Jon and Kate Plus 8: Divorce Reality Style?
Rumors have it that Jon and Kate Plus 8 stars Jon and Kate Gosselin have hired divorce lawyers. If so, theirs will be America's first reality divorce to go down while the show a show is airing. No doubt the saga will continue generating the TLC channel's biggest ratings ever. But as the producers' profits continue to roll in as this train wreck of a marriage breaks down, what's at stake for Jon and Kate? Already accused by family members of "exploiting their kids" for fame and fortune, the money is really going to the hit fan if they head to divorce court.
Previous reality TV couples like Nick and Jessica, Britney and Kevin Federline, and Hulk Hogan and Linda all had marriages that hit the skids after their shows left the airwaves. But Jon and Kate are famous for raising eight little ones while showcasing their deteriorating marriage on camera. The feuding couple has been raking in real dough from sponsors, gifts, perks and fees and expects to earn much more as their popularity continues to soar. So the question arises, if the couple splits, how do they split their future earnings in real time?
A family member claims the Gosselins are worth $10 million. Even if the true figure is a quarter of that, figuring out how to slice this family pie without the couple tearing each other to pieces will not be easy. The couple's TV contract reportedly pays out $75,000 an episode. As current cash cows for TLC , Jon and Kate should certainly expect their paychecks to inflate as additional seasons advance. Plus there's bound to be income from additional book deals, TV contracts, and paid endorsements down the road. It's going to take a team of contract and divorce lawyers to divide the marital assets as the family jackpot and fame grows by the minute. This is the type of settlement deal that could take months if not years to hammer out.
Then comes alimony. Could Kate owe Jon a monthly maintenance check? After all, Jon played housewife while Kate was the bigger breadwinner. Her $20,000 speaking engagements, plus income from her book and autograph sales, make her the wealthier spouse. If a judge wants to make sure that income and assets are divided evenly, there may be a court-ordered role reversal. Jon could end up a kept man as he cashes Kate's alimony checks.
Another cost of a reality divorce is astronomical legal fees. Litigation would put a serious dent in the couple's paychecks. The more complicated the marital assets, the wealthier the spouses, and the more ferocious their fight, the bigger the legal bills. These feuding TV stars are a lawyer's dream clients -- virtually guaranteed to wage an expensive divorce battle as the attorneys and forensic accountants sort through the marital assets and hatch a workable plan where both sides would be willing to sign off.
The Gosselins would actually stay richer if they stayed together. But with their hatred bared before the cameras and their legal maneuverings behind-the-scenes, it seems like it's too late to save Jon and Kate.
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I hope they really work it out I love this family and watching their show if Kate would just relax and not be such a physico this could all be solved with a bottle of win and a few flowers! I included a link where I watch all the episodes I miss just in case anyone wants to check it out
http://jon-katepluseight.com
honestly i think its all stupid. if they want to get a divorce then thats there problem no one elses. i dont understand why everybody is going all crazy over this. there just like a normal family. there gunna have problems and obviously this is one they dont wanna fix or they cant fix. if they plan to get a divorce then they should. just because they have 8 kids doesnt mean they need to stay together. because then all it would be is drama and thats the worst thing you can put the kids through. i personally think that they should be able to make there own choise on how they want to live there life and not letting the world decided it for them. its not kate's fault and its not jon's they both planned to file a divorce. there like a normal family with normal problems. most families theses days are getting divorced because of some problem. so why bother and talk about this family like the way people are. its not right and they should be able to do what they think is RIGHT for THERE family.
And YOU know the children personally as well? Your comments are insulting. There is not one fact or verified source to substantiate the children are harmed or anything less than healthy and happy. What facts do you possess to prove your statement about children being "raised on TV"? Also, dear woman, someone can watch a reality show without being a voyuer. You should stop your yellow journalism and mudslinging of any type of comment in the hopes that something will stick.
Hoax! John went apartment shopping the week before the show? They filed for divorce the day before the big "announcement"? Not to mention, they don't seem at all upset. It all seems scripted... like they are trying to be sad while remembering what they are supposed to say. I refuse to believe this and I will not watch anymore!
If this is true... I am so sad for those children who will look back at this and wonder why their parents chose to expose every piece of their life and marriage to the world.
I am sorry to see that they have chosen to give up on thier family. I would think a better option would have been to go to counsling as indiviauls, a couple and a family. I think that would have been a better message to thier kids, than to give up on thier commitments after so little time.
Hopefully they will have time to reflect on their decision and see that a solution to stay together as a family would be the best option, but at least do not involve any more individauls in to the relationship. Stop thinking of just their selves and start think on what this does to the kids.
You would think, because there are eight children involved they would at least try marriage counceling first.
Oh, and there are not cameras in the house 24/7! Before they moved into the mansion where do you suppose they would have put all those people? Besides, that's a little creepy. They film a couple days a week. Whoever thinks otherwise doesn't grasp the reality tv concept or the process of television production.
This is getting really hard to watch! I think you're right though, divorce is what we're in for tomorrow night. At the very least we have a separation finally being discussed.
