Kate Gosselin calls ex-husband Jon Gosselin ‘a violent and abusive person’

Kate Gosselin has broken her silence in the wake of child abuse claims against her ex-husband Jon Gosselin.

The former couple’s 16-year-old son Collin accused dad Jon of kicking and punching him during a violent altercation earlier this month, in a since-deleted Instagram post.

‘Jon is a violent and abusive person,’ Kate, 45, told People on Wednesday.  

Kate claimed she was notified by the County of Berks, Pennsylvania Child & Youth Services that Jon was under active investigation over the incident.

‘If this doesn’t qualify as assault, I don’t know what does,’ the Kate Plus 8 star said of the alleged encounter. 

On September 3, Collin posted on Instagram that his father was a ‘liar’ who ‘beat’ him.

‘He punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding,’ wrote the teenager. ‘He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor.’ 

The post was subsequently deleted. 

Jon meanwhile has vehemently shot down claims he’s currently being investigated for child abuse, telling DailyMail.com exclusively: ‘It’s not true, I would never hit Collin, ever. I love him with all my heart.’ 

But despite Kate’s assertion that the County of Berks, Pennsylvania Child & Youth Services was still investigating the matter, CYS had previously told People: ‘No charges or citations were filed as a result of that incident. We are not investigating at this point.’

Jon claims his son, who is dealing with behavioral issues, is troubled, and his report is untrue.

What’s more his teenage daughter Hannah, also 16, witnessed the whole thing and has confirmed to DailyMail.com she told investigators her dad never hit Collin.

Upset Jon said: ‘I really didn’t want to have to come out and talk about this for Collin’s sake, but when Kate is in the media attacking me, calling me a child abuser, I have to defend myself. I love my son and I would never hurt him.’

Jon found fame alongside Kate on the Jon & Kate Plus 8 reality show featuring their life with eight children; set of twins Mady and Cara, both 19, and sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Leah, Alex, Aaden and Joel, all 16.  

Collin and Hannah live with Jon, while the other children stay with Kate. 

Jon explained it started out as a typical day on September 2 and he had taken Collin and Hannah for a dental appointment.

But in the car on the way home the two teenagers began to fight in the back and the verbal spat escalated when the family arrived home.

‘It was just like sibling rivalry stuff, but when we got home things escalated into something different,’ Jon explained.

‘Collin got very upset and started acting out so I intervened. He started throwing stuff at my car, denting it and shouting f**k you.

‘I was angry and I confronted him and then he threatened to run away. We’ve had problems with Collin in the past running away and I was worried, he was upset so I restrained him.

‘I didn’t punch or kick him, I restrained him, which he obviously wasn’t happy about. He’s 16, he’s a 16-year-old boy.

‘I restrained him and then I backed away, because you never want to restrain your kids, it’s the most heart-wrenching thing you ever have to do.’

Jon said soon after he drove away from the house to give Collin some space to calm down. But his daughter called minutes later.

‘Hannah called me and said Collin’s going to call the police. So I turned around, I came back and he called the police,’ Jon recalled. 

‘He told them I punched him in the face and kicked him in the ribs. And I was like, I didn’t do any of that stuff.’ 

Jon says an officer arrived soon after and interviewed him and Collin and also Hannah who witnessed the incident.

‘Hannah saw the whole thing and she gave her statement and I gave my statement,’ Jon said.

‘Hannah told them I didn’t hit Collin and the police could see there were no marks or bruises on him.’

Jon said the police officer accepted Jon and Hannah’s version of events, but as a mandated reporter he was required to report the incident to CYS.

‘I get it, the police have to do their job,’ Jon conceded. ‘The CYS came out and interviewed us and they also spoke to Collin’s mother Kate and his other siblings and that was the end of it, the claims were unfounded.’

The former reality star says he was told by his lawyer the following day that any CYS investigation had been dropped and no further action would be taken by the police.

Berks County District Attorney John Adams has confirmed no charges or citations were issued as a result of the incident.

The morning after the incident, as a punishment for Collin’s shocking behavior, Jon decided to take the boy’s Xbox and some other stuff out of his room.

‘You can’t just go about doing things without consequences,’ Jon said.

‘But then he threatened to do an IG post if I don’t give his stuff back. So now he’s using leverage. 

‘I said, “I don’t care, I’m still gonna discipline you”. I told him I loved him, but it’s just the way it’s got to be.’

Collin went ahead with the post anyway.

He wrote to his 21,000 Instagram followers: ‘Yesterday he beat me up and thought nothing of it, he punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding. He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor. He is a liar.’

Jon said his sister-in-law saw the post and immediately called Collin and told him to take it down, explaining how it could cause irreparable harm to the family.

‘It was deleted about three minutes later, but obviously someone saw it,’ Jon said.

Two days after the incident, Collin was in better spirits and updated his Instagram followers with a selfie of his new haircut and said he was ‘better than ever’. But the damage had already been done.

A media storm around Collin’s post erupted and on Thursday Jon’s ex wife Kate spoke out in People magazine slamming Jon for the alleged abuse. 

Jon hit back: ‘The article was wrong, it said there was an ongoing investigation which there isn’t and they only took Collin’s words from the police report. Kate was fueling it, sticking the boot in.

‘She hasn’t seen Collin in five years and now she’s going to try to come out as the caring mother when in fact the reason Collin is struggling with mental illness is because she abused him.

‘He has PTSD because of her. So I’m not going to sit back and not defend myself or my family.’

Jon says Collin’s troubles are such that the incident last week wasn’t the first time he has had to restrain the teenager.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV in September 2019 Jon, who has sole custody of Collin, lambasted Kate as being the root cause of their son’s troubles.

He slammed her for sending Collin away to a special needs institution aged 11 when he didn’t suffer from anything more serious than common ADHD.

Jon claimed his ex-wife mentally tortured Collin and his sister Hannah. 

According to DHS documents seen by DailyMailTV at the time, multiple allegations of suspected child abuse against Kate were investigated.

But in follow up letters Jon was informed that the agency had determined the reports were ‘unfounded’ due to a lack of evidence, but the letters were vague, giving no details of the abuse or investigation process. 

Kate has always denied claims of abuse against her children, calling them ‘unfounded’ in a 2016 interview with Good Morning America. 

He said that while Collin was ‘caged’ for three years at the institution, his mother only visited him three times for less than two hours total, all while refusing to tell Jon where Collin was being kept.

Jon has been dealing with the fallout ever since.

‘Dealing with a child with mental health issues is taxing, I’m taxed,’ the IT consultant admitted. ‘But I love my son. I will not give up. I go to therapy, we all go to family therapy, to deal with having a son that has been traumatized and abused by his mother.

‘It’s very difficult for me. I’m trying to learn how to handle Collin, I have my own demons as well, but I never punched him or kicked him or anything like that.

Jon added: ‘None of this is Collin’s fault. He’s 16. He’s got a lot of issues to work through and we’re here to help him.’

Collin has been living with his father full-time since February 2018, along with his sister Hannah.

The other four sextuplets: Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah, and twins Mady and Cara, 19, live with their mother, Kate.

Jon and Kate divorced in 2009 after 10 years of marriage, and found huge fame thanks to their reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8.

The former couple first welcomed their twins in 2001; the sextuplets followed in 2004. Most recently Kate starred in the reality dating series, Kate Plus Date, in 2019.