Why does America hate Kate Gosselin of “Jon & Kate Plus 8” so vehemently? Yes, she has a horrible haircut – it resembles a beaver that had a bad encounter with a lawn mower and a bottle of Sun-In – but that doesn’t explain the public’s obsession with her personal life. All summer, I saw her scowling from the covers of US Weekly, In Touch and People, usually behind a pair of expensive sunglasses with her silver-haired bodyguard and alleged lover in tow.
Now that we can’t afford to shop, indulging in “Kate Hate” has become the new national female pastime. She is the Paris Hilton of 2009, the woman America loves to hate, famous for her apparent disregard for any reality beyond television cameras.
When the Gosselins’ separation was first announced, I indulged in a little “Kate Hate”myself, blaming her passive-aggressive nature and emotional castration of her husband for the split. So what if he may have cheated on her? She should have expected that, saddling him with the burden of eight young children when he was 27. She wanted to try in vitro fertilization (which eventually led to the two sets of multiples), she made him agree to the reality show, she got a free tummy tuck, she got a free vacation, she’s sleeping with the bodyguard and she keeps his gonads in a jar underneath her pillow. What a shrew!
Kate Gosselin’s Aug. 10 appearance on the “Today” show began to change my mind. Her declaration that she still loves the Jon she knew brought Jon’s transformation to the forefront. Kate might have changed since the first season, but the more dramatic change has been in Jon. He might be hamming for the paparazzi that follow him, but his recent escapades in the south of France and appearances with famous jerks Christian Audigier and Michael Lohan seem distasteful to me. Sure, his wife may have signed their family up for a reality show, but she never openly courted the tabloid press in the same manner. I refuse to believe that his dinner at a New York City restaurant with a Star magazine reporter was supposed to be private. Now that Jon appears to have picked reality celebrity over reality father, who am I supposed to blame for the mess they made of their very public lives?
Kate receives a lot of negative attention for her on-camera demeanor, and it used to come off as cold. But now I see her as determined. Often criticized for her complaining about the attention given her family while seeming to court such attention on screen, Kate described the show as a career – which is true: The Gosselin brand is among the most popular, endearing and enduring on TV. Most reality shows are transitory competitions among good-looking adults that stay on the air for a few months and then disappear. Jon and Kate, plus their delightful children, are on the vanguard of a new lifestyle: the first American reality-show family. Their lives have been documented and brought into our living rooms and dens, and, for many viewers, our hearts. The premise of the show – watch a family grow – means that it could be on air forever. The Gosselin children could, theoretically, become teenagers and adults on camera.
While Jon gallivants around the Hamptons with his young girlfriend and fellow reality show “friends,” selling himself for fame, Kate is working. Working 24/7 to support her family in the only way she, and the kids, know how – on camera. I’ll keep watching, hating myself for buying into the idea that I have a personal invitation into their lives, and hoping that one day the twins and the sextuplets look back on their early years and thank their parents for the opportunities they have received instead of sending them their therapy bill and a healthy dose of blame.
Whitney McAniff is a sophomore in the College. She can be reached at [email protected]. The 52 Percent appears every other Tuesday.
