Jon Gosselin, 43, got hit hard with COVID-19 last year — and not hearing from 6 of his children with ex Kate Gosselin, 45, didn’t come as a shock to the dad of 8. Despite family drama, Jon — who has custody of Collin and Hanna, 16 — is holding out hope for a relationship with all of them at some point. “Jon wasn’t surprised that none of the [other 6] reached out when he had COVID,” a source told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “He hopes to be able to see the other kids again soon,” they added.
The family shot to fame with their TLC show Jon & Kate Plus 8 which documented the chaos of their everyday lives with balancing their 8 children. The Gosselins married in 1999 and were embattled in an ugly divorce that was finalized in 2009. The Pennsylvania based couple were divorced in just 6 months after the relationship went south.
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Parents to twins Mady and Cara, 20 and sextuplets Hannah, Leah, Alexis, Collin, Aaden, Joel, 16 couldn’t see eye to eye on custody. In 2018, Jon was awarded full custody of Collin and his sister Hannah eventually joined him as Kate maintained custody of his siblings. “My dad has been there for me and Collin no matter what,” Hannah told the Daily Mail in an exclusive statement in Sept. 2020. “He’s been a very loving and supportive dad throughout everything. Collin is facing many difficult issues and my dad is doing everything in his power to help him. My dad loves us and has never been abusive to us in any way.”
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Despite all of this extra stress, Jon’s condition has improved despite the lack of communication. “Physically he’s much better,” our source continued of Jon’s COVID-19 battle that left him hospitalized. “He hasn’t spoken or talked to them in so long.” While this is upsetting for the DJ who’s now dating mom of two, Colleen Conrad, he understands. “Kate is able to know everything,” our source said. “Which is why he wasn’t surprised to not hear from them.”
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In a January appearance on Dr. Oz, Jon opened up about his battle with COVID. “I had a really bad COVID pneumonia based upon my numbers,” he explained. “Now, what’s interesting is I didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel sick and I didn’t feel pain … but when you went to move or do anything and you felt so weak and you wanted to pass out, it was really scary.”“If my urinals were full, I had to stand up and use the bathroom, I would fear it because I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to pass out. I can’t breathe,'” he also said of his symptoms. “I called the nurse and I felt guilty calling the nurse all the time. Like, ‘Can you just help me get this? Can you help me do that?’ Everything, you feel like an invalid.”