We feel like we are rubber-necking past a train wreck somewhere in Berks County, PA. When we see an article titled, Jon Gosselin in the Wilderness we cringe, but we can’t tear ourselves away. Jon Gosselin, Ordinary Guy, is giving yet ANOTHER interview to assure us that he values privacy above everything else. He just wants a normal life! A normal life giving interviews! Will we get to see his secluded cabin again? (Yes.) Will he mention that he has no TV? (Sure thing.) Will he show off his gun? (Of course.) Will he finally get through an interview without making a fool of himself? (Not a chance.)
Besides the obvious contradiction in “seeking a redemptive magazine profile” about not wanting fame or attention, Jon doesn’t seem to have a clue what the word ‘redemptive’ means. You would think he would want to show the author his responsible, paternal side. Jon working hard. Jon shopping for his kids. Wait. Is that what we saw? Jon does take a drink order for his guest (but doesn’t bring it). He serves food (after he lies about preparing it). And he buys a gun safe for his kids’ safety (because a family court judge ordered him to get it).
No, we don’t get rehabilitated Jon in this interview. Instead, we get Jon stuck in 2009. Jon smoking and swearing, drinking, bar-hopping, drinking, showing off his gun, drinking, ranting about Kate Gosselin, drinking, urinating in public, and drinking. You can’t remember how the Gosselin brand went south? Have a drink with Jon while he brags about beating sorority sisters at beer pong and staying out until four in the morning during his marriage. You think Jon Gosselin hates fame? Ask him who the most-photographed person of 2009 was. The only thing missing from this profile was his Ed Hardy wardrobe and a shot of his big back tattoo.
While we learned very little that is new from this interview, we have to credit the interviewer, Simon van Zuylen-Wood , for seeing through Jon’s nonsense. He points out that Jon’s “Waiter & Cabin Dweller” interview tour is “blown to pieces” by Jon’s upcoming appearance on the low-brow reality TV show Couples Therapy. (Jon insists he did it for the free therapy- all two weeks of it!) He notes that Kate’s healthy following on Twitter “enrages” Jon. (Move on, Jon.) Most notably, he challenges Jon directly about the abuse allegations made by Jon’s buddy, Robert “Trashman” Hoffman against Kate:
As far as Hoffman’s allegations go, suffice it to say their veracity depends mostly on whether one considers spanking abusive behavior or not. At the bar, when I begin to ask Jon pointed questions about the alleged abuse, he wises up, goes off the record, and says, “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Then he looks around the patio, motions toward the bar, and yells: “Let’s do a shot!”
Uh-huh. Sure. That’s just what every good daddy does when his ex-wife is accused of abuse. Wise up, shut up, and do a shot. Jon Gosselin Brand Rehabilitation Operation: FAIL.
Read the interview for yourself. We would love to hear your thoughts on Jon’s assessment of his fans (“You and I go out, we read, we educate ourselves, we do a lot of stuff. … They watch TV.”) Or his girlfriend’s ‘crass charm’ (“inspires me at one point to overshare that I’d forgotten to apply deodorant that morning.”) Or his 50/50 custody split (“He gets the kids one day a week and every other weekend.”)
We know what we think. We think Jon Gosselin should stop giving interviews. Check out our recap of another interview Jon gave a few months ago here.
Well, I guess he didn’t ask the reporter to hold “it” as he puffed on a ciggy, as he peed in the driveway so that’s a good thing.
I just want to know what happened to the guy from the show that lovingly held his wife before surgery and prayed with her. I guess he is gone forever, or maybe he didn’t exist at all?
Jamie, I don’t think that Jon ever existed. I think Kate saw the cracks in Jon when the kids were born. Kate grew up and Jon never did.
Just when you think that you are safely out of it all…Jon sucks you back in!
Jon must have had some false sense of security that this reporter was one of his “besties.”
Jon Jon Jon, you are such a creep.
Bitter much? He almost sounds like the ones who are bitter they threw it all away. But, I don’t think that is the case. Too bad. He got a gig but he’s still focused on dragging down and attacking Kate.
He comes across as such a loser, and peeing in the driveway? He couldn’t at least go find a tree?
Is Jon being blasted by the haters for missing his Halloween weekend with the kids?
