There’s no denying that Kate Gosselin runs a tight ship — and when you’re a single mom to eight teenagers, you don’t truly have any other choice. But for as long as she’s been on TV, fans have expressed outrage that her strict parenting style borderlines on child abuse.

Even the father of her children, her ex-husband Jon, has claimed that the Kate Plus 8 star has been known to abuse their children. In 2015, Jon filed court papers to get custody of several of his eight children because of his concerns about how Kate was raising the little ones. In a statement, his attorney also revealed that Jon feared his children weren’t coming forward and being totally honest about their troubles in their mother’s home because they feared the consquences they’d face from their mother. His attorney explained, “He is now not only concerned that the chldren will not come forward if something is wrong at home, but that they are being taught to lie.”

On countless occasions, the 41-year-old reality TV mom has maintained her innocence when it comes to child abuse, calling the claims “unfounded.” Last year, she went on TV and denied the allegations, saying, “I’m in the public eye. I’ve been investigated many times [by child services]. It’s always unfounded, obviously.” Relive all the shocking allegations that have been made against Kate since she’s come into the spotlight more than a decade ago.

She fed her kids moldy food

This claim actually came from Jon’s camp, who reported that his daughters complained they were given less-than-fresh food by their mother, who would pack the same lunch over and over again until the kids ate it. The court documents stated, “Hannah reported having moldy strawberries, and Alexis said her sandwich was stale. Leah said she had some food left over from lunch for many weeks.”

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She spanked her kids and locked them in their rooms

In the same court documents, Jon alleged that Kate had spanked her little kids so hard, she was known to leave red marks on their bodies. He also claimed that the kids told teachers they would be locked in the bedrooms for a long time, and they weren’t even allowed to leave to use the bathroom.

She makes her children do grueling labor as a punishment

According to Jon, when she isn’t resorting to violence to deal with her children misbehaving, she turns to physical labor, like putting weeds in the garden. Jon told In Touch, “Alexis doesn’t know the difference between poison ivy and weeds, so she had poison ivy all summer long. She was sweating and itchy… Poor kid.”

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