Jon Gosselin’s apartment was ransacked by someone who slashed furniture, stole his TV and left a note pinned to his dresser with a butcher knife while he visited his children for Christmas, his lawyer said Sunday.

The reality show star was “devastated” by the destruction he found when he returned Saturday from Pennsylvania, attorney Mark Jay Heller said in a statement.

Gosselin’s clothes, bed and other furniture were cut up, and a family-heirloom vase was shattered, Heller said. His TV, other electronics and his dishes were taken by a “very troubled and sick perpetrator,” Heller said.

He wouldn’t disclose who signed the note or what it said, adding that police were examining it. Police declined to comment.
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Jon Gosselin (AP)

Reality dad Jon Gosselin says he has put $230,000 back into a joint account he shares with estranged wife Kate as the couple continues their bitter divorce battle.

Gosselin criticized his wife for not appearing at a court hearing Monday in the Philadelphia suburb of Norristown. He says she still has not explained how she spent $33,000 in joint funds.

Messages left for Kate Gosselin’s attorney were not immediately returned.
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Here’s the latest breathless update on the ‘Jon & Kate’ reality divorce front:

Update:
Kate Gosselin says in divorce papers that she and her husband Jon have lived “separate and apart” for at least two years. The divorce filing was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The ‘Jon & Kate Plus 8′ show is off the air until August, TLC has announced. But media pundits are saying that it may be gone for good, despite Jon’s declaration that it would go on in the wake of divorce plans from his wife Kate.

Robert J. Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, told Us Weekly that original fans of “this cute little show about parents changing diapers and feeding their kids” may be getting too much reality.

“I don’t know if the show can make that new transition. It’s like if The Cosby Show, mid-season, suddenly became Married With Children.”

The ratings have dropped since the show’s May premiere, but were expected to rise some after Monday’s dramatic episode.

Thompson’s advice on reviving the show? “Stop this Jon storyline and make it about a single mom raising eight kids. Try to go back to the spirit of the show – something you could watch with anybody in the house.”

Bottom line: “I would not want to bet what’s left of my retirement fund on the ongoing success of this show.”

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The Gosselins in happier times.

Update: Jon & Kate Plus 8 on Hiatus Until August

Jon & Kate Plus 8 will go on hiatus until August following the Gosselins’ separation announcement on Monday’s episode, TLC said in a statement.

“TLC continues to support the Gosselin family and will work closely with them to determine the best way to continue to tell their story as they navigate through this difficult time,” the statement read.

The network said Monday’s upcoming episode will be a retrospective clip show on Jon and Kate’s 10-year marriage. The next new episode will air Aug. 3.

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I have just watched the first – and last – episode of “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ that I ever intend to see.

Actually, I can’t believe that this isn’t the last episode of TLC’s reality show chronicling Pennsylvania’s eight-kid Gosselin family, because this is the episode in which Jon and Kate announced that they’re separating. You probably know this. It’s been on the news, in the tabloids and on TV, everywhere. I have done my best to avoid reading about it, listening to punditry about it, or watching any shows about it, because I never watched the show back when they were presumably happy – they were cute, but I never cared enough to follow it – so why would I want to start now?

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Kate Gosselin, co-star of TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” says it’s difficult reading stories about herself.

Recent media reports have focused a harsh spotlight on Kate and her husband, Jon, who star with their eight children on the popular reality show. In recent days, the Gosselins’ wholesome on-screen home life has been called into question by reports of extramarital affairs. Both Jon and Kate have denied those accusations.

“This is certainly not what I envisioned I was signing up for,” Kate Gosselin said Wednesday during an appearance at the Frauenthal Center, The Muskegon Chronicle reported.

“When I see magazines in stores it’s really difficult. It amazes me there is an industry that follows you around and writes stories about you.

“It destroys peoples’ lives. I need you to know, don’t believe what you read unless you hear it from that person.”

On its Web site, Us Weekly recently described an over-friendly relationship between Gosselin and her married bodyguard, Steve Neild, that “caught the attention of her husband – and has become the talk of many locals” in their Pennsylvania community.

People magazine’s Web site quoted Gosselin as saying the couple have been struggling for months.

“This week I’m on the cover of four magazines. One is true, three are not,” Kate told her audience.

The Gosselins are on the cover of People, Us Weekly, Star and National Enquirer. She described People’s reporting as the most accurate.

She has previously denied having an affair with Neild. Jon Gosselin has denied cheating with a 23-year-old schoolteacher, and he has apologized for putting his family in an “awkward situation.”

Kate Gosselin said the stop in Muskegon, located about 35 miles northwest of Grand Rapids, was the last on her travel schedule for a while. She said she plans to spend more time at home.

“The last couple weeks have been interesting,” she said. “I had to address that.”

TLC’s most popular series, which has been on the air for four seasons, attracts an average audience of more than 2.8 million viewers.

The new, 40-week season premieres May 25 with an hourlong edition.