Collin Gosselin Reacts to Estranged Siblings’ Absence at Dad Jon’s Wedding

While speaking with Entertainment Tonight at Jon’s wedding to Stephanie Lebo over the weekend, the Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum reflected on his father’s nuptials, and expressed that he wished his other siblings had joined him and his sister Hannah at the ceremony.

Collin and Hannah are two of Jon and his ex-wife Kate Gosselin’s 21-year-old sextuplets, along with Aaden, Alexis, Joel, and Leah. The former couple also shares 25-year-old twins Madelyn and Cara.

“It was really nice to see my sister here today,” Collin told ET. “I think, despite any differences or ways we see things, I think today kind of signified the fact that we both love our father and we understand how much he deserves this.”

“It would have been really nice to see my other siblings here,” he continued. “I love them, and I hope they know that we would have loved to see them here. I hope they understand how important marriage is and … how happy it made me and Hannah to see our dad get married today.”

Jon, 48, and his longtime girlfriend, Stephanie Lebo, tied the knot at The Barn at Silverstone in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, with the couple saying “I Do” in an intimate ceremony in front of 180 guests, according to TMZ. Collin served as one of his father’s groomsmen.

The wedding marks Jon’s second marriage. He was famously married to Kate Gosselin from 1999 to 2009. Jon and Stephanie began dating in 2021 and got engaged in November 2024.

During his interview with ET at the wedding, Collin gushed over his father’s nuptials, and recalled the moment he first learned Jon was going to tie the knot once again.

“When my dad told me he was first getting married, I was very happy for him,” he said. “And my first thought was that he deserves this, as does everybody who finds their person. I think, with everything he’s been through, it just highlighted it even more for me that he’s really deserving of this.”

“It almost feels freeing. Even though it’s not my wedding, I feel this sense of just happiness and freedom for him, on his behalf, because of the things he’s gone through,” he went on. “I guess he really hasn’t had it easy in the past, so it’s good to see this.”

Collin admitted that watching his dad say his vows made him emotional.

“I was crying when I first saw them up there getting married. I was in tears,” he recalled. “It was very emotional, and usually I don’t cry, but I just couldn’t hold it back. You know, especially when he read his vows. I just lost it.”

“I don’t even know how to put it into words, honestly. Yeah, it was very touching, very emotional for me,” he added.

Collin went on to reflect on the special day.

“The thing about this day that I’ll remember forever is looking around and seeing all these people who were gathered together, and I guess just realizing the significance in those who have stuck around for him. I think there is a different weight to this wedding than your traditional wedding just because of all the trials and tribulations,” he said. “That’s what I was thinking of today. I was like, ‘Wow, this feels more monumental for me, and it’s not my wedding,’ because when I looked at my dad, I saw … all the hard things he’s been through with marriage, with everything. For me, I saw all of these things just kind of floating away.”

“And that’s something I won’t ever forget,” he shared. “It wasn’t just tears of, ‘Oh, they’re getting married.’ It was me seeing the past and then looking in this moment and realizing just how freeing this is for him and how much he deserves this.”

He also noted that Jon and his new stepmom “don’t stick to a script” and “just love each other unconditionally.”

Jon & Kate Plus 8 — later just Kate Plus 8 — was one of the biggest reality series in America when it launched in 2007. The nation had already been enraptured by Kate’s sextuplet pregnancy and then healthy births of their children (Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel, and Leah) with Jon Gosselin, joining the couple’s older twins, Madelyn and Cara.

The series would run for a decade on Discovery Health Channel (for 2 seasons) and then TLC, during which the kids started to grow up and the Gosselin marriage completely fell apart. In 2009, they divorced and things grew more and more messy between the couple and their children.

Collin had previously accused Kate of abusing him when he was younger, telling The U.S. Sun last October that he’d be open to reconnecting with her if she would “come forward with the truth” about her alleged treatment of himself and his family, including his father.

In August, Collin revealed that Hannah is the only sibling he speaks with.