Collin Gosselin posted a birthday tribute to his father’s ex, Colleen Conrad, calling her his “real mom” and crediting her with choosing him when he says he needed it most. The post renews attention on his long-running public dispute with his mother, Kate Goss
On Wednesday, June 17, Collin Gosselin shared a photo on Instagram showing his father’s ex-girlfriend, Colleen Conrad, sitting beside him. The timing wasn’t accidental. The tribute landed to coincide with Conrad’s birthday.
In the caption, the former reality-TV star framed the relationship as something deeper than family by blood. “Colleen is the strongest woman I know, who stepped in at the toughest part of my life and CHOSE to be a mother to me,” the 22-year-old wrote.
He then turned to the words he has used before to describe who he believes showed up for him. “Happy birthday to my wonderful, hardworking, passionate, and I could go on… to my real mom I love you so much.”
Gosselin added: “The love you feel for a mom you were given is incredible. But the love you feel for a mom that CHOSE you is something so powerful. I am so fortunate.”
The tribute is unfolding against a backdrop of years in which Gosselin has spoken publicly about an estranged and troubled relationship with his mother, Kate Gosselin—including allegations of physical and emotional abuse.
In a 2024 interview with The U.S. Sun, Gosselin described what he called a “rough” childhood with Kate. He alleged she became “physically aggressive” and “verbally abusive” toward him, saying she would sometimes zip-tie him and lock him inside a basement room for days at a time.
Jon Gosselin, Collin’s father, divorced Kate in 2009. At the time, Jon backed up Collin’s claims and told The Sun that when his friends’ in-laws bought the house, they asked, “Why is there a room in the basement with a bed and a lock on the outside?”
The dispute has also played out in public appearances. In 2019, on “The Dr. Oz Show,” Jon Gosselin alleged that Kate “institutionalized” their son without a mental health diagnosis and later “created a diagnosis.”
Kate Gosselin responded through a statement shared on Instagram in 2023. She said Gosselin “received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years” and that he was placed in a facility for the “safety of myself. his brothers and sisters and for his own well-being.” She added that he “remains a very troubled young man” and that he has struggled with a “distorted perception of reality.”.
Collin’s post also arrives as he prepares to publish a memoir. He has said he will pull back the curtain on what he calls a tumultuous childhood with the release of his upcoming memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight,” which he announced on social media Wednesday.
The cover features a cropped family photo of Gosselin and his mother, with Kate covering Gosselin’s mouth with her hand. In another Instagram message announcing the book, Gosselin wrote: “For a long time, I wasn’t sure I’d ever tell this story.”
He continued: “Growing up, millions of people watched my life on television. People felt like they knew me. They knew my family. They watched me grow up. But there was so much they never saw.”
Gosselin said the book forced him to return to “some of the hardest moments of my life,” but also gave him “something I’ve been searching for a long time: my voice.” He concluded: “This isn’t the story people think they know. It’s the story I’ve lived.”
Between the birthday tribute to Conrad—whom he calls his “real mom”—and the forthcoming memoir, the message from Collin Gosselin is starkly personal: the people he says chose him matter as much as the family name printed in public memory.
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