Collin Gosselin Says He Was Restrained, Sedated at Behavioral Facility
Collin Gosselin Details Turning "Pain into Purpose" in Message to Younger Self Ahead of Memoir Release
Warning: This article contains allegations of child abuse.
Collin Gosselin is candidly looking back on a troubling chapter.
In his new memoir In the Shadow of Eight, the Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum shared insight into his 21 months spent at Fairmount Behavioral Health System after being admitted by his mom Kate Gosselin in 2016, including the harrowing breaking point he reached.
Collin—one of Kate and ex-husband Jon Gosselin's sextuplets—wrote in the book that after 18 months in the Pennsylvania facility he’d “had enough,” adding, “enough of the staff. Enough of the chaos. Enough of being drugged into numbness. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
That’s when Collin decided to ask leadership about when he could expect to be released, saying he pleaded with one of the facility’s mental health professionals, Dr. Jack Brown, about why he still wasn’t able to return home after nearly two years in the facility. (For her part, Kate said in a 2023 statement to People that Collin was admitted “for the safety of myself, his brothers and sisters and for his own well-being,” adding that outpatient treatment “proved insufficient for his needs.")
E! News has reached out to a representative for Kate as well as her attorney for comment but has not yet heard back.
When Collin was ordered to go back to his unit, the then-teen persisted with his questions before the doctor allegedly called for backup.
“Two male staff members were beside me in what seemed like seconds. Hands pulled my arms behind my back, and I was pushed to the floor,” the now-22-year-old wrote in the book. “My chest slammed into the tile so hard it knocked the air out of me. Knees dug into my back and legs.”
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“I couldn’t breathe,” he continued. “I’d seen this happen to others who challenged the staff members, but all I had done was ask a question. As I lay on the floor panting, I watched Dr. Brown’s shiny shoes come toward me, and the two staff members who were holding me down quickly flipped me over to face up. The doctor stepped over me, with his back facing my head, then sat down on me, on my chest.”
But according to Collin—who was released into his dad’s care in 2018—the repercussions didn’t stop there. After the doctor removed himself from the young boy, he says that the staff members “pulled me into my room, threw me onto the bed, and closed the door.”
He then described how he saw the staffers gathered outside of his room with a metal tray, and immediately knew he would be injected with a sedative that the patients in the facility referred to as “booty juice.”
Michael Simon/Getty Images
“Within seconds, five or six staff members were on top of me,” he recalled. "Hands grabbed my arms, my legs, my shoulders. They flipped me over onto my stomach and someone forced me down into the mattress while another person pinned my legs to the bed so I couldn’t kick.”
“Someone yanked my pants down,” he continued. “Heat rushed to my face immediately. 'Ah, just another day at the office,’ one of them joked. A couple of the others laughed.”
Moments later, the medication took effect. As Collin put it, “My mind slowed to a crawl. There was no fighting it. My mind went blank, my body still. I felt like a candle that had been blown out with the lightest sigh, and I was plunged into darkness.”
A spokesperson for the facility said in the book that they could not comment on specific patients, but said that “at Fairmount Behavioral Health System, every day our staff strives to maintain a total therapeutic environment through individualized treatment for each patient. Comprehensive patient-oriented activities include group therapy, family therapy, allied therapy and educational services."
Keep reading for more on the Gosselin family…
Kate Gosselin/Instagram
Sextuplets Turn 21
Sextuplets Hannah, Collin, Alexis, Aaden, Leah and Joel turned 21 on May 10, 2025, and Kate shared pics from the latter four's birthday celebration.
Instagram / Kate Gosselin
Alexis and Leah toast to 21 in another scene from the celebration.
Instagram / Stephanie Lebo
Hannah's 21st Birthday Celebration
Hannah celebrated her birthday with her dad and his fiancée Stephanie Lebo.
Instagram / Kate Gosselin
Sextuplets' 20th Birthday
On Mother's Day 2024, two days after the former couple's sextuplets turned 20, Kate shared a tribute the four who lived with her: Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah.
"No more teenagers in this house! Happy 20th birthday, my forever babies! I love you!" she wrote on Instagram. "Who feels old? I know I do! #20yearsold #ItsaPICKLE."
Instagram / Hannah Gosselin
Hannah's Birthday Post
Hannah shared new pics of herself on her and the other sextuplet's 20th birthday.
Instagram / Hannah Gosselin
Hannah the Graduate
On to the next chapter! The sextuplet graduated from high school in 2023.
Instagram / Collin Gosselin
High School Graduates
Jon shared a pic of sextuplets Collin and Hannah graduating from high school in 2023, years after they had moved in with him.
Raymond Hall/GC Images
Girls' Trip
Kate appeared with twin Mady and Cara in New York City in this 2019 pic.
All Grown-Up
"Happy 18th birthday!" Jon wrote on Instagram in 2022. "Today is your birthday we gonna say it loud. I love you. Love, Dad."
Birthday Bash
"Our big celebration of #15 is finally winding down here! We celebrated ALL DAY LONG, beginning with a present at 6:30 am before school! I'm so very thankful for my ‘babies'.... somehow they are 15 already?!" Kate wrote on the special milestone in 2019. "I'm amazed by them each day! I'm so proud of the positive qualities I've seen developing as they edge closer to adulthood."
Back to Class
"This was yesterday! Feels like school never ended...and they're already back! #SeniorYear #EighthGrade #ProudMom," Kate wrote on Instagram in 2018.
Instagram / Jon Gosselin
Birthday Greetings
"Happy 15th Birthday Hannah, Collin, Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah!!!! Wow I can't believe you are 15!!! Time is flying by!!!" Jon Gosselin shared on Instagram when posing with Hannah and Collin Gosselin. "I love you all very much. I wish you the best day ever and I hope you enjoy your birthday celebrations today and this weekend!!! Love always, Dad."
Girl Power
"My beautiful 'little girls' .... they keep reminding me how many days until they turn 14. Today it was '12 days til we turn 14, Mom.' HOW'S THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!" Kate shared with her followers in 2018. "I told Leah that she's too small to turn 14. She said 'Yeah, true. Are you sure I'm not turning 11 or 12?' I'm positive. I gave birth to you. They'll always be my babies....I love them so very much!"
Growing Up Gosselin
"I can't believe they're 13!" Kate Gosselin wrote on Instagram when celebrating a major birthday for her sextuplets.
Donna Svennevik/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Greetings From Alaska
Rewind to 2014 when Kate and her children found themselves visiting Alaska.
Doug Meszler/Splash News
Girls Trip
Kate also treated her twin daughters Cara Gosselin and Mady Gosselin to a trip to New York City in 2014, where they stopped by the Manhattan Hotel.
Happy Holidays
"A precious Christmas memory. My 6 were 6. Christmas Eve 2010 and they're SO excited for Christmas!" Kate Gosselin wrote on Instagram with a throwback photo. "Look at those adorable smiles! #TheyAreMyHeart #My8ReasonsToKeepOnKeepingOn #NoMatterWhat #TrueLoveX8."
Heidi Gutman/NBC NewsWire
Camera Ready
Back in October 2007, Jon and Kate Gosselin gathered their eight kids together for a trip to New York City. First stop? A visit to NBC's Today show.
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