Other than hearsay and tabloid gossip, there's no indication this reality TV mom and her
security guard are anything more than professional associates.
But when has that ever stopped the rumor mill?
Let's separate fact from fiction as we peek inside Kate Gosselin's relationship with Steve
Neild.
"Okay, I get it.
Everybody wants me to be dating someone by now."
Before we dive deep into the rumors behind Gosselin's alleged affair with Neild, here's
a little bit on why she first hired him back in 2009.
"I've looked after royal families, princes, prime ministers.
Nobody has had the public recognition that Kate has."
The move may have seemed a little extra, but Kate received a lot of hate back in the day.
Neild elaborated on a TLC special, saying,
"I've had threats left in her mailbox, threats left on the front doorstep, so there's a lot
of stuff that members of the public don't know.
There's stuff Kate doesn't even know, some of the contents of these emails."
Not to mention, Kate wanted to focus on raising her eight kids, not worry about all the people
around her in public.
She said,
"If I'm going to put myself and my kids out there in the public eye, I needed to be responsible
and do what it takes to keep us safe."
Kate and Jon Gosselin's post-divorce relationship has always been contentious.
"Once there's controversy, you make mad money."
The sentiment became quite evident when Jon accused his ex of sneaking around with Neild.
He told In Touch,
"Steve and Kate would have one room and the kids would have a separate room when they
traveled.
It's confusing to the children.
It's not a work situation.
I have always thought they were together."
The reality mom denied the accusation, however, and claiming Jon used her to clear his own
name.
She told TLC,
"One day it suited his needs to take the spotlight off his bad behavior and turn it on me."
Steve Neild has a wife, Gina, and two children, and was married during the height of the alleged
affair drama.
It's fair to assume the allegations hurt Neild's family, a situation that didn't sit too well
with Kate.
She told People magazine,
"Already the allegations they're making about me are disgusting, unthinkable, unfathomable,
and I am horrified.
These are people who absolutely love us and want to see us through to the end.
Of course, both of them travel with us at times, and we've spent holidays together…They're
the only people you have left.
And now they're coming under fire."
It was kind of Kate to stick up for Neild and his family, but we can't help but wonder
if it was all just a cover-up.
"Looking back I kind of, like, feel really bad for them."
Neild and Gosselin's working relationship came to an end in 2014, just about five years
after he took the job.
Steve hasn't publicly addressed his reasons for leaving, and while he may have gone on
to another position, a source who spoke with Radar Online thinks it's something more sinister,
claiming,
"[His wife Gina] told him his time with Kate as her bodyguard was making the family miserable
and that he had to make a choice."
We're pretty skeptical about this report, but given all the nasty tabloid attention,
it's probably best that Gosselin and Neild parted ways.
Just when you thought "Kate plus Steve" was over, they were reportedly spotted together
at a 2016 block party in Chicago, according to Radar Online.
TLC hosted the event, so it's possible Neild was simply there as a guest of the company.
There's also a chance he attended the bash with Gosselin, but we can't say for sure.
One year before the sighting, Us Weekly linked Gosselin to millionaire Jeff Prescott.
But shortly after the dating news broke, Prescott supposedly dumped Gosselin for another woman.
So did Gosselin call up Neild for some post-breakup support?
We may never know the truth.
"Any decision I make people are gonna be mad at me."
"Life is full of hard decisions."
It's safe to say many fans were shocked when Gosselin was once again spotted with Neild
in June 2019, around the same her dating show, Kate Plus Date, premiered.
The sighting in New York City sparked numerous headlines and confused reactions from viewers,
so maybe the outing was indeed a ploy to drum up interest in the show.
Not to mention, Gosselin seems pretty committed to finding lasting love with someone new.
She said in a promo,
"It's been so long since I've had a companion.
That's such a foreign concept to me."
Admitting that she was absolutely not going to dip a toe into online dating, Kate said
she was ready to put herself out there.
Even if it is by way of another TV show.
"Before I decide to grow old alone, I should probably give it a pretty decent shot of looking
around for someone."
All we know for certain is that Kate and her former bodyguard are probably gonna continue
to keep us guessing.
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