They grow up so fast! It’s hard to believe that 13 years have passed since Jon & Kate Plus 8 (later Kate Plus 8) premiered on TV. Kate, 45, and Jon Gosselin‘s, 43, 16-year-old sextuplets — Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel, and Leah — were just three-years-old when the show began, but now they’re officially teenagers. And today, twins Mady and Cara — who were only 6-years-old when the show first aired — are no 20 years old! Today, October 8 marks Mady and Cara’s 20th birthday, and celebrate, we’re taking a look back at all the Gosselin children and how much they’ve grown!
Gosselin birthdays are always interesting. Back in 2017, the Gosselin clan returned to TLC on July 10 for a three-episode special that included showing the sextuplets celebrating their thirteenth b-day. During the premiere episode, the kids decided to have a split birthday party with the boys going camping and the girls going glamping — complete with pedicures and facials. Since then a lot has changed, with two of the sextuplets choosing to live with their dad Jon, while Mady and Cara are now in college! We’ve got their transformations from young children through today, which you can see in the photos below.
Mady and Cara Gosselin
Twins Mady and Cara were Jon and Kate’s first children before they decided to add to their family with one more child via IVF and wound up with six. During the family’s TLC reality show, the girls’ needs often had to come after those of their six little brothers and sisters. But now they’re all grown up and are lovely young ladies and college co-eds.
Mady is far more active on social media, sharing plenty of photos throughout 2019-2020 of her freshman year at Syracuse University. She started her own Instagram account on her 18th birthday, and has since documented her high school graduation in May 2019, posing for an IG photo with brothers Aaden and Joel, in addition to her fun first year of college. Cara is far more private, as she has never posted to her own social media. She attends a separate New York college where she rows for the crew team, Jon told the First Class Fatherhood podcast in Feb. 2020.
Collin Gosselin
Collin and his five brothers and sisters were born at Penn State Hershey Medical center on May 10, 2004, and became TV stars at the age of three thanks to their family’s reality show. After Kate and Jon’s 2009 divorce, Kate began homeschooling the sextuplets. She began sending Collin away to a school for special needs. By 2016, Jon claimed he didn’t even know where Collin was and that Kate would not reveal his school’s location or why he needed treatment.
By 2018, Jon was able to start taking Collin on overnight home visits to his Pennsylvania home. He went to court and got sole physical and sole legal custody of the boy, who is now a sophomore in high school. Collin’s sibling Hannah also chose to live with her dad instead of her mom Kate. John revealed on the First Class Fatherhood podcast that Collin does not have any contact with his mom or the four siblings who live with her.
Hannah Gosselin
Hannah has been living with her father Jon ever since the summer of 2018. Jon has said that she still maintains contact with her four brothers and sisters who live with their mom. But she’s seemed to thrive living with her dad and brother. In Nov. 2019, they took a family getaway to the Caribbean Island of St. Croix. The kids even started school together in Aug. 2019, when John shared a first day of school photo to Instagram.
He wrote, “FRESHMAN!!! 9th Grade Wow!!! I can’t believe it!!! Good luck to Hannah and Collin this year!!! Today is their first day of high school!!!! I hope all my kids have a wonderful year in high school this year and have great experiences!!! Love all of you!!! On Jan. 31, 2020, Jon posted a selfie with Hannah, declaring himself a proud “girl dad,” with his sweet daughter.
Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah Gosselin
Four of the six sextuplets still live with their mom Kate: Alexis, Aaden, Leah and Joel. The 16-year-olds are starting their sophomore year of high school in fall 2020. Ever since the end of Kate Plus 8 in 2017, she’s kept the kids out of the spotlight for the most part. Kate will share photos on big occasions like birthdays to show how much her kids are growing up, but the children lead a much more quiet life away from cameras now.
According to their dad Jon, they’re still in touch with their sibling Hannah, who lives with him. Jon will send the four siblings good wishes on birthdays or special occasions via Instagram messages. But it is understood that they have little contact with their father. While the the family has become fractured since they first became famous in 2007, the little three-year-old sextuplets and their six-year-old twin sisters have all grown into such lovely teen and young adults!
