Rather silent and a bit of a loner, Joel Kevin Gosselin was born on May 10, 2004. Though he keeps to himself often, he can’t help but be brought to the spotlight. Together with his family, he has become a star of the TLC reality documentary Jon and Kate Plus 8.
The series is about the day to day life of a large family consisting of two parents and eight children. Her mother, Kate Gosselin, initially had a difficult time getting pregnant. She was met with infertility at first, leading her to undergo medical testing. She was later diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, urging the pair to seek fertility treatments. Soon, she underwent intrauterine insemination.
Soon, Jon and Kate Gosselin welcomed their firstborn – fraternal twins they named Cara and Mady, who were born six minutes apart. Three years later, the mother became pregnant once again. Five weeks went by and it was discovered in Kate Gosselin’s ultrasound that there were six sacs with seven embryos. They decided to go through with the operation, and the sextuplets were born on May 10, 2004 in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Joel then joined his family on TLC’s Jon and Kate Plus 8, along with his siblings: the twins Cara Nicole and Madelyn “Mady” Kate, then Leah Hope, Alexis Faith, Aaden Jonathan, Collin Thomas, and Hannah Joy. Also with them are the family’s two German Shepherds, Shooka and Nala.
On the fifth season of Jon and Kate Plus 8, the couple addressed their plans to separate and divorce. The show was going to be renamed Kate Plus 8, but Jon Gosselin decided the show was no longer good for his kids, so he put up notices that the cameras are not allowed on the property anymore. The series has since been cancelled, but he and his siblings have starred in their mom’s own reality show, Twist of Kate.