This is exactly what makes me unsure of whether I want to watch Couples Therapy. The comments I’ve read so far lead me to believe that he put one over on the therapists and producers and they totally bought his BS. Until he stops making excuses and blaming others, he will be unhappy period. He went on the show for the paycheck, he might have garnered more respect just being honest. I wonder if the point of this article was to show that he got the gun safe and he just wasn’t able to filter out his anger at being made to get it.
Jamie, this is what gets to me: I pride myself on being a pretty good judge of character. I guess pride goeth before the fall because I really did not see this side of Jon at all. I thought he was kind of weak and wishy-washy on the show; not a bad person, by any means, but someone who probably fit well with a more take-charge (okay, I’ll say it: bossy) type like Kate. In a strange way, their relationship “worked” because they balanced each other out. I wonder if he’d be happier in a way if he was still back with her, because he just went off the rails on his own. He really seems lost. It’s such a cliche, but I feel sorry for the kids. I can only imagine how much he probably trashes Kate to them.
I cannot believe the haters are actually promoting that article, LOLOL!! At first reading my jaw hit the floor, second time through my sides hurt so much from laughing when I read JG repeating popular haters’ memes about Kate! I have seen her bragging about her kids and the family pets and I have NEVER once seen her call any of her kids “liars” or mentally defective or whatever else their biological father said about them on the Oprah interview! My, isn’t he the definition of classy?? NOT.
I really think he at least subconsciously wishes he was still with Kate and thats why he’s so obsessed with her instead of moving on with his own life. He is totally lost without the structure that she gave to his life. I really think he needs and craves that because he seemed happiest when he had Kate and the kids at home and a full time job. When he quit the outside job and Kate started traveling was when his life and thus their relationship started unraveling. I really don’t think he has ever had the inner filters to cover up his emotions too much so while yes they had conflicts, I don’t believe he was always miserable. This is just my opinion based on what I have seen.
Seriously, I do wonder what the 10-20 reality tv shows that were offered to him. Never saw him mentioned anywhere for one, and didn’t DWTS say they never asked him to be on? Does Jon make this stuff up in his mind?
New vehicle? Thought Kate gave him the old BBB. Hmmm, did Jon trade it already?
Law abiding? The court had to order him to buy a safe for his gun. A good parent would do this on their own, keeping it out of children’s reach at all times. Scary to think Jon had a gun laying around a house with his kids and probably Liz’s kids there.
Beautiful painting from Paris hanging on the wall, at least he bought one nice thing from all the money he blew. Great reminder of his time with Hailey while on vacation together, yet he tells Hailey to F off.
Jon, don’t, just don’t, you are your own worst enemy, and telling your fans to educate themselves and read a book was priceless. Hopefully they will take your suggestion.
I have one word to describe Jon -> Pitiful
Pam, yes! 😉
Snickers, I agree with all you have to say especially dismay that he was *forced* to buy a gun safe by the family court. Unbelievable. I shudder to think where he kept his guns before.
I’m so over his overage frat boy routine. He is closer to 40 than 30 with eight kids he doesn’t support (including two teenage girls that would benefit from a solid and responsible male role model). The smoking and excessive drinking is just YUCK to me. I would tell him to Grow The F Up, but if hasn’t yet, I don’t see that happening. 🙁
He is a gross and a slob. Yuk.
Congratulations to whomever wrote the article for IW. Well written and funny. Jon, not so funny if his children read the article in the magazine . Nice language regarding their mother. He should be ashamed of himself.
A lot of posters seem to not know or forget that jon was in the middle of Kate’s bitter, delusional lawsuit. The lawsuit she has since thrown out, because it was nonsense. Maybe that’s where the bitterness comes from?! And the reason why he is broke is because he payed for his lawyers for divorce, while TLC payed for Kate’s. and he was sued by said network for walking away from show, more court fees. This women has made his life a living hell. Sounds bitter? Sure. You tell him to move on? Maybe he could, kinda hard when kate throws you under bus repeatedly. And tries to sue you just to promote her book. Maybe he should not do any more interviews. But at least he’s exploiting himself, and not his children. Kate exploits her kids; wife swap, failed cookbook, twitter, her website, all her books. She has lived off those children and sells thier childhood to anyone willing to pay. And you all are judging jon for calling her an asshole and dropping f bomb. Please. At least he’s real.
