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Reality TV star, author and single mother Kate Gosselin has moved past the pain of her public divorce last year from Jon Gosselin. She and the two sets of multiples that made her famous -- the twins and sextuplets -- have begun a new season with the renamed show "Kate Plus Eight" on TLC. The Pennsylvania native has wasted no time looking for opportunities to continue to work in the public eye to support her family. Last season she appeared on "Dancing With the Stars," and she has been a co-host on "The View." She has written three books with a fourth due out next year.
Is life much different for you and the children when the cameras aren't rolling?
Nope, just less bodies. Because I don't have time to do anything different, contrary to the very popular belief of the world that things are different.
It was obvious when the camera crew came back that the children were thrilled. Do you worry about their attachment to being filmed?
See the No, they are attached to the people behind the equipment, not the equipment. We'll always stay in touch with them, so that is not a worry at all.
A lot of people who have been on reality TV complain it is edited to make them look a certain way (usually bad). Did you ever feel that way?
Um, well, I can see where they are going with a story line, and I don't think that it's that I'm painted a certain way. I think, "Did I really say that? Did I really do that? Yuk!" So, I mean, I did it. I gave it to them. It happened. I'm living my life. I think it's just looking at myself and saying "That didn't come across very good" or "Oh, I was too harsh." I'm guilty. I've said it before, I am a very Type A -- hurry, hurry get it done now. A "do-it-better-kind-of-person you know? That is a Type A personality, and we're not very nice sometimes.
You seem comfortable enough in front of the camera. Was it always like that?
It was always like that. I probably get in trouble because I don't know how to make myself a different person. I've done a little acting here and there. I'm interested in doing more, but that is a very difficult art. It is a hard thing for me to be anything other than what I am. If I'm playing myself I'm fine. I don't know, I would like to see if I could be somebody else. I've always been very comfortable. That's why from the very beginning it [the show] did so well. We were real and believable and honest. I think myself, more so than Jon, was always myself. If something is bugging me, man, you know about it. I can't keep it quiet. Our crew is our extended family. They are standing there in the room, and they see the unedited version of the good, the bad and the ugly.
Do you ever have any input when it comes to editing?
I do watch the shows before they air, and there have been a few occasions where I have said "ughhh." But, again, it is up to them whether they take it out. I know when I am inviting them into my house they are able to show whatever it is they have [filmed]. However, when I speak up about the kids and things I don't want about the kids in, I am listened to and I need to have that say. I will sacrifice myself. I mean, they crucify me. So what do I care? If I don't have a thick skin, I guess I'll never have one. Where the kids are concerned, I don't like them to be shed in an ugly light.
Do you think reality stars are treated differently by the press than conventional actors?
I do, and I think it's warranted because actors -- it is their skill they study and work at it. I am just in the fortunate situation that people care enough to watch [the show], and I am able to provide for my kids. It has become my job, but it is not a job I had to learn or study or get a degree. I now look at actors as "wow." So I think it is warranted that reality people are treated different. There's all kinds of crazy reality out there. It doesn't really take much to get there. I'm just really living my life and showing people how I do it. I started out that way, and I remain that way because people were curious.
Have your relationships with friends and family been affected as you have become more well known?
It happens to everybody, yes. I think it goes beyond being on TV or famous. In every situation and every decision people make, family and friends decide to stand with you or stand not with you. I knew to expect it, and I saw it happening. You know, friends come out of nowhere when you least expect it and family members you never thought would, disappear. That's just the way it is. So it's been hard, really.
They say you really find out who your friends are.
You really do, and I've said that many, many times. I really consider it a blessing and a privilege to walk in life and know who my true friends are. I can tell you I know them for a fact. Many people will live and die and not know who those true people are. It's a great, great thing to know who my true friends are and who I can count on.
You've had two major surprises in your life: finding out you were having sextuplets and when Jon wanted out of the marriage.
Well, it's three shocks because I never knew I would be a household name. That was a ... shock [laughing].
I know they were all different, but which was more challenging?
Um, gosh, I can't even compare them. They are all different. Definitely when I have those moments when I'm by myself and don't feel like listening to music, which is rare, I just come back to the fact that it is a life I never could have made up. I never could have dreamed or run from it. It was my destiny. It's just what was supposed to happen to me. I don't compare them in shock waves. When I found out I was having sextuplets I had no idea how I would provide for them and take care of them. Eight kids is certainly beyond fathomable for anybody who is living a normal life and just getting by. But thank God a career, if you want to call it that, appeared out of nowhere and afforded me the ability to guilt-free financially provide for eight kids. So when Jon wanted to be gone and not provide or be married or be in our house or whatever, I'm a rare woman that can provide for her kids, let alone eight. I do not take that lightly. I mean many people are trapped in marriages because of finances, and they are not happy and nobody is happy. So I look at it as how the turn of events occurred, and we can be what we are and the nine of us can be happy. That to me is amazing.
Would you ever consider marrying again?
You've caught me far enough out from my divorce that if my knight in shining armor appeared, I would, at this point, consider it. The poor thing would have to live through so much scrutiny from the outside world and from me, that I don't know that anyone would ever want to do that. But, yeah, I mean it's lonely, and it's a lot of responsibility on my own. I have friends who I could call 24 hours of the day, but it's just not the same as having somebody walking in your shoes with you. Probably, I just, I don't know. I don't know if that person exists.
Mackenzie Carpenter's video program, "Omnivore," is available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
