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While Jon and Kate Gosselin begin to sort out the pieces of their broken marriage, “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ is merely taking a break.
A day after the couple revealed their impending divorce and won the biggest ratings coup ever for TLC’s prized reality show, the network announced the program would go on hiatus until Aug. 3. The purpose: to give the Gosselin family time to “regroup, and then a modified schedule will be in place to support the family’s transition,” TLC said.
On Monday night’s show, the couple couldn’t even see eye-to-eye on where to install new playhouses for their 8-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets. Kate got her way in the end – an outcome viewers have often witnessed.
The next stop for their worsening dynamic will be a Pennsylvania court.
Divorce papers Kate Gosselin filed in Montgomery County Court outside Philadelphia, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, said her marriage to Jon was “irretrievably broken.” She said in the filing that she’s willing to “negotiate a fair and reasonable” settlement with her husband of 10 years; her lawyer, Cheryl Young, said the couple has already started working on terms.
Key among their shared assets will be the reality series that has made them stars – along with plaguing their family with tabloid scrutiny and scandalmongering. TLC President Eileen O’Neill said the network “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 network announced that a retrospective of Jon and Kate’s 10-year marriage would air next Monday, followed by a hiatus until Aug. 3. The long break comes on the heels of a 10.6 million-viewer night, beating the huge “Jon & Kate” season premiere a month ago by 800,000 viewers.
In separate on-camera segments, the Gosselins said the show had been a good thing for both them and their kids. And while retaining their expansive home in southeastern Pennsylvania, the estranged couple seemed reconciled to a future of taking turns living there with their children.
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“We interview separately, we’ll film different things,” Jon explained on Monday’s episode. “Me and the kids, her and the kids.”
Attorneys for both Jon and Kate Gosselin said Tuesday that the couple lived together on their Berks County compound until recently.
“They have been living ‘separate and apart’ just within the last week or two,” said Jon’s attorney, Charles Meyer, using a term from the divorce petition, which contained boilerplate language common to all no-fault divorce petitions filed in Pennsylvania.
Among that language was a provision that The Associated Press misinterpreted to mean the couple had been living apart for the past two years. The AP’s report, which incorrectly gave the impression that the show’s two-year run was filmed under false pretenses, was corrected later Tuesday.
The court document does not explain what led to the split. But in a statement released to the media, Kate asserted that “Jon’s activities” over the weekend had left her “no choice but to file legal procedures in order to protect myself and our children.” She did not elaborate. Both Jon and Kate deny tabloid accusations that they cheated on each other.
“To be honest, I was hurt by Kate’s statement about the divorce,” Jon countered Tuesday in his own release. “I have always done everything I can to protect our family. This weekend, I was home with the kids for four days, just being a dad. No nannies, just the kids and me.”
He added that while “emotions are running high for both of us right now,” he hopes to “resolve things amicably.”
In an e-mailed response to questions posed Tuesday, Jon elaborated on the family’s preliminary plans to keep the show going.
“On days when I am with them, Kate will make arrangements to stay elsewhere,” he wrote. “And when Kate is with the kids, I will make other arrangements. We know that this is the right decision. The kids love our home, and I am happy that they will be staying there.”
Yet to be determined: Whether the show’s growing fan base will be staying, too, following a six-week cooling-off period.
TLC shares some of the blame here, if they’ve lived apart for 2 years then the producers at TLC just let them put on the charade and pass it off as real. Lame!
The man has a pink shirt on underneath his sweater, no wonder she is dating a biker.
If you “reality” TV junkies would stop watching this crap, then there wouldn’t be a market for these FAKE reality TV shows. The general viewing public for television are nothing more than lemmings. Find a cliff and jump off. Save the oxygen for the rest of us.
From what I have seen, Jon is better off with out her. She seems to want everything her way. Kate is always belittling Jon. There is no compassion or compromise. That is not a marriage.
Kate’s a bitch!!!
Kate is a control freak and a bitch. She constantly belittles her seemingly nice and calm husband. No wonder he wants a life without her. Just no more children for either of you. Come on now. You had a “litter”. Enough is enough. Eight is enough or you’ll become like that other wierd family with 18 children. By the way, can’t that guy keep it in his own pants and out of hers?
Debbie, as much as I agree with you about Kate being a nutcase, Jon is also to blame here. He shouldn’t put up with that crap. If I was him I would have ripped her a new one for trying to belittle me
the real story here is how many TOTAL LOSERS care about this and comment on it. get a real life. do something decent with your thoughts and your time. remember, the greatest challenge that you will ever face is to escape the confines of your own tiny minds.
Mike,
You seem so upset that people are wasting their minds on this & commenting on it. If it’s such crap to you, what were you doing even in the vicinity of this thread? It’s people like you who drive me nuts. Get a life hypocrite.
Sometimes the mindless stuff is just what it’s meant to be-mindless.
Mike’s a bitch also!!!
“A man who is not afraid to tell it like it is” All you loosers GET A LIFE
Hey Mike’s Idol, who’s your idol? Learn how to spell. It’s not loosers, it’s losers like you
Is eight the magic number these days. Whatever happened to Octomom. Never hear of her much these days. Reminds me of a clown car. There’s no end to the number of kids coming out of her
Please folks, these kids are nothing more than the modern equivalent of the Dionne Quintuplets: with every moment videotaped for the cameras and shown pretty 24/7 every where. The show went from being fairly sweet to this train wreck because the parents seem to be greedy.
Did they really NEED a 1.1 MILLION mansion? $1,600/day bodyguard for the wife? Will these poor kids ever see a PENNY of the money their childhood’s earned? Not to mention, if we’re seeing the birth mother on every magazine and news show or out signing autographs, and the birth father is out drinking – who IS REALLY PARENTING THOSE KIDS? Paid help. Sad, sad, sad.
ALL CHILDREN IN ENTERTAINMENT – whether scripted or not – need the SAME compensations across the board in all 50 states – as California enacted, along with a new version of “Coogan’s Law” to protect their earnings.
FREE THE GOSSELIN EIGHT!!!!
Keep in mind, when couples file for divorce and claim they have been living apart for two years (as in this case), “living apart” can mean that they have separate bedrooms in the same house. In the case of Jon and Kate he had actually been living in the apartment above the garage. There are many couples who do just that during “separation” , then continue to live “separately” under the same roof after the divorce has been granted because of economics.
Also, keep in mind that the episodes don’t run in “real time”. They have been taped for months so what you are watching occurred months ago.
It seems silly that viewers are feeling so slighted by all the information that is coming out. What is sad is another marriage is disintegrating and we are all watching it happen as if we could do any better.
Turn off the tv and involve yourselves in your OWN real life. You may not have noticed that your own relationship is in the toilet because you’ve been busy watching someone else’s misery and ignoring your own.