The Gosselins Need to Fade Away

Jon and Kate Gosselin might be the biggest WTF? in reality television history. After their show turned from Jon & Kate Plus 8 to just Kate Plus 8 in 2009 and then dismally wrapped in 2011, they kind of fell off the radar. But it seems like the drama has been bubbling under the surface for the former couple — Kate Gosselin is suing ex-husband Jon Gosselin for stealing information from her phone and hard drive to write a tell-all book. (This isn't the first of the Gosselins' legal troubles, though — they have been embroiled in legalese since their divorce, and have been investigated for violating child labor laws.) All this just a couple of weeks after Kate Gosselin and her crew of kids gave an emotional interview to People magazine, of course.

The Gosselins' story is so sad because it involves a whole slew of kids — usually when people ride the fame wave on TV and it turns them cuckoo for cocoa puffs, it's pretty fun to watch. See: every Real Housewife of Anywhere. But because of the Plus Eight, Jon and Kate's now 12-year old twins Mady and Kara, and their 9-year old sextuplets, Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Collin, Leah and Joel, their devolution was particularly depressing.

Jon Gosselin splashed across the cover of tabloids allegedly cheating on his wife with buxom coeds? Not that surprising for reality TV fare — but the fact that their kids were watching is just heartbreaking. Early episodes of Jon & Kate Plus 8 are so quiet and normal — Kate talks about the babies in the NICU and Jon works IT. Now, Kate is a former Dancing With the Stars and Wife Swap alum?! Jon Gosselin retreated back to live in the woods to escape the hounding paparazzi after news of his affairs broke? It seems like the kids have been pushed to the back burner, and that's really going to cause them some problems down the line.

Kate Gosselin has every right to sue her ex-husband for identity theft and whatever other privacy invasion he may have committed but given Kate's hunger for fame, it seems she might just be litigious to stay in the spotlight. I wish she'd just fade into anonymity so her kids could stop seeing their parents as crazy reality TV caricatures and more as just their parents.