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Jon Gosselin’s Girlfriend Stephanie Lebo Defends His Parenting Amid Kate Gosselin Feud
Jon Gosselin’s girlfriend, Stephanie Lebo, defended her man’s parenting skills amid his ongoing drama with ex-wife, Kate Gosselin.
Stephanie, 35, hit back at claims that Jon, 46, is a bad father and insisted he acts as a father figure for her daughter, adding that “he doesn’t have to do that.”
“But for her [Kate] to sit there and say this and that in the public about him and towards Collin and Hannah, well number one, a judge awarded him custody for a reason, and number two, he’s never yelled at my child or done anything bad to them, or manipulated them in any sense, no way,” Stephanie told The Sun in an interview published on Thursday, August 3.
Jon and Kate, 48, tied the knot in 1999, while the mother of eight filed for divorce in 2009. The former TLC stars share eight children: twins Mady and Cara, 22, as well as sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Alexis, Aaden, Leah and Joel, 19.
Following their split, Kate was awarded custody of all eight kids in the divorce settlement. However, the DJ later gained custody of Hannah in May 2018 and Collin in December 2018.
Stephanie – who has been dating Jon for the past two years – noted that it “takes a lot in the state of Pennsylvania for the judge to award full custody to a father, it’s usually veered towards the mother.”
“I sometimes think with Kate and other people Jon has been around — is it something to do with your childhood, growing up, was there some issues – is that why you are how you are?” she continued. “Because everything they say is wrong with Jon, I just don’t see it. We don’t argue about anything.”
While Jon has close bonds with Collin and Hannah, Stephanie admitted she struggles with being estranged from his other kids. “I do wonder about the other kids and all the holidays and things like that they have missed out on all being together,” she said. “Last Thanksgiving we were all eating and Hannah said wait we haven’t said thanks yet, so she started and she said, “The first person I want to thank is Steph because you have made home, home’ and I choked.”
“She said, ‘I love my mom but you make holidays home, you make birthdays home,’” the research analyst added. “We love to have traditions. We dye eggs at Easter and make baskets.”
Stephanie defended Jon’s parenting two weeks after Collin repeated his claims that his mother was abusive towards him and she “sent [him] away” to Philadelphia-based psychiatrist hospital Fairmount Behavioral Health System in 2017 during Vice TV’s Dark Side of the 2000s.
“I was starting to tell people what was going on at home and, you know, she caught wind of that and had to put me somewhere where I wouldn’t be able to get the secrets out,” Collin alleged about why he was sent away to the hospital. Meanwhile, Jon added that he spent $1 million to get Collin out.
Kate later denied her estranged son’s abuse claims while issuing a statement via Instagram. “I never wanted to do this; but I feel I have been backed into a corner and left with no choice. Although it saddens me to do so, I need to speak out now,” she wrote on July 21. “My son Collin, whom I love with all my heart, has received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years. For the safety of myself, his brothers and sisters and for his own well-being, he was placed in a facility following the years of outpatient treatment which proved insufficient for his needs.”
After claiming she sent him away “following one of his many attacks/outbursts,” Kate continued, “Fast forward to the present day, and following Jon’s removal of Colin from treatment, my son’s unpredictable and violent behaviors have sadly continued regularly towards Jon, Hannah and others around him.”
“Collin’s distorted perception of reality is one of the many issues that he always struggled with,” the Multiple Blessings author concluded. “It’s sadly surprising when complete fabrications occur, and is just another heartbreaking facet of this fight.”
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