Jon Gosselin says he wouldn’t recognize his eldest daughters, twins Madelyn and Cara, if he passed by them in public.
The “Jon & Kate Plus 8” alum called the duo “strangers” during Tuesday’s episode of the “Legally Goff” podcast while reflecting on not seeing the 26-year-olds “in, like, forever.”
He claimed to have been “alienated” from their lives by ex-wife Kate Gosselin since they were 13, explaining, “Alienation [as in] silence. I’ve never heard their voice. One day, I was an active, everyday parent … and I was just cut out of their lives.”
“I don’t care if they call me an asshole or whatever,” Jon, 49, said. “I just want some kind of response. Just text me or message me. At least I’ll know … walking around for 13 years not knowing has pretty much eaten my soul away.”
The DJ, who “has nightmares” about what Madelyn and Cara believe about him, called the distance “upsetting” and “gut-wrenching.”
He pointed out, “I missed graduations. I missed proms. I don’t know anything about my twins — if they have boyfriends or girlfriends, or what favorite color they have now, if they drive a car. I know nothing.”
Jon added, “I wouldn’t be able to pick them out in the street. I have pictures of them, but I still wouldn’t be able to pick them out on the street. That’s how much I haven’t seen them.”
The former IT technician is also estranged from four of his 22-year-old sextuplets, having relationships with Collin and Hannah but not Leah, Alexis, Aaden or Joel.
He speculated that his adult children “believe the narrative of TLC, that [he’s] a s–tbag and that [he] doesn’t want to see them.”
Alleging Kate previously told him and Collin that they each “didn’t want to see” each other, Jon said, “I believe that’s exactly what she said to Madelyn and Cara. That’s their mother, they believed her and that was it. And the same thing with the other four.”
He, however, doesn’t “blame them,” claiming his kids “live in fear.”
Jon has been divorced from Kate since 2009, at which point the former nurse was granted primary physical custody of all eight kids.
By 2018, however, Jon had obtained custody of Hannah and Collin, the latter of whom had been in a behavioral health institution for nearly two years prior.
Collin has lashed out at his mom in a slew of interviews over the years, most recently accusing her of abuse — which she has denied — in his October memoir, “In the Shadow of Eight.”
While promoting the tell-all, he issued an emotional message to his estranged siblings.
“I love them very much, and I want them to know that what was done to us as children is not normal,” Collin told Page Six in an exclusive interview.
Jon, similarly, shared his own desperate plea with “Entertainment Tonight” last month, saying, “I hope you understand that I still love you. I hope one day you reach out to me.
“And please read your brother’s book because I think that will explain a lot,” he said. “Be your own person. You are all adults now.”
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Madelyn, Cara, Aaden, Leah, Joel and Alexis have remained primarily out of the public eye in recent years, aside from Kate giving rare social media glimpses.
In 2023, Madelyn made headlines for gushing over her “amazing” siblings, insisting they are not “damaged” and “crazy child stars.”
She told her TikTok followers, “They are all smart, they are all kind, they’re driven students, they’re working hard, they’re funny, they’re stylish.”