Jon Gosselin, 44, is a hands-on dad as he continues to have full custody of daughter Hannah Gosselin, 16, and brother Collin, 16. Despite the fact that his kids live apart from him and their siblings, he’s hopeful to one day have a relationship again with his other 6 children. “I always have hope,” Jon told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY on June 12 from his Pennsylvania home. “I hope one day maybe they just knock on my door or maybe drop me a line or text me. Something like that,” he pondered.
“I kind of just have to hold on to hope and not give up and let them know that I love them and I’m here no matter what. I’m not going to give up but I can’t dwell on the whys and hows,” he explained. “I just have to focus on getting myself right and the ones that are here and doing the best that I can and being centered and being in a good relationship and focusing on myself as well,” he added.
Jon and his ex-wife Kate Gosselin are parents to twins Mady and Cara, 20, along with Hannah and Collin’s fellow sextuplet siblings Alexis, Joel, Aaden, and Leah, 16. The former couple shot to fame with their TLC reality show, Jon & Kate Plus 8 — but after a 10 year marriage that ended in a nasty divorce, Kate was awarded custody of the six children who remain estranged from their father. Jon was awarded full legal and physical custody of Collin in 2018.
Despite the fact that he and Collin don’t have relationships with the other children, he remains supportive of his daughter’s choice to do so. “Hannah stays in contact with them,” Jon said. “I love my kids, all of them. Even though I’m kind of estranged from Mady and Cara, I hope one day that they just call me up and just talk to me.”
On top of happily working at his IT job with Amazon, Jon is hard at work this summer spinning music — but there’s one place you won’t find him out of respect to his kids! “I’m going to stay out of bars and clubs, pretty much,” Jon revealed. “If there’s a really big gig, that’s cool. I’m just not into staying up until 4 in the morning anymore. I can’t do it with my job. My kids, they don’t mind. They miss me playing, actually. I’m a cool dad…That’s what Hannah would say!” he hilariously added.
“With COVID, it was booming and then nothing. I was killin’ it. I’m now doing more corporate events, charity events. I’m booking parties in The Hamptons. I’ve got an event coming up in July in Atlantic City. I love playing music,” he went on. “That’s my passion and release, but IT is my care and how I provide for my family. I’m trying to figure out how to be a public figure but still have my private life when I work for the largest company in the world. I have a really good support system with my friends. DJKoolieKirk, he taught me a lot. I would not have a DJ career without him. It was so hard to transition. There’s so much pressure. You can’t mess up. Even one small transition, if you mess up, you won’t have a job again,” Jon told HL.
While hard at work with two jobs and two kids at home full-time, Jon’s looking forward to celebrating the upcoming special holiday with a day off. “We don’t have any set plans for Father’s Day,” Jon confessed. “When you’re a father who’s had kids taken away from you, you feel like every day is Father’s Day for you. I see my kids every single day. I have off though. I’ll probably do nothing.” Jon is booking up for the summer but would love to spin for your birthdays, weddings or events. Please contact @Adrianeschwartz on Instagram for bookings!