He's going through a messy public divorce, TLC wants his moolah, and the media slams him day after day. Finally, Jon Gosselin is ready to admit he needs advice!
Jon stopped by Central Synagogue in New York City for the "This World on the Values Network" event on Sunday. The troubled reality TV star asked the panel for some tips. "Obviously I'm going through a divorce. It's pretty public." He asked, "What two or three values can I use to raise good kids?"
The panel included author Elie Wiesel, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.
Shmuley answered Gosselin. "It's great to walk down the street and people recognize you, but you have a good heart and you've got 8 kids and I've got 9 kids and that's one of the reasons we can bond." He added, "We have to raise good kids. As I always say, 'Are you really a success in life if the people who mean most to you think the least of you?'"
Rabbi Shmuley tells "Extra" he believes Jon has a "very good heart" and he's "just losing his bearings in this world of celebrity." The rabbi wants to "help him find his moral center."
In October 2009, Kate said, “I'm saddened and confused by Jon's public media statements.”
“It appears that Jon's priority is Jon and his interests. My priority remains our children and their well-being.”
“We film it separately,” Jon admitted. "She has her film crew. And I have my film crew.
In September 2009 Jon said, “I can't sit on the sofa with that woman. I can't sit on the couch next to someone I despise… I despise her because she's not speaking from the heart.”
“While I certainly have a very different perception of how our marriage dissolved, for the sake of my children I maintain that I'm not going to go into details of aspects I believe should remain private.” Kate's statement to ABC regarding how she feels about revealing her personal life with Jon.
I Used to Have a Ring on It
Jon also slams his ex for using her wedding ring. “I think she still wears the ring for public perception,” he said. “I don't wear my ring because she took my ring. I don't have it.” Jon added, "So I laid it down one night. It was gone.
Jon revealed on “Good Morning America” that their marriage “will never be fixed.”
“I didn't leave Kate for Hailey. People think I left Kate for Hailey… because of the time frame and what they printed in the tabloids. You can't control who you love. I strongly believe that. You cannot control that. It's two people joined together.”
Jon admits in a September interview with ABC that he will always “love Kate as the mother of my kids. But to tell you right now, at this point of what's going on, I do not love Kate.”
After being photographed with a few different females in the media, Jon had this to say, “Like most people, I have male and female friends and I'm not going to end my friendships just because I'm on TV.”
Jon tells TLC's cameras “People think I've changed, and I have changed, but I'm now the person I know I am.”
“I don't trust her anymore,” Jon tells reporter Chris Cuomo of ABC. “I was abused… I'm not going back to that lifestyle.”
Kate told CBS in an interview, “He does not want to be married to me anymore.” Kate said it was not she who initiated the divorce.
In an interview with ABC, Jon said, “Well, excuse me, I'm taking care of the kids. She's on book tours, she's doing all these things. You know, she's gone a week. You know, comes back. Packs up and leaves again. I'm standing there like, 'Oh, OK. Your mom's gone again…”
Kate told CBS cameras, “This is a situation that absolutely would have happened whether the cameras were here or not. I don't want people thinking we traded marriage for fame. Ever.”
In an ABC interview, Jon said Kate deliberately “separated” him from his mother and brothers."
Jon said, “I was beaten down so long, I couldn't even make a decision for myself.”
Jon says Hailey Glassman, daughter of Kate's plastic surgeon, is someone he loves more than he did Kate — and that she shows him “love and respect” as Kate never did.