After the 2006 special Surviving Sextuplets and Twins , millions of viewers gladly accepted TLC 's invitation to check in more regularly with Jon Gosselin , his wife Kate Gosselin and their eight kids. Jon & Kate Plus 8 was a strangely captivating hit upon its premiere in 2007, the how- do -they-make-it-work family dynamic being the initial draw. However, then the draw became the fact that the titular couple were not making it work , and the Gosselins' marital issues and eventual divorce in 2009 was one of the biggest can't-look-away stories of the late-aughts.
But forever joining Jon and Kate is their eight: Twins Mady and Cara , born Oct. 8, 2000, and sextuplets Alexis , Aaden , Collin , Hannah , Leah and Joel , born May 10, 2004. The quick math you did (and then redid, because that outrageous number couldn't be right) is correct.
Mady and Cara, who were 6 when the TLC show premiered, are now 23-year-old college graduates and their little siblings are 20. And though the Gosselins haven't had their own show in years, the drama never stopped. The post-split series Kate Plus 8 was first canceled in 2011 and then brought back for three seasons between 2015 and 2017, though not always featuring all eight kids.
Kate, who got full legal custody of the children in the divorce, shared in August 2016 that Collin had "special needs" and was enrolled in a program away from home that was more suited to his "educational and social challenges." His absence left "a huge hole" in the family.
