Kate Gosselin Living ‘Paycheck to Paycheck’ Amid Family Drama: ‘Reality Show Cash Dried Up’

Love her or hate her, Kate Gosselin was a household name for years. A Pennsylvania labor-and-delivery nurse, Kate – who already had twins with then-husband Jon Gosselin – parlayed a documentary about the birth of her sextuplets into the hit series Jon & Kate Plus 8 in 2007. The show spawned multiple spinoffs, with the family matriarch, 48, also writing several books and even doing a turn on Dancing With the Stars.

These days, however, Kate is known more for inspiring one of the original “Karen” memes. “She’s fallen quite a ways from being one of the country’s top reality stars,” notes a source. “Kate is currently living a very quiet and boring life in North Carolina. She doesn’t date and has very few friends – actually, her best friends are pretty much her kids.”

Empty Nest

But as they reach adulthood, even her time with them is waning. After graduating from Fordham University, Cara, 23, is a financial analyst residing in NYC. Her twin, Mady, meanwhile earned a degree from Syracuse University before landing a job at Bubble Skincare, also in the Big Apple. 

As for the sextuplet siblings? They’re 19-year-old high school grads now; not that Kate has had much of a relationship with Hannah and Collin – for the past five years, anyway. In 2018, Jon, 46, was awarded custody of the pair, and Collin has no contact with Kate. Currently enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, the teen has publicly spoken out about his mother’s alleged mistreatment of him as a child. Kate suggests his mental health issues were to blame. “Mady backed up Kate’s claims about Collin,” says the source, “but some of the others thought their brother’s personal issues should not have been discussed.”

The family’s drama is the only reason Kate, who seemingly hasn’t had a serious relationship since divorcing Jon in 2009, has made headlines recently. And with the reality show cash dried up, she’s had to drastically adjust her lifestyle. She moved to Troutman, North Carolina, and got a multistate nursing license in 2021, hoping to return to her former profession. “Kate lives paycheck to paycheck,” says the source, adding that she previously admitted she “borrowed” $100,000 from her kids’ trust fund “to survive.” “There hasn’t been a glam squad for a very long time, so Kate looks totally different. She stays home a lot, watches a lot of TV.”

Though she’s not on the tube herself these days, locals do still sometimes recognize her at the market, says a source, “but it’s not always positive. Kate continues to get a lot of hate from people. She doesn’t have it so easy.”