Photo: Flickr.com/midnightglory
I never paid much attention to “Jon and Kate Plus 8″ until this recent both-sides-cheating scandal clogged the Internets, so in the past week or so, I’ve been trying to figure out who the Gosselins are. It’s pretty easy to figure out: Type B dude marries Type A woman. They have two kids. They want more, so they have more. And not just a couple more. They have a stomach-bursting load of children.
A TLC reality show ensues (probably one of the best ways to ensure a college education for your eight children, if you ask me). The Gosselins live their marriage in front of cameras and a cutting room version of their reality is shipped to viewers each week. A lot of it involves Kate telling Jon to sit up straight, or something similar, as her husband slouches around with a look of pain I’ve only seen, oh, on every other father on earth’s face when they receive barking orders from the world’s bossy coalition of moms.
So, cheating scandal. Pictures of Jon hanging out with some nubile young woman who probably hasn’t popped out eight kids (yet). Pictures of Kate with the bodyguard, um, doing with her what bodyguards do (stand there and look menacing).
I guess I don’t know why Kate is seen as such a mean, horrible person. “Reports”today indicated that Kate put John Gosselin on a $5 per day allowance. And, OK, maybe she burst in on him and yelled for not receiving her lunch on time. I call exaggeration. I think if I were a stay-at-home mom with six kids on the way I’d encourage my husband to be frugal (especially if he were about to be fired for misusing “company resources”). And I would sure as hell be pissed about not being fed (I get pretty pissed if that happens NOW).
Surely suburban America gets off on this type of story. People get weird about women having kids, especially when those children arrive in litter format. Everyone loves to build things up and tear them down, or at least watch the destruction. And who doesn’t jump at the chance to hate women (first in line, of course, are always other women)?
I’m one voice in a massive pile of crap called the Internet, but I just wanted to say this: Jon was involved, too. It takes two people to make a baby, just as it takes two people to make a marriage. And, unfortunately, it takes the work of a lot less than eight kids to turn a couple into completely different people. I don’t get the country’s frenzied obsession with hating Kate Gosselin. Frankly, I’m a little freaked out by it.
And what I find interesting is that even though she often is seen as degrading to Jon, and sometimes her comments make me wince… she seems to me to be a pretty good mom. I mean, the whole OCD thing — if you had 8 small children you’d probably be anal about every single detail in their lives too …
I don’t know, it’s all reality TV, and I’ve read accounts from her sister-in-law, yadda yadda yadda, about how crazy Kate is and how she’s not really the “mom” she’s portrayed as on TV, so my conclusion I’ve come to is WHATEVER! It’s all TV anyway… I don’t believe what I watch on there or what I read about them.
Sorry but the kids are too adorable for me to stop watching though
You’re so right. They are.so.cute.