The identity of Kate Gosselin’s new mystery man may have been revealed.
The reality star’s ex-husband, Jon Gosselin, and one of their sextuplets, Collin, have taken to Instagram to react to rumors that Kate is dating Steve Neild, the family’s former bodyguard. Neild was at the center of allegations of an affair with Kate back in 2009, the same year she and Jon divorced.
At the time, Kate strongly denied any romantic involvement with Neild, calling the reports “disgusting,” “unthinkable,” and “unfathomable,” and said she was “horrified” by the gossip.
Just days after Kate revealed she has been dating someone for “a little over a year” and described herself as “super, super happy,” Jon reacted on Instagram to claims linking Kate’s new partner to Neild.
“Guess who really ruined the marriage,” he wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday, Sept. 24, alongside screenshots of articles suggesting a connection between Kate and Neild.
Jon also shared on his Instagram Stories: “I told you all” and “No one believed me – guess I was right!!!”
Collin weighed in with a longer statement across several Instagram Stories, airing grievances about his mother and defending his father.
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“What really upsets me is that my mom had an affair with our bodyguard way back in 2009, and for years would share hotel rooms with him while we went on family vacations, while I was in a connected room!” he wrote. “Now everyone thinks her being with him is some cute novel romance.”
He added, “By the way my dad received death threats and got shunned by the public for years for ‘having an affair’ and ‘leaving his kids.’ I hope she doesn’t try to play this one off. Just come forward and be truthful.”
Collin clarified that he is “not big on the drama” and is “very busy” with college, work, and running his business, so he doesn’t want followers to think he “feeds on this.”
“However, I feel very strongly on the matter of cheating and then blaming someone else for your own actions,” he explained. “Everyone says my dad and I are hung up on my mom. We are not. We have suffered the damage of a narcissist and cried together,” he said.
He concluded by stating that he and Jon won’t “act reformed when we still feel pain from our past,” adding a broken-heart emoji and writing, “I love you dad.”
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Kate opened up about her love life during a TikTok Q&A on Monday, Sept. 22.
“And finally, ‘Am you dating?'” she said, addressing a question she often receives from fans. “The answer to that question is actually, finally, yes.”
“I [have been] dating somebody for the past … year? A little over a year, maybe like 14, 15 months?” she continued. “I’m super, super happy.”
While she did not disclose the identity of her new partner, Kate shared that “it’s somebody that I’ve known for a really long time” and reiterated that she is “very, very happy.”
She added that her boyfriend isn’t keen on appearing in her social media posts. “He doesn’t really want to be in TikToks,” she said. “Can’t blame him really, I guess, but you perhaps will catch a peep of him, here and there, once in a while, going forward.”
Kate and Jon were married from 1999 to 2009 and share twins Cara and Mady, now 24, and sextuplets Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel, and Leah, now 21. Kate has been estranged from her children Jon and Hannah, though she recently mentioned reconnecting with Hannah.
The family rose to fame with the reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8, which premiered in 2007 and ended following their divorce. The series was later revived as Kate Plus 8, airing intermittently between 2010 and 2017. Kate also starred in a brief spinoff, Kate Plus Date, in 2019.
In recent months, the mother of eight has been sharing glimpses of her life away from the cameras via her TikTok account, which now has over 250,000 followers.
