Katie Irene "Kate" Gosselin is an American television personality.
She achieved national and international recognition on the US reality TV show Jon & Kate Plus
8, in which she and Jon Gosselin are profiled as they raise their atypical family of sextuplets
and twins.
Family Kate Kreider was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
She is the second of five children of Charlene and Kenton Eugene Kreider.
Her father is a pastor.
Kreider met Jon Gosselin at a company picnic on October 5, 1997.
They were married on June 12, 1999.
On October 8, 2001, gave birth to twin girls who were at 35 weeks gestation five weeks
premature.
Gosselin became pregnant through fertility treatment because polycystic ovary syndrome
left her unable to conceive otherwise.
After further treatments, Gosselin became pregnant again and she gave birth to sextuplets
on May 10, 2004, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
She gave birth at just shy of 30 weeks gestation.
The sextuplets were born 10 weeks premature, which is common in the multiple births that
result from fertility treatments.
The early birth required that the six infants be placed on ventilators.
According to her newest book, Kate revealed that very early in the pregnancy there were
seven embryos, but one did not develop.
Career Gosselin became a registered nurse after completing
a diploma program at the Reading Hospital and Medical Center in Reading, Pennsylvania.
She then worked as a labor and delivery nurse at Reading Hospital until 2004.
Reality TV
Following the birth of the sextuplets, the Gosselins were featured in the NBC reality
TV show Home Delivery when their home in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, was renovated to accommodate
the large family.
The family was then featured in a special on Discovery Health in September 2005 entitled
Surviving Sextuplets and Twins.
A year later they were featured in another special entitled Sextuplets and Twins: One
Year Later.
With high ratings from the specials, Discovery Health signed the couple to a reality series
that aired beginning in April 2007, called Jon & Kate Plus 8, which documented their
lives.
To produce the show, the family was filmed for three or four days per week.
The show's first two seasons aired on Discovery Health Channel and then moved to TLC.
The family received payment for appearing on the show.
On June 22, 2009, an extended one-hour episode was aired.
The Gosselins announced that they were separating.
The two had met with Pennsylvania attorneys on the day that the episode aired to finalize
plans for divorce rather than separation.
They stated that their eight children will remain in their Pennsylvania home, and the
two of them will move back and forth to accommodate the custody agreement.
On December 16, 2009, it was announced that the couple's divorce was finalized.
Kate had been granted the ownership of the family home and primary custody of the children.
In separate interviews, they stated that the show would continue; however, TLC announced
on June 23, 2009, that the show would be placed on hiatus effective immediately.
According to TLC, Jon and Kate had moved the focus away from the family and the change
in the dynamic, as well as the production difficulties that had occurred because the
couple was no longer living together, made it unclear whether the show was still viable.
On September 29, 2009, TLC announced the title of the show would be changed from Jon & Kate
Plus 8 to Kate Plus 8, and would follow Gosselin as a single mother.
Jon would continue to appear, albeit infrequently, on the show.
The last episode was a season five finale on November 23, 2009, because of Jon's decision
to stop filming.
Reruns of the show still air on TLC.
Kate Gosselin filmed a talk show pilot with Paula Deen in September 2009.
By the end of 2009, it had not been picked up by a television network.
In late December 2009 it was also announced that Gosselin was no longer being considered
for a role in the planned show because she was deemed "too controversial" by show executives.
Gosselin was a contestant on the tenth season of the television show Dancing With The Stars
and had expressed a strong desire to remain on the show and win despite widespread criticism
of her dancing.
She was partnered with Tony Dovolani.
She was eliminated from the competition on April 20, 2010.
In April 2010 TLC announced Gosselin would be getting her own show called Twist of Kate.
The series will feature her traveling the country, visiting mothers who have written
her letters about their stories.
TLC has a new series of specials planned called Kate Plus 8.
However an unknown source told Life and Style magazine that Twist of Kate and her other
reality specials had been cancelled, however season 2 of Kate Plus 8 premiered on November
28, 2010.
TLC's reps and Gosselin have denied the claims, saying that neither show has been cancelled.
Shortly after Gosselin was eliminated from Dancing With the Stars, rumors began flying
that she would be featured on the upcoming edition of the popular TV show The Bachelorette.
However, several people denied this, including the show's creator, Mike Fleiss, and a representative
for TLC.
They did however, state that it would be interesting to place her in the show.
On June 24, it was announced that Gosselin would be back as a co-host on The View on
July 2, on which she has previously co-hosted twice.
In August 2011, it was announced that Kate Plus 8 would not be returning to TLC in September.
The final episode of the show aired on September 12, 2011.
Kate and her children were on the Celebrity Wife Swap on February 26, 2013 where Kate
switched places with Kendra Wilkinson.
Author Gosselin has also written three non-fiction
books.
Her first book, written with Jon Gosselin and Beth Carson, was published in November
2008, titled: Multiple Blessings.
It debuted at number five on New York Times Best-Seller list, and sold over 500,000 copies
by the end of 2009.
Her second book, Eight Little Faces, was released in April 2009, and also debuted at number
five on the New York Times Best-Seller list.
Her third book, titled I Just Want You To Know was released on April 13, 2010, selling
approximately 10,000 copies in its first week and debuting at number 103 on The New York
Times Best-Seller list.
Gosselin was a contributing blogger to CouponCabin for one year starting November 2011.
"Kate has embraced coupons her entire life", said Jackie Warrick, president at CouponCabin.com,
according to the press release.
"We look forward to sharing the unique insight she has gained over the years".
However, in October 2012, she was released from this position because "Ms. Gosselin is
simply not a good fit" in the position.
Bibliography Multiple Blessings
Eight Little Faces I Just Want You to Know
Love is in the Mix Filmography
References
External links Kate Gosselin at the Internet Movie Database