They Grew Up Before Our Eyes! See ‘Kate Plus 8’ Stars Mady and Cara’s Transformation Over the Years

They’re all grown up! Mady Gosselin and Cara Gosselin practically grew up before our eyes on Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Kate Plus 8.

The twins are the firstborn children of Jon Gosselin and Kate Gosselin. The former couple met on October 5, 1997, at a company picnic. They wed on June 12, 1999, and welcomed Mady and Cara on October 8, 2000. Kate previously revealed that because of her polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) diagnosis, she used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive her twins. The girls were born premature at about 35 weeks.

Jon and Kate divorced in 2009, and Kate was granted primary custody of their eight children — including Mady and Cara’s siblings Alexis, Leah, Hannah, Collin, Aaden and Joel. However, Jon now has custody of Hannah and Collin. The exes have been involved in a contentious custody battle over the past decade, and Jon was open about being estranged from his kids.

In August 2016, Jon revealed he hadn’t seen all of his children together in years. “Everybody used to come to my house,” he told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “You know, it was great, and then Madelyn and Cara just stopped coming, around 12 to 13 [years old]. I didn’t question it. I was just like, ‘Hey, do what you want, be with your friends,’ and then it just became they’re not coming.”

He explained he decided to focus on spending more time with the sextuplets. He said he didn’t see Mady and Cara “often,” adding that he and the twins were “not talking right now.”

Later that month, Mady and Cara shared their side of the story and opened up about their estrangement from their father — denying that Kate was keeping the kids from seeing Jon. “He makes it seem like we’re being kept from him, which is insane,” Mady told People at the time. “He should maybe spend some time thinking about why we don’t want to see him, and maybe realize that if he ever does want a relationship with us, talking about us on TV is not the way to make that happen.”

Despite the tension with their father, the twins seem to have grown into perfectly happy young adults. Mady and Cara are currently enrolled at separate colleges.

In February 2023, Mady defended her decision to keep her life out of the spotlight in a TikTok video after a social media user commented on her family’s strained dynamic.

“This is the singular time I’m going to address this because it is sending me over the edge,” Mady told her fans. “The rhetoric in so many of my comments about childhood trauma and healing and whatever you want to say about my family, my life, my parents, whatever is not your business.”

She wrote in the video’s caption, “I’ve been getting hate mail since I was 6 but that doesn’t mean you need to keep sending it. Learn how to respect people’s boundaries and practice kindness.”

Keep scrolling to take a look at how both Cara and Mady have grown over the years in the gallery below.