Collin Gosselin Alleges Mom Kate Gosselin Once Bound Him With Zip Ties
Collin Gosselin is shedding light on a dark chapter of his childhood.
In his new memoir In the Shadow of Eight, out now, the Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum recounted an alleged experience with his mom Kate Gosselin in which she used zip ties to bound his wrists and ankles after he attempted to escape from their home at age 11.
“I knew I was in trouble,” Collin—one of Kate and ex-husband Jon Gosselin's sextuplets—wrote in the book. “I just didn’t yet understand the shape that trouble would take."
He continued, "I looked up to her standing there, holding long, shiny strips of black plastic. Then she came at me like a freight train. Her hands were on me immediately. She pried my wrists from my chest and wrapped zip ties around them, pulling them tight. They made a snappy sound as she pulled them tighter. She then moved to my ankles and did the same, zip tying them tight enough that there wasn’t room for any movement.”
E! News has reached out to a representative for Kate for comment as well as Children and Youth Services in Pennsylvania but has not yet heard back.
Previously, Kate’s lawyer Richard Puleo shared in a 2024 statement to The Sun regarding the matter that “there’s always two sides to every story” and “I think she did whatever she did to protect herself and her family from some of his troubled behavior as a child.”
In June, Kate referred to her son’s accusations as “ridiculous” in her TikTok comments section, adding that her “page is about my real life and it’s all about kindness, love, honesty and definitely not for made up accusation discussion!”
As for what Collin recalls most about the alleged incident?
Photo by Michael Simon/Getty Images, Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for Discovery
“I remember the pressure more than the pain,” he wrote in the book. “The burning, the way circulation cut off so fast it felt like my hands and feet were disappearing.”
All the while, the 22-year-old alleges that Kate remained silent as she bound his limbs, which he recalls “was worse than yelling.”
And after Collin was adequately restrained, he writes in the book that Kate “grabbed me by my wrists, pulled me up into a standing position and then threw me down, slamming my tailbone against the hard floor.”
“When she began to speak, her voice came fast and loud, cutting straight through me,” he wrote, recalling Kate yelling, “‘You’re a burden, Collin! You’re a burden to this family!’”
Kate then allegedly told him, “You brought this on yourself,” before walking away.
Collin says he was then left bound in the basement for several hours.
“She turned off the light and left, telling me to think about what I’d done,” he recalled. “That’s what she always told me, to think. I tried to sit up, but with my wrists and ankles tightly connected that was a challenge. Instead, I went back into fetal position. The little room was dark. No sounds from upstairs. Just the quiet hum of the house continuing without me.”
Photo by Donna Svennevik/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Later, when Kate came back to cut the zip ties off with kitchen shears, Collin said her demeanor had completely changed. As he put it, “This was the version she used when there were witnesses.”
Indeed, when Collin left the room, he says EMS personnel were waiting to escort the young boy to a nearby hospital before he was later admitted to Fairmont Behavioral Health System in 2016. He spent his 13th and 14th birthdays in the facility before he was released to his father in 2018, who assumed full custody of him that same year.
The Patriarch previously shared in Vice’s 2023 documentary Dark Side of the 2000s, "I spent $1 million to get my son out. Everything I had, I spent."
And while the alleged incident happened over a decade ago, Collin still bears the emotional scars of his mom’s harsh words.
“The words landed,” Collin wrote in the book. “She went on, calling me crazy, dangerous, and other names nobody should ever call a child, things that stuck long after the pain faded. Even now, I can still hear them if I let myself remember.”
Keep reading for more about 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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