My opinion, you writing this blog about Jon gives him the attention he craves. Good or bad opinions are still attention to him. So stop giving him the attention. Reporters will stop looking for & writing about him if the public, including you, would stop giving him the attention
Thanks for contributing Janie N@Copperjane.
I disagree with your assessment that Jon is “real” or that his personality flaws are a good thing, Sara. I think he’s vulgar and I see no reason to applaud that.
PLEASE….Jon is delusional. From his cheating; to his womanizing; to his fake epiphany; to pissing away his money (Heller’s words); to selling out himself, Kate, and his kids; to being a dead beat dad. He has been bitter and jealous for years and it has nothing to do with the lawsuit. Simon van Zuylen-Wood was not going to be manipulated by Jon’s horse and pony show. He saw right through him and the interview proves it. Yeah Jon is REAL alright…A REAL A$$hole. Those poor kids.
Jon has been divorced from Kate for almost five years. I’m sick of hearing that she is the reason he’s a failure. He’s had time to get his act together, but since he didn’t have it together before the divorce, it’s doubtful that he ever will.
Jon was perfectly fine with the kids being on TV until he tangled with TLC. He cares not a whit about his kids or he would tell his goonies to stop trying to thrwart everything Kate does to support them, especially since he’s not supporting them. (4 days and 4 dinners a week do not 50/50 make, no matter how creative the math.) Simon’s article shows Jon’s true colors, as will his upcoming TV series. It’s all his own doing. Kate isn’t perfect, but she is not the reason Jon is in the situation he currently faces.
Sara, first of all. Kate’s delusional lawsuit? I don’t think it’s ok for a ex husband to make a copy of his wife’s computer and give it to a tabloid reporter. I can’t imagine anyone who has an ounce of decency would think that is ok. Kate’s biggest problem was waiting years to file so the statue of limitations was up. I think that was the whole reason it took Hoffman 2 years to release his “book” (I use the term book very loosely) he was waiting for the statue of limitations to be up. The lawsuit was not thrown out. Wonder why Hoffman hasn’t said a word about Kate since? Smells like a settlement to me.
There is no proof that TLC was paying for Kate’s divorce. Surely Hoffman when combing through 1000’s of Kate’s emails would have found SOME sort of proof TLC was paying if that was true. I am sure it would have been a whole chapter in his book. It is only rumor and rumor is not always the truth.
The Philly Magazine article outlines the reason Jon is now broke. He was living large thinking the money would never end. He was the most photographed person of 2009 (As Jon bragged in the article) The reason for the TLC lawsuit is because Jon was using his kids as leverage to get a better contract from TLC so he could star in the divorce dad’s show. Heller sent a fax to TLC saying give Jon a new contract or we’ll take the kids off the show. TLC would not allow Jon to use his kids as leverage so they took him to court. The fax is a part of the TLC court records. Surely you must agree a large company would not perjure itself over something that was so easily proven false in court.
Kate makes his life a living hell? What about him selling the story to the tabloids about the kids being kicked out of school? What about him switching from “she’s a good mother” in People magazine to her being abusive when it suits him? What about his girlfriend tweeting pictures of the kids with her pitbulls? What about Jon telling the owners of hate websites about kate’s supposed mental health issues?
The most private stuff I have heard about the kids in recent years has been from Jon. Have you forgotten the Oprah interview saying the kids were damaged and had problems with morals? I guess they don’t pee in the driveway like dear old dad.
The biggest problem with Jon is the people (including the ones on the internet) who enable him and think when he farts out a interview like the one with PhillyMag it smells like roses, or even worse if it smells bad it’s Kate’s fault.
Jon is a train wreck and I hope and pray he gets it together before its too late. Guns and alcohol do not mix.
Joni is making Jon’s life a living hell. He can’t give a single interview without mentioning Kate. Kate very rarely mentions Jon, I’m sure she has lots she could say about him but so far has kept most of it to herself.
