Kinda makes me glad I’m an only child…
What I’m referring to here is the whole Jon and Kate Plus Eight debacle.
No, I don’t mean I’m glad not to have seven siblings, I mean I’m glad not to have a brother and sister in law who feel the need to condemn my parenting skills (and character) on national TV.
For anyone who has been living in a cave for the last year, let me summarize: Jon and Kate Gosselin, semi-famous parents of two sets of multiples and stars of their own TLC reality TV show, are clearly at a turning point in their marriage.
Viewers of the show have seen Kate snap at and harp on her husband for years. Viewers condemned her for it, but Jon seemed to take it in stride (at least on camera). A number of months ago, Jon was spotted out and about with a particular lady who wasn’t his wife. Pictures were taken and published, and the whole thing blew up into rampant speculation about who was at fault and what was really going on.
All of it culminated into the most watched episode, Monday night’s season premier. It was quickly apparent that the couple is having real difficulties and both appear to be in pain. Jon indicated at the end of last season that he had little interest in continuing the show and he was noticeably missing from most of Monday’s episode except for the children’s party.
While watching the show can be a little like watching a car accident – you want to look away, but can’t and wind up cringing through most of it- I mostly felt great sadness for both of them and especially for the kids. Which brings up the whole Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jodi issue….
Kate’s brother Kevin and his wife Jodi have been making the rounds of the TV shows. In the name of “speaking out for the children” they have been publicly criticizing the parents (mostly Kate).
Here’s where I take issue. Do I think I would make the same choices for MY family if given the opportunity? I honestly don’t know. (I don’t know how Big J and I would provide for eight kids with the careers we have now, so I can’t say I absolutely wouldn’t consider what Jon and Kate chose. The TV show gave their family SO MANY opportunities that they would not have had otherwise. )
BUT – if I were having the kind of difficulties they are having, I would hope that my family would stand by me and help me achieve the best possible outcome for everyone involved. If Kate’s brother and sister in law are truly concerned for the family, how does throwing fuel on the fire by conducting very public TV interviews help the situation at all?? Or creating a blog with the sole purpose of criticizing the couple, as Jodi’s sister has done?
Perhaps their intentions are pure, but the appearance is that they are looking for publicity for themselves. All it does is serve to exacerbate the public scrutiny and attention on the whole situation. It’s hard to see how anyone could think that was helping in any way. It’s too bad that people are not putting as much effort into actually helping the family as they are in publicly condemning them.
So, I open this to comment – what would you do if you were Kate’s brother? Do you feel that this is being handled appropriately?
I dont think that going and doing an intervies for everyone to see is really helping Jon and Kate at all. I think if they would like to help they need to sit down with them in private and have a talk with them.
As I love this show and mostly watch it to see how those beautiful children are doing I really think they made there hole family a mess with this reality show. There is no going back now. They will never be able to go out in public and not be recognized.
I agree. Who wants their family out saying things about them on national tv, true or not. I hope that Jon & Kate can make it work, but it’s their decision to make.
In this case, I believe that the means justifies the end. The children are surrounded by the cameras, Jon doesn’t want it to continue, and the children are not being paid for their participation in the show. Yes, they have a great house and all kinds of opportunities. But is it truly necessary? There are no laws pertaining to children in reality tv shows. Hopefully these children will one day have the same rights child actors do.
I don’t personally believe that the Gosselins have made all the right decisions. Kate could save her marriage by letting this be a marital decision rather than having her way. During the premier, she made this very obvious. Jon is angry that she’s gone. She said she doesn’t know what the solution to that is. Jon doesn’t like the limelight, and Kate sends him a newsflash: it’s not going away.
It’s one thing if Kate wants to be her own person. It’s a shame that doing so is going to tear her family apart.
I’m not sure it’s fair to comment on what it would take to save their marriage – seems like that’s something between the two of them.
I am also a little leary of the argument that relatives are speaking out because of the exploitation of the children. There are much more private ways to handle that which wouldn’t add more controversy and attention to the family, but then those people would also have to forfit their 15 minutes of fame as well….
It’s all opinion. It’s impossible to know what’s right or wrong for them, but they’re putting themselves out there for everyone to cast a vote on.
Based on tabloids and interviews, it appears as though Jon and Kate don’t want to be helped. I agree that it would look a lot better if Kevin and Jodi weren’t doing the speaking. Octomom has lawyers taking action to protect her children without a show on the air. Where are those lawyers for the +8?
As for drawing more attention to the family, Kate’s doing interviews with People. She’s going around to promote the show and the book. It seems to me that she’s not avoiding controversy and attention. Does the family deserve the paparazzi? No one does.