carla to come as early as possible and “Don’t forget to pick up my pig and bring today!!!” She did say “Thanks” and told Carla to call if she had any questions.
THE PHANTOM CHEF
Katherine is/was Kate’s personal chef. You know, the one that Kate says doesn’t exist. Kate has said that someone will occasionally prepare meals on filming days to make her life easier. That would make sense for her, just as it would make sense for anyone juggling a hectic work schedule. But here’s the problem. I checked the shooting schedules, and many of the emails I’ve seen from Katherine, the personal chef, were about preparing meals on non-filming days.
The fact that Kate doesn’t always cook meals by herself for her kids is no big deal, and certainly not cause for criticism. It is an irrelevant issue that most people wouldn’t care about in the least. The real issue is Kate’s constant need to deceive. She opens herself to criticism over a non-issue because she stubbornly denies the truth. Kate intentionally lies or misleads or leaves out details in an effort to protect her manufactured image of the put-upon mom of eight. She is desperate to hold onto the supermom mantle, but only she and a few rabid and impressionable fans continue to believe the hoax. If she were to just stop lying to try to keep up appearances, she might find that people would respect her honesty. As it stands, the more lies she tells, the worse she makes herself look.
KATE GOSSELIN: HOW SHE FOOLED THE WORLD - THE RISE AND FALL OF A REALITY TV QUEEN Page 41
