Friends and family of Jon and Kate Gosselin are slamming the couple for revealing their split on their reality show Monday.

“We’re just so heartbroken and sad about the announcement that they made — an announcement that could be so life-shattering to a young child,” Kate’s brother, Kevin Kreider, tells RadarOnline.com. “And it was used as a teaser, used to gain ratings, without any regards for my nieces and nephews. It was really hurtful. We were really sad to see that.”

Adds their onetime neighorbod, Denis: “I do feel bad for the children. Hopefully they will be civil and everything for the kids sake. He needs to get away from her and run as fast as he can. The kids are the ones who will suffer, and that is the sad part.”

Jon’s former Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School classmate Dominick Fabrizio tells Usmagazine.com: “Jon thinks ‘it is a shame what the world has come to’ with the paparazzi surrounding his $1.1-million home that he would not even have without that very public attention. Now that the charade is over, maybe the remaining 30 percent of the viewers still watching will realize no one should be taking life advice from Jon or Kate. I won’t be lining up for an autographed book anytime soon.”

Critics echo similar sentiments.

Maggie, from the Gosselins Without Pity Web site, tells Us: “I cannot see how announcing your divorce on national television and continuing with the show is in any way putting your children first. I feel sorry for the family, but the parents seem very immature and selfish and far more concerned about their own personal needs than what eight little confused children require emotionally. I can’t believe TLC will keep running the show, but they will!”

Adds the Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik: “I wonder if [viewers] feel exploited by TLC selling ads and making millions of dollars out of a show announcing a divorce that will not only leave eight kids with a shattered family — but a video record of their family coming undone that will define them for the rest of their lives. I’m done with this sick carnival side show.”

The Los Angeles Times’ Jon Caramanica sarcastically wonders if the show will be renamed Jon Plus 8 when he’s in charge, and Kate Plus 8 when she has custody.

The show will never be the same, he goes on.

“Now that the Gosselins have formally initiated divorce proceedings, never again will the show’s title trigger a sense of optimism and possibility, only a burden that was probably impossible all along,” Caramanica writes.

Source

Production has been halted on Jon & Kate Plus 8 following the Gosselins’ Monday revelation they’re splitting up, the network has announced.

TLC says next Monday’s episode will feature a clip package with some new footage, but the next all-new episode won’t air until August 3, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Times says the decision came from the network — not the family.

Only six episodes of the 40-episode season have aired. Through tears on Monday’s show, Kate declared “the show must go on!”

Jon & Kate Plus 8 has become TLC’s highest-rated show. Its May premiere drew in 9.8-million viewers, a record for the network.

The Times says TLC does not have enough footage to put together new episodes because of the Gosselins’ marital turmoil, as documented by Us Weekly.

Episodes that were televised this season were often shot last-minute and even completed on the day of airing.

Source

Ten days after their 10th wedding anniversary, Jon and Kate Gosselin announced on their hit TLC reality show that they are splitting. Legal proceedings to dissolve their marriage began Monday.

“Kate and I have decided to separate,” a candid Jon announced, calling Monday’s episode his “hardest” show ever. “It’s just not good for us to be arguing in front of our kids. … We can’t be cordial with one another.”

While Kate said she is “not fond of the idea,” she knows it is “necessary.”

She said she will remain at their $1.1 million home in Reading, Pa., and “Jon will also come here when it is his days, and we will flip-flop that way.”

Subscribe to US Weekly!

Though she said this is not what she wants for their kids, “My goal is peace.” With tears in her eyes, she added, “If peace needs to be brought about by this, then I’m in agreement.”

Jon called the split “a shame,” adding, “I will always love her as the mother of my kids.”

“We’re not running away from them,” he said of their kids. “We’re just living our separate lives and coming back and being with them.”

Kate said she is trying to stay positive.

“There’s a lot of happiness in the past,” she said. “I hope that happiness continues. … You can find happiness if you look hard enough in any situation.”

As for the future of the show, they will continue to interview separately, as they have done so far this season. Jon – who has been eyeing apartments in New York City – said he doesn’t know if he’ll remain on the show, as he could get a new job. (“I’m only 32 years old,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.” He also said he is “excited” about starting a new chapter in his life.)LOTS MORE AFTER THE JUMP! (more…)

After months of speculation, the 10-year marriage of Jon & Kate Plus Eight’s stars Kate and Jon Gosselin appears to be coming to an end.

Documents to initiate a legal split were filed at the Bucks County Courthouse in Reading, Pa., Monday afternoon.

Fans who have watched the couple’s popular TLC show – or read the voluminous coverage of the Gosselin marriage in the press – will hardly be surprised: The duo had long maintained a tense relationship, with Jon recently telling PEOPLE he wanted a less high-profile life, while Kate appeared to remain committed to their TV career.

Source

In a new teaser video from Monday’s special hour-long episode of John & Kate Plus Eight, a teary Kate Gosselin says, “We haven’t really known where we were going but we’ve been dealing with this a long time.”

She can only be referring to the couple’s marital problems, which she and Jon addressed in the season 5 premiere of their show.

“It just got worse and worse and worse,” Jon said, “And with all the tabloids and all that, it just made it even worse.”

A promo for the show, which aired Wednesday, promised that the couple, who’ve been married for 10 years, will make an announcement.

“People think I’ve changed,” Jon says in the new teaser. “And I have changed. I’m now the person I know I am.”

“We can’t go back now. We can only go forward and that’s what we’re going to do,” Kate says. “And we’re going to learn a lot going forward and I know that we’ll all come out of this on the other side, hopefully stronger, better wiser.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Jon Gosselin returned to the home he shares with wife Kate and their eight children in Wernersville, Penn., on Friday – after a day of apartment hunting in New York City.

A source close to the situation has confirmed to People that Gosselin, 32, checked out property at Trump Place, a complex of high-rise residential buildings on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

“[Jon] has been going back and forth to New York a lot” a source tells People. The search for real estate (first reported on Gawker.com) comes in the wake of news from TLC that Monday’s episode of Jon & Kate Plus Eight – the reality show that made Jon and Kate Gosselin famous – will include a major announcement about the future of their family, fueling speculation the troubled couple may part ways.

“There’s definitely a lot of drama going on but from my understanding he’s doing fine,” the source said.

When Jon returned to the family home on Friday, he was driving a black BMW and seen smoking at the side of the residence. Kate , 34, left the home early in the day,while the kids were spotted playing in the yard, according to an eyewitness.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

In a new promo for the June 22 episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8, embattled couple Jon & Kate Gosselin reveal that they will make a life-changing announcement on the reality show’s next episode that “will affect every member of our family.”

“A family in turmoil,” “A relationship at a crossroads,” and “Where do they go from here?” are the phrases that flash across the screen.

A voiceover by Kate Gosselin says: “Recently, we’ve made some life-changing decisions – decisions that will affect every member of our family, ones that we hope will bring each of us some peace.”

The special one-hour episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 will air on TLC on Monday at 9 p.m. (EST/PST).