Sara,
Kate did not “throw out” her lawsuit. We have no idea what the terms were and what settlement they might have reached for her to dismiss the charges. One never knows, she might have gotten something from Jon that enabled her to come to some type of agreement with Hoffman. I am not sure how anyone would think that suing your husband over selling your personal and private belongings would really increase sales of a cook book for crying out loud. I don’t think even Tuma believed that, he was just fed that by the haters.
One could say that Jon has made Kate’s life a living hell from the first time he slept around to when he sold his first story about the kids to the rag mags. I wonder where his concern for the kid’s privacy was when he was selling info regarding their educational situation.
Jon is real alright. He is real disgusting.
Jon Gosselin is still a douche bag.
First of all, the photo makes me laugh.So funny. Jon has got to stop blaming others for his mistakes. He’s a grown man, own them.Kate posts some pictures on Twitter and a few cute things the kids say.Most parents do that on Twitter.Jon only talks about how messed up his kids are.I think the kids will be more upset about what he said about then than some silly comments the kids say.Plus Kate doesn’t tweet everyday.
When the kids go back to school they may be mocked about how their dad called their mom an @sshole and dad peed in the road or drove drunk.
The gun and ax concerns me. The kids may try to use the ax and hurt themselves out there in the middle of nowhere.the gun…he seems to like to show it off a lot. He’s probably let his kids handle it too.The whole situation worries me. He’s careless, oblivious to the danger around him. The situation is an accident waiting to happen.
Kate “exploits” the kids while Jon is just “real” is a cop-out to excuse Jon’s poor behavior in my book. Every interview he gives is a reflection on his children. These kids were introduced to the public by the choice of BOTH of their parents years ago. For various reasons people will be forever interested in how those kids are doing. I don’t understand the concept that the occasional cute pic or cute story on Kate’s twitter feed is worse for those children than that disgusting & ridiculous interview he gave to Philly Mag. What child is okay having a pic of them reading, “The Night Before Christmas” to their younger siblings or showing off a new pet? The majority would be my guess, since millions of parents and kids are posting similar things on social media daily. Now…..how many children would be okay with their dad giving an interview -posted online, to boot, saying disgusting things about their mom while slamming down drinks at various bars and then driving? Jon’s not 100% stupid. He KNOWS how the media game is. He KNOWS the main reason anyone is even slightly interested in him is because of who his children are. He KNEW behaving like that would hurt his kids and cause them embarrassment yet he didn’t care. Jon doesn’t exploit them? Jon exploits his kids -and in one of those worst possible ways. JMO but I find him disgusting.
Kate drives me nuts but Jon drives me nuts-o-er. Kate is bossy and obnoxious but I see in her someone very insecure and looking for validation. When she does stupid stuff, I wince inside because I know she’s going to take knocks for it.
Him? He’s a waste. I got nothing. He’s not a man…he’s a boy trying to pretend to be a man. He’s a joke.
LOL Jayne, I’ve been looking around at the various articles on line about this interview and most of the comments are like yours! 🙂
And Di, you are so right Jon knows how the media game is played. This wasn’t one interview, it was several interviews over several different days, he just thought the reporter was one of his buds and would only say good things.
LOL. I like the term “nuts-o-er”!
I noticed that too Pie. I tend to live in a twitter bubble sometimes, so I found it interesting that the general consensus at sites like yahoo was -Jon’s a hypocritical jerk.
Seems from reading around, Jon is bitter because of the lawsuit. Why would he be bitter, he did everything he could to bring down his own family, yes, that includes his children. If making friends with a guy who lays in ditches, watching your ex and your children’s every move, something is seriously wrong with a Father who would do that to his own children. That’s not protecting your children Jon, that is putting them in danger. I think Jon wants to belong to something, anything as long as he gets a pat on the back, good or bad. Couples Therapy is a low class joke, entertainment show, nothing of value. Real therapy comes with a price tag, you have to admit your faults before you start to heal. Both parents were young, they needed the income, they both are responsible for the children’s future, and one has bailed now, very sad.
Real therapy doesn’t happen in two weeks worth of TV sound bites.
I remember when Rabbi Shmuley was counseling Jon. I guess the Rabbi decided to let go of Jon’s coattails.
It really does seem like there are two Jons. The one pre- separation and the one after seem like polar opposites.
Jon needs to get over his self!I just feel sorry for the kids.
It’s sad that all of this has happened to this family.