If you’re familiar with Jon Gosselin, you’re probably aware that the main reason he’s famous is that he and his then-wife, Kate Gosselin, were the stars of Jon & Kate Plus 8, a reality television series that aired for ten years from April 4, 2007 until July 24, 2017.
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Jon and Kate initially gained media coverage on May 10, 2004, when Kate prematurely gave birth to sextuplets. Remarkably, sons Aaden Jonathan, Collin Thomas, and Joel Kevin, and daughters Alexis Faith, Hannah Joy, and Leah Hope added to an existing pair of twin daughters, Cara Nicole and Madelyn “Mady” Kate. This meant that Jon and Kate were the parents of eight children.
Their television careers began when they appeared on two Discovery Health Channel specials: 2005’s Surviving Sextuplets and 2006’s Sextuplets and Twins: One Year Later. Those two shows spawned their popular decade-long series, which started life on Discovery and moved to TLC after two seasons.
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The couple separated in 2009, and Jon has since started and ended relationships with Liz Jannetta and Colleen Conrad. His current relationship with girlfriend Stephanie Lebo, however, is serious enough for him to have revealed he has a “ninth child.”
Jon & Stephanie Plus 3
Jon, now 47, moved into a five-bedroom mansion in Pennsylvania with Stephanie, 11 years his junior, in 2023 and has taken on the role of stepfather to her teenage daughter, Giulianna. In a conversation with The U.S. Sun, Jon admitted that his relationship with Giulianna took a while to flourish, but the pair now love hanging out and have a father-daughter bond.
Jon said, “It took Giulianna and I a while to warm up to each other, but now I primarily work at night now, so we hang out a lot during the day. I’ll say to her, ‘Do you want to go to Hershey Park’ and she’ll be like ‘Yes! Let’s go.’
She’s been used to being on her own with her mom, and she’s very self-sufficient. She can make her own chicken nuggets.
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I’m learning more about Giulianna and I think we have similar personalities. We both like to be alone and play on our electronics. With Julianna, I feel like she’s my ninth child.”
He even went on to say, “Giulianna has a different last name than her mom, but she said ‘I don’t want to be a Lebo. I want to be a Gosselin.’”
Stephanie also addressed her daughter’s relationship with Jon, confirming his words: “She has told Jon she loves him. She sees him as a dad.”
Two of Jon’s children from his relationship with Kate – Collin and Hannah – also live with him and Stephanie, meaning their home is a blended family environment. His other children have flown the proverbial nest or live with their mother.
Jon and Stephanie insist they have no intention of having more children. He is satisfied with nine being his final number. We wish the couple and their hybrid family all the best in the future together.
