Jon Gosselin said he wants to sue his ex-wife, Kate Gosselin, or pursue criminal charges against her over their son Collin’s allegations of childhood abuse.
Jon made the remarks Wednesday in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, while reacting to Kate’s suggestion that Collin’s allegations stemmed from mental illness.
“She needs to stop. He is not mentally ill. I would definitely have grounds to sue Kate for defamation and libel,” he told the outlet.
“I don’t even think it’s suing. I think it’s just criminal charges. So, that’s up to the state.”
This isn’t the first time the “Jon and Kate Plus 8” alum threatened legal action against his ex-wife, to whom he was married from 1999 to 2009.
Earlier this month, Jon sent a message to Kate via Us Weekly, “If you continue to falsely label my son Collin as ‘mentally ill,’ you will be held accountable.”
Collin also exclusively told Page Six that he’s considering legal action against his mother over his allegations of childhood abuse, including potentially filing a police report.
“I have the grounds to do so,” Collin told us. “And this justice is very important to me for all children to know that they should absolutely fight and they should actually look into what has been done to them and never stop fighting it.”
In Collin’s bombshell book, “In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood,” the 22-year-old describes his mom’s alleged wrongdoings throughout his childhood and her decision to put him in a mental institution in 2016.
Among the shocking allegations was that she kept him locked up in “a small holding” cell for two years before sending him away to the mental institution when he was 12 years old, isolating him from the rest of his siblings.
He also claims his now-estranged mom forced her eight children — fellow sextuplets Alexis, Aaden, Leah, Joel and Hannah, as well as twins Cara and Madelyn (now 25) — to act a certain way in front of cameras while filming their hit TLC show.
Kate, however, hit back at her estranged son via TikTok after the book’s release, when she responded to to a supporter who labeled Collin’s claims as “terrible lies” and said it “should be illegal to defame someone” in a memoir.
The 51-year-old commented, “Rational logical [people] or anyone who has dealt with mental illness understands what’s going on here.”
Kate also “liked” a comment that alleged Collin would “regret all of this someday” and that he was “encouraged and enabled by other dysfunctional and mentally ill people.”
Collin has been estranged from his mother since 2016. He claimed he was institutionalized because he refused to participate in the family’s reality shows, an allegation Kate has disputed.
Jon, 59, ultimately obtained legal and physical custody of Collin in 2018 after getting him out of the facility.
Jon also obtained custody of Collin’s sister Hannah, while the rest of the siblings continued living with Kate.
On Wednesday, Netflix announced a new documentary exploring the Gosselin family’s life behind the scenes, featuring interviews with Jon, Collin and Hannah. A release date has yet to be announced.