Entertainment

20 Pics That Show How Much Kate Gosselin's Kids Have Changed

EntertainmentPublished Jun 3, 2023
By Kayla Boyd
Kate Gosselin, Cara Gosselin, Mady GosselinGetty Images

It's hard to believe that TLC's hit show Jon & Kate Plus 8 premiered more than 15 years ago. (Yes, we are really that old.) The first episode aired on April 10, 2007, and it soon became a network favorite, with millions of people tuning in to see just how the heck Kate Gosselin and her husband managed life with eight children. Although things didn't work out between Jon Gosselin and Kate (to say the least) — resulting in one of the most contentious celebrity custody battles we've ever seen — fans still remained invested in the Gosselins as individuals and, of course, with their kids. With a set of twins and a set of sextuplets, this family definitely never has a dull moment.

Eventually, the reality show became Kate Plus 8, and it allowed us to see how single mom Kate handled her full house on her own. Through the years, a lot has changed, resulting in Jon eventually getting full custody of Hannah and Collin, and though the relationships between many members of the family do remained fractured, for the first time in a long time, it seems there's hope for these siblings to reconnect.

In the years since their reality TV career, many of the Gosselin kids have led much more private lives, so we don't often get regular updates on them. What we do know is that Mady and Cara are now in their 20s, and the famous sextuplets have graduated from high school and ready to take the world by storm as they strike out on their own for the very first time.

Now that we have seen them in the spotlight for so many years, we dug up images of them from when they were little to compare them to what they look like now — and wow, have they grown!

More from CafeMom: 16 Times Jon & Kate Gosselin Faced Legal Trouble

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Madelyn Gosselin (Then)
Madelyn Gosselin/IMDb

Madelyn Gosselin (Then)

Madelyn Gosselin, or Mady, was born on October 8, 2000. She's technically Kate and Jon's second-oldest child, and she's a fraternal twin. When she made her first TV appearance, she was only 6, so it might be safe to say she doesn't quite remember a time before she was on reality TV. We've loved watching her grow up — just look at that adorable face!

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Madelyn Gosselin (Now)

Now, Mady is super grown up. She's a full-blown adult and a college graduate — we can't believe how quickly this happened. Here, she's taking a selfie that her mom posted, and we can hardly deal with the fact that this is the same little girl we used to watch on Jon & Kate Plus 8. She looks so mature, and from what she posts on Instagram, it's clear she's already coming into her own.

3/20

She's Graduating From College

Although we know it had to be an emotional time for Mady and Kate, college seems to have been great for Mady, because it was the first time she was living independently from her mom and her other siblings, twin Cara included. Now that she's graduating, who knows what's next for her?

4/20

She's Built Up a TikTok Following

More than 229,000 people follow Mady on her TikTok account, where she shares videos from her daily life (and even sometimes goes live with some of her sisters). This video from her graduation from Syracuse University is too sweet. We still remember when she was a little kid on TLC!

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Cara Gosselin (Then)
kateplusmy8/Instagram

Cara Gosselin (Then)

Cara Gosselin was also born on October 8, 2000. She's Mady's twin and the oldest sibling in the bunch. She was also only 6 when we first saw her on her family's show, but since then, she's grown and changed so much — though we can still totally see this cute little girl in her when we look at photos of her today. Through it all, it appears Cara and Mady have totally had each other's backs.

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Cara Gosselin (Now)

Now that the twins are much older, they look even more different — but then again, they've really come into their own as individuals over the last few years. Cara chose to attend a different college from her sister, going to Fordham University, and has remained pretty private since, so we don't get to see her very often.

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Aaden Gosselin (Then)
kateplusmy8/Instagram

Aaden Gosselin (Then)

Aaden is the third-born sextuplet. He and his siblings were born on May 10, 2004, so they were only toddlers when we first met them. He was so cute! We can't get over that adorable smile and those glasses — it's no wonder so many people loved to tune in every week to see what he and his siblings were up to. Those tots were totally irresistible at the time, so what's Aaden up to now?

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Aaden Gosselin-placeholder
Aaden Gosselin
madygosselin/TikTok

Aaden Gosselin (Now)

Now, Aaden is now 19 and officially a high school graduate, along with his sextuplet siblings. He also happened to be the smallest of the sextuplets when he was born, but even so, he's thrived, even as a little kid. He's kept his life pretty private since the show, but he did surface all grown up in this TikTok video posted by big sister Mady.

