'Kate Plus 8' Star Kate Gosselin and Most of Her Kids Maintain Strong Connections

It's been quite a long time since viewers saw reality TV personality Kate Gosselin and her eight children on the small screen. The final episode of TLC's hit reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8, later renamed Kate Plus 8, aired on July 24, 2017, leaving nearly a decade gap since the family's last appearance together.

During the show's tenure, some fans voiced concerns about Kate's parenting approach, suggesting it was too controlling. These days, there's curiosity about how her toughness has shaped her bond with her eight children.

With that said, do Kate Gosselin's kids still talk to her? Here's what we know.

Despite much speculation, it appears that Kate Gosselin maintains strong relationships with most of her children. On May 12, 2024, she took to Instagram and shared a rare photo featuring four of her sextuplets in honor of their 20th birthday!

In the image, Alexis, Leah, Aaden, and Joel smile and pose in front of a chocolate-frosted cake adorned with candy hot peppers and a pickle. Hannah and Collin, who live with their dad, Jon Gosselin, are notably absent from the picture.

"No more teenagers in this house!" Kate captioned the sweet post. "Happy 20th birthday, my forever babies! I love you! Who feels old? I know I do!"

Kate's comment section saw a surge of questions regarding Hannah and Collin. However, as past interviews indicate, Kate remains estranged from Collin and has had no contact with him for several years.

In a surprising turn of events in late February 2024, Hannah shockingly revealed that she keeps in touch with Kate. Hannah even shared that her mom met her boyfriend, Lennon!

"Well, yeah. She's my mom," Hannah told Entertainment Tonight when asked if she still speaks to her famous mom. "We talk about school, and we talk about life. She knows Lennon. So, yeah. I mean, obviously, everybody has an opinion and I'm open to listening to everybody's opinion, but at the end of the day, my choices are my choices."

Kate also keeps in contact with her and John's twin daughters, Mady and Cara. As of April 2024, they live in New York and are pursuing their dream careers in the Big Apple.

In 2016, Kate revealed that she sent Collin to an in-patient special needs institution due to behavioral issues.

"Collin has special needs," Kate shared with People at the time. "[There's] a fairly fluid diagnosis of what those needs are, but he needs to learn certain strategies to help him deal with things. This has been a struggle we've had for a very long time, and it's one I've dealt with on my own. I've felt very alone in this. By the same token, it's not something that has only impacted me or him – our entire family has been impacted."

After undergoing treatment for a few years, Collin left the facility in December 2018 to live with his father, Jon. Subsequently, Jon was granted sole physical and legal custody of Collin, as Kate and her lawyer did not attend the court proceedings.

In November 2022, Collin finally told his side of the story. He sat down with Entertainment Tonight, telling the outlet that he was "in a dark place mentally" while at the institution. He added, "I think being in a place like that does more damage than it helps you."

According to Collin, being institutionalized led to the breakdown of his relationship with his mom. "After being there, I didn't have a relationship with her," he explained. "Even before then, I don't think we had much of a relationship and I think that just kept tearing it even more down, so."

Nearly a year later, in July 2023, Collin appeared in an episode of VICE TV's Dark Side of the 2000s, where he candidly discussed the family's reality show and alleged that his mom was "abusive" toward him.

In the same episode, Hannah mentioned that she and her siblings had limited contact with Collin after Kate sent him to an institution. To this day, Collin maintains no relationship with his mother or siblings, except for Hannah.