On Monday’s episode of the The Steve Harvey Show, Jon Gosselin (formerly of TLC’s Jon & Kate Plus 8) revealed that the network tried to delay him and his now ex-wife Kate from divorcing for ratings. When he wouldn’t play ball with them, they “sided” with Kate, a decision he says contributed to his financial instability since.
In 2009, TLC sued Gosselin for breach of contract after he and Kate announced they were getting divorced. Despite the separation, Gosselin had been on the hook to continue to allow the network to film at his home; he pushed back, blocking the show’s crew from filming on his property, allegedly to protect his children. As CNN reported:
In its lawsuit, TLC alleges Jon Gosselin has violated his contract with paid and unpaid TV appearances he recently has made. The network claims it has lost more than $30,000 as a result of Gosselin’s alleged disregard of his contractual obligations.
The pair’s divorce was finalized in December of that year, after the network had decided to go ahead and continue the show with just Kate. But as Gosselin told Harvey this week, it was more complicated than that.
We knew we were going to get divorced. And then the network tried to keep us together for the benefit of the show. So I quit. I said, I’m not having my divorce filmed, I’m not having it aired out for the public’s consumption, and I’m not having reruns so my children can keep on watching the demise of their parents.
“So I just took a moral stance versus a business stance,” he went on to explain, revealing that he “lost everything” (yes, we know) and going so far as to allege that TLC paid for Kate’s divorce attorneys. “And I just stood there like a lone wolf by myself. But you know what, it worked, because there was a hiatus until the divorce was completely over. Then they picked up specials again and renamed the show Kate Plus 8.”
