It seems like the cast of Kate Plus Eight is missing more than just Jon Gosselin. Whatever happened to Aunt Jodi, who was featured on Jon & Kate Plus 8 back in the day? Her house always seemed like a refreshing environment for the Gosselin clan. Have they moved away from Kevin and Jodi's neighborhood? Did their family not renew their contract with TLC, thereby condemning family visits to be, dare I say it, off camera? It's a lot worse than that, actually. By all accounts, Jodi and Kevin Kreider are estranged from Kate Gosselin and her children. In January 2014, Kate Gosselin's sister Kendra Wilber spoke out about their lack of a relationship with the famous family to The Daily Mail.
“My sister-in-law Jodi [Kreider] and I get talking about the past and we don’t understand what she’s thinking. When the kids get old enough are they going to come and try to find us? I hope so... What are we going to tell them? We’ll have to tell them we tried to get hold of their mom, we tried to be part of their life, but we weren’t allowed to be. We didn’t leave her, she left us.”
This is such sad news! There's been no word from Jodi or Kevin themselves over the past couple of years. However, that doesn't mean they've stayed entirely out of the spotlight. In 2009, the Kreiders allegedly corroborated the report that Kate Gosselin offered her husband an open marriage instead of a divorce so that they could keep up appearances on the TLC reality series, according to Starcasm.
Then, in 2010, Kevin and Jodi Kreider testified against the Gosselins over a child labor law dispute. They spoke to CBS News about this a year prior to the trial, saying that the Gosselin children were being exploited and commodified by their strict filming schedules and insisted that laws needed to be put in place to protect underage reality television stars as shows like Jon & Kate Plus 8 became more and more popular. This was the primary concern in the Kreiders' testimony as well. This sparked a media "feud" between Kate Gosselin and her brother Kevin. As far as any current seasons of Kate Plus 8 on TLC go, we haven't seen the Aunt and Uncle since.
In case you need a refresher on what a villain Aunt Jodi was on Jon & Kate Plus 8, here is a classic clip covering the epic fallout after Jodi gives the kids gum. Gum!
Kiss your bear goodbye, Collin. The organic peanut butter didn't help. That poor little teddy bear. It's not his fault! I'm joking, of course, about Jodi being anything like a reality show villain. Kevin and Jodi's house wasn't always a scandal-filled environment. In fact, it was usually a drama-free dreamscape. Here are the twins baking with Aunt Jodi and her four kids.
It's really kind of sad to think that the Gosselins' relationship with the Kreiders isn't what it was then. I can only hope that Kevin and Jodi are doing well, and wish them the best with their deservedly quiet life.
Image: TLC
