Jon Gosselin has a new girlfriend! The 46-year-old former reality star debuted his relationship with Stephanie Lebo on August 1 and revealed they’ve been dating for two years. Jon told The Sun that he met Stephanie a few months after he split from his girlfriend of seven years, Colleen Conrad, in 2021.
“We met at a backyard barbecue at a mutual friend Dean’s house,” Jon said. “It was a hillbilly thing we let fireworks off, it was fun. I had been single for a few months after Colleen and I broke up,” he added.
Stephanie, 35, revealed that the couple started messaging each other after the party before Jon asked her out. After their first date, Stephanie wanted to kiss Jon, but he made her wait, which made her fall in love with Jon even more. Jon confirmed that he asked Dean for permission to pursue Stephanie before they became official.
Since they started dating, Jon and Stephanie have bonded over having “so much in common” with their past relationships, Stephanie said. She also confirmed that she wasn’t bothered by Jon’s history with his ex-wife Kate Gosselin. “I knew about his past and everything although I was never Team Jon or Team Kate because I just didn’t know enough or watch the show that much,” Stephanie explained. “It didn’t phase me or anything and I never treated him any different.”
The former Jon and Kate Plus 8 star gushed over his new romance and said it’s “easy” being with Stephanie. “I feel it’s taken 19 years to find Steph. All the trials and tribulations, the heartbreak, the fighting, and worrying about who is going to talk about me to the press, then finally I meet Steph,” he said. “My previous relationships would all go well in the beginning but then they’d move to miscommunications and secrets. Trust has always been an issue, but not this time.”
This is Jon’s first public relationship since his split from Colleen after seven years of dating. Before that, Jon was infamously married to Kate, 48, with whom he shares his eight children. Jon is estranged from six of his kids and only has relationships with son Collin and daughter Hannah. The 19-year-olds spoke out against their mom in a new Vice TV documentary, where Collin accused Kate of alleged abuse when he was younger. In response, Kate claimed that Collin is “troubled” and in need of psychiatric help, which Jon denied.