The Jon and Kate Gosselin smackdown entered another round Thursday when the divorced couple traded more barbs in the media, this time over their twin teens' fiasco on the "Today" show.
Kate Gosselin got some serious flak from her ex Thursday after she appeared on the "Today" show with 13-year-old twin daughters, Mady and Cara, to
expand on a People magazine interview from earlier this month.
But things didn't go as planned when the girls
clammed up and barely spoke, making for an awkward and uncomfortable segment.
Urgent: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll
Jon Gosselin, who starred with his family — which includes 9-year-old sextuplets — on
TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8," called in to TMZ Thursday to say he felt his ex-wife manipulated their children into participating in the interview.
"I felt upset. I was laying there with [girlfriend] Liz [Jannetta] and we were like, 'Say something girls. Come on! Just say something. Anything.' And they didn't say anything and we were like, 'Ugh, this is horrible,'" he said. "Then I felt really bad. I mean, I didn't care too much for Kate or whatever, but I felt really bad for Mady and Cara because I love them and they're just put in this situation. It was like deer in the headlights."
"It just kind of proves my point of Kate bringing the kids out instead of her just sort of doing it herself," he said. "It all blew up in everyone's face and I feel horrible for my children because now they're going to have to deal with the public."
Gosselin said he could tell his daughters felt conflicted.
"By body language they were probably like, 'What's the moral thing to do and what does my mom want me to do?' They were torn and they just shutdown," he said. "It was just a classic case of being silent. You get to a point where you are like, 'I don't know who to please. Do I please myself or do I please my parents — or my mother?'"
Kate Gosselin, meanwhile, played off the awkward "Today" interview with some lighthearted tweets.
Jon Gosselin currently appears on VH1's "Couples Therapy" with Jannetta. The show airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Editor's Note: ObamaCare Is Here. Are You Prepared?
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.