Mady Gosselin recently accused her younger brother, Collin, of 'violent behavior.'
Jon and Kate Gosselin are speaking out amid drama between their children. In a statement to ET, the dad of eight defended his son, Collin, after his daughter, Mady, accused her younger brother of "violent behavior." Meanwhile, in her own statement, Kate took the opposite side, aligning herself with Mady. ET previously reached out to Collin for comment.
Jon and Kate share eight children. Collin is part of a set of 19-year-old sextuplets -- Aaden, Alexis, Hannah, Joel, and Leah -- while 22-year-old Mady has a twin sister, Cara.
Collin is estranged from his mom after he was institutionalized for behavioral issues as a child. After Jon got Collin out of the facility, the teen, along with his sister, Hannah, went to live with Jon. Neither Collin nor Hannah have a relationship with their fellow sextuplets or older sisters.
In Jon's statement, he praised Collin for his recent interview in Vice TV's Dark Side of the 2000s.
"It took courage for Collin to sit down and speak about his past and the last thing I would have expected was more abuse to come his way from a sibling that hasn't seen or spoken to him since he was in sixth grade," Jon told ET. "No child should have to endure the years of psychological and physical pain Kate put Collin through. Let alone the rejection from his own mother, or the false storyline created to alienate Collin from his siblings."
"Collin has grown into a wonderful man despite her abuse," Jon concluded. "We love him and are both proud and excited to see him grow into a young US Marine."
Kate spoke out shortly thereafter, writing in an Instagram post, "I have never wanted to have to do this, but I feel I have been backed into a corner and left with no choice. Although it saddens me to do so, I need to speak out now."
"My son Collin, whom I love with all my heart, has received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years. For the safety of myself, his brothers and sisters and for his own well-being, he was placed in a facility following years of outpatient treatment which proved insufficient for his needs," Kate said. "The decision to admit him was made by emergency room doctors following one of his many attacks/outbursts -- this one involving his use of a weapon."
"Fast forward to the present day, and following Jon's removal of Collin from treatment, my son's unpredictable and violent behavior has sadly continued regularly towards Jon, Hannah and others around him," she continued. "Collin's distorted perception of reality is one of the many issues that he has always struggled with. As many people who have family members grappling with mental health issues can attest, it is rarely and sadly surprising when complete fabrications occur, and this is just another heartbreaking facet of this fight."
Kate continued by acknowledging that "all parent-child relationships are complex," but noted that "when mental illness is involved, it is incredibly complicated and painful, let alone [not] easy for others on the outside to understand."
"All measures that were taken in our home were at the explicit recommendation of his pediatric psychiatrist and/or his team of specialists and were put into place to safeguard every member of our family, our friends as well as our family pets," she added. "Unfortunately, I believe Collin remains a very troubled young man who continues to need a lot of help."
"His brothers and sisters and I have not been directly involved in his life due to his history of unpredictable behavior and violent tendencies towards us," Kate concluded. "What his sister Mady posted on social media recently is completely accurate and I deeply appreciate her bravery in doing so. This is all I have to say on the matter and I will not be discussing this subject any further at this time."
Then, in a follow-up statement to ET, Jon called out his ex-wife, claiming she was "posting cruel false accusations regarding Collin" in an alleged effort to "justify her inexcusable horrific past behavior toward him."
"True love for a child wouldn't include a mother attacking their son to the public," he said. "Collin had to be cleared by the Marines with a full background check including mental, physical and medical clearance through the US Marine Corps. The government's full diagnoses clearly reflects the truth."
"Do not forget that a judge awarded sole legal and physical custody of Collin to his father. Kate never even showed up to court and lost full custody of her own son," Jon continued. "Regarding these brand new false accusations, it seems clear that even today after not seeing her son since the 6th grade, she is unable to control her abusive words towards him."
Jon concluded, "At this point Collin is training to be a Marine in order to serve his country and is unable to respond to his mother's callous lies."
The back-and-forth began with Collin's Vice TV interview.
"I'm not going to say I was a perfect child, but I'd say my misbehaving was no different from my siblings," he said. "I know my mother was going through a lot of things. I mean, a divorce and plenty of different things that can't be easy to go through. And I want to think that she needed someone to take out her anger and her frustration on and that it was just kind of me. I was in the way and I was there, so she chose me."
Hannah also spoke to the outlet, telling them of her brother, "He would be separated from us. He would not get to come and play outside with us. He would eat dinner at different times than us. I don't think effort was made in the home to help him learn what behavior is acceptable, and what behavior is not acceptable."
In response to Collin's statements, Mady spoke out on her Instagram Story.
"I never wanted to have to speak up about this in order to allow my brother the ability to live privately after the conclusion of our family's TV show, but I've been overwhelmed by hate messages in the last few days and I feel I must set the record straight," Mady began her post. "I do not owe my allegiance to any person(s), who has physically threatened me and every member of my immediate family (some incidents as recent as last year). Further, I will never allow someone who has exhibited hateful and even violent behavior towards others based [on] their racial identity, gender identity, or religious beliefs to be in my life."
It's in the next section of her note that Mady mentioned Collin by name, writing, "Kindness, tolerance, love, and acceptance are core values in my life and I refuse to compromise them for ANYONE, even my brother Collin, who has unfortunately made his opinions very clear in private."
"For me, there is no further conversation to be had about rebuilding relationships with anyone in my life after reaching the point of physical violence and hate speech," she wrote. "I cannot speak any further on why Collin has done these things, just that I have witnessed them."
Mady ended her message by asking for "peace and privacy," writing, "I've had hundreds of people messaging my private accounts with the most hurtful words you can imagine in the last few days, all without knowing the full truth of what we've been through. I'm asking for peace and privacy (and no more hate mail) going forward."
When ET spoke with Collin last November, he opened up about the downfall of his relationship with his mom.
"After being there, I didn't have a relationship with her," Collin said of the institution. "Even before [being] there, I don't think we had much of a relationship and I think that just kept tearing it even more down."
Even so, Collin said it'd "be ideal" if he and his mom could repair their relationship. He feels similarly about a potential relationship with his siblings, telling ET that he would "love to have a relationship" with his brothers and sisters.
"I love them to death. I love them very much," Collin said of his siblings. "... I hope they're doing well. I hope they're living the lives that they want and that they're happy."
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