But I think what most strikes me, is the difference between men and women in divorce. I just wrote an article about it here: http://www.betterwaymoms.com/articles/jon-and-kates-announcement
The other thing that's still so hard to watch is seeing these two be so horrible to each other. They loved each other once, we know they did...
Jon and Kate i know it's hard dealing with life it self and to have to deal with people in yours. We all have hard times and need to come up with a way to make life easy, u found a way to help your family . We all love to see the show but don't let the show tear your family apart. When the show wasn't there I'm sure you all had differences but you worked it out. The same way you worked it out then you can do it again. People love to see drama and talk. look! at the end of the day those kids are going to suffer you as adults can deal but the kids not going to understand why this is going on with mom and dad. Turn the cameras off and put your lives back together just Jon and Kate with your eight beautiful kids.no one else.
Check this out Jon and Kate have new neighbors....Look out TLC fans!
PAINT MISBEHAVIN'
NETWORK PREMIERE - Thursday June 25th @ 10pm on TLC
Steve Flanagan and his merry band team of "paintsters" build the cop car of the future, hoping to change the face of law enforcement with the flip of a switch. And, the team and their fireproof paint get a baptism of fire-straight out of a Hollywood movie.
Current Listings:
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Fri 6/26 12:00-1:00am TLC
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Doesn't anybody fact check anymore? Or do they let us - the rabble - do it for them? Kudos to my fellow HuffPosters for pointing out that this has all happened before on PBS in the early '70s. I watched parts of "An American Family" and was appalled that people would do that. I vowed never to watch that sort of thing again. I've kept that promise.
I think a Simpson's quote is apt here: Lisa complains that, even thought she's watching The Learning Channel, "I'm not learning anything". 'nuff said.
The Depression had the Dionne Quintuplets;
We got these yahoos. Doesn't seem fair, somehow.
I'm glad I never watched, and never plan to.
The children are healthy and happy and beautiful. We love them, that's why we watch the show. We don't know they are getting divorced, that is just tabloid sensationalism...it increases the viewership.
See Tallulah Morehead's Profile
"The children are healthy and happy"
You know the children personally, and are around them in real life to know this for a fact?
Or are you just some voyeur watching their TV show, and accepting what is carefully presented to you as though it were real?
Being raised on TV, even with good, caring parents, is bad for kids. But then, good, caring parents would keep their kids OFF of TV.
Wise woman, Tallulah.
Since Kate rhymes with 8, I'm guessing Jon gets the short end of the reality stick. I mean, you could replace Jon with almost any name and it still works. Rush and Kate plus 8, Newt and Kate plus 8 or even Hannity and Kate plus 8. The possibilities are endless.
Kate and Hannity plus Insanity?
See Tallulah Morehead's Profile
"Kate and Jon, and the Realty Show Con"
Works for me.
Jon and Kate: Regurgitate
Doesn't this spate of divorces and other problems (including death) tell us something?
I don't think it's good for your mental health to be on TV 24/7..
Please folks, these kids are nothing more than the modern equivalent of the Dionne Quintuplets: with every moment videotaped for the cameras and shown pretty 24/7 every where. The show went from being fairly sweet to this train wreck because the parents seem to be greedy. Did they really NEED a 1.1 MILLION mansion? $1,600/day bodyguard for the wife? Will these poor kids ever see a PENNY of the money their childhood's earned? Not to mention, if we're seeing the birth mother on every magazine and news show or out signing autographs, and the birth father is out drinking - who IS REALLY PARENTING THOSE KIDS? Paid help. Sad, sad, sad. ALL CHILDREN IN ENTERTAINMENT - whether scripted or not - need the SAME compensations across the board in all 50 states - as California enacted, along with a new version of "Coogan's Law" to protect their earnings. FREE THE GOSSELIN EIGHT!!!!
See Tallulah Morehead's Profile
"ALL CHILDREN IN ENTERTAINMENT - whether scripted or not - need the SAME compensations across the board in all 50 states - as California enacted, along with a new version of "Coogan's Law" to protect their earnings. "
Ah, a SANE comment. You are very correct.
Ms. Morehead, I am honored to be recognized. But yes, my soapbox has been for these kids to have PROTECTIONS, whether Jon and Kate's brood or the poor kids they mess with on "WifeSwap" - these are emotional shows, privacy is not given, and of course worse of all is the parents' profiting off the kids.
California had to enact "Coogan's Law" after Jackie Googan was bilked. Plus even though I am not a fan of Denise Richards, at least since she is California with her twaffle of a reality show the kids are being monitored and compensated - but it shouldn't just be because of what state they are in. It should be NATIONWIDE.
I shudder to think of the years of therapy for these kids, their parents have already outspent (on surface anyway) a majority of their earnings - those kids didn't beg for a mansion, or mommy's tummy tuck - any of it. Yet the parents CLAIM that the kids get to choose - BOGUS! The mother wouldn't even let them name "their" dogs. I hate to think of the emotional blackmail those eight kids are going through.
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