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Leah Gosselin (Then)
Team Gosselin/Splash News

Leah Gosselin (Then)

Leah was the fifth-born sextuplet. She's always been known as the "little princess" of the group, and looking at photos like this, it's easy to see why. Like her other brothers and sisters, she was totally adorable — we can hardly handle those buns on her head or her tiny little sandals! But this photo is from a long time ago, so what is Leah up to today? A lot has changed since then …

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Leah Gosselin-placeholder
Leah Gosselin
madygosselin/TikTok

Leah Gosselin (Now)

Here's an updated picture of Leah from one of Mady's TikTok videos. In fact, TikTok is the only place you'll see her most of the time these days, including one time that she went live with some of her sisters. She's so grown up now!

More from CafeMom: Kate Gosselin's Net Worth: How Much the Fallen Reality Star Once Earned

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Hannah Gosselin (Then)
Donna Svennevik/Getty Images

Hannah Gosselin (Then)

Hannah was the second-born sextuplet. Growing up, she always acted mature for her age, and she liked to help Kate out as much as possible. As far as we can tell, that part of her personality has never changed. From what we know of her now, she still seems to be the kind, sweet person she's been since she was a kid — and even though she's much older, she still looks so much like the little girl she once was.

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Hannah Gosselin (Now)

Fast forward to 2023, and Hannah is a totally different person. She's 19 years old and ended up living with dad Jon for the end of her high school career after he gained full custody of her and brother Collin. Recently, she has been able to reconnect with her mom and siblings after being estranged from them following the custody battle.

13/20

Living With Her Dad

After a very public and very long custody battle, Hannah ended up with her dad, and since then, she seems to be doing better than ever. In fact, she even launched her own company, Gosselin Girl Beauty, and her next stop is college at the University of Miami.

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Alexis Gosselin (Then)
kateplusmy8/Instagram

Alexis Gosselin (Then)

Alexis is the first-born sextuplet. She's funny, silly, and has always loved to play with her brothers, and hopefully, she never loses those qualities, no matter how old she gets. Here, she's doing the classic nose-pressed-against-glass silly face so many kids love to create. Even though she had a much different childhood than most children, she still acted like any other little girl her age.

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Alexis Gosselin-placeholder
Alexis Gosselin
madygosselin/TikTok

Alexis Gosselin (Now)

Alexis reportedly had some trouble in school back in 2010, but she seems to be doing well now. Here she is in a TikTok video posted by Mady (the same one that featured Leah and Aaden), looking like a total adult at 19.

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Joel Gosselin (Then)
kateplusmy8/Twitter

Joel Gosselin (Then)

Joel was the last sextuplet born and the youngest sibling in the family. We wonder if Kate sees him as her baby. He definitely looked more like a baby in this photo than he does today, that's for sure. Look at that adorable smile! Here, he's posing with the family's bird, Zorro, and his mom explained in her tweet that Joel had been Zorro's jungle gym of choice that day. Too cute!

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Joel Gosselin
madygosselin/TikTok

Joel Gosselin (Now)

We never get to see Joel online — not that we blame him if he wants a little privacy after so many years of growing up on TV. Every so often, he does show up on his sister's TikTok, like he did in this video of the family enjoying time outdoors (and playing Uno) together.

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Collin Gosselin (Then)-placeholder
Collin Gosselin (Then)
Donna Svennevik/Getty Images

Collin Gosselin (Then)

Collin is the fourth-born sextuplet. Fans have seen Collin the least because he spent time away at a facility for children with special needs. There was a lot of debate about whether that was the right choice for him (and we certainly didn't get to hear much about what Collin might have thought about it at the time) but eventually, he emerged again, and we're so glad he did.

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Collin Gosselin (Now)

Although Collin was absent for much of the end of Kate Plus 8, he did manage to make some rare appearances on the show and on social media. Once he left the care facility he was staying in and moved in with Jon, he seemed to be much happier. As far as we can tell, Collin has had a much rougher time than his siblings, but that also means we've seen how strong he is, too.

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He's Thriving With His Dad

It definitely hasn't been an easy time for Collin, and we can't imagine that his dad's extremely tense custody battle with his mom made things any better. But ultimately, Collin was able to live with Jon full time when he was awarded custody of him. Since then, Collin has enlisted in the military and seems to have a bright future ahead of him.

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