Kate+Gosselin

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 * Biography and Preface:** Kate Gosselin resides in Reading Pennsylvania, a small town area where reality television life took over unexpectedly for her and her family. Gosselin is a reality television star, who became famous very fast, almost overnight with her show “John and Kate Plus 8“. Before reality TV stardom, Kate was a nurse of a modest background. As in many celebrities who become famous quickly, Kate’s fame changed her life financially and she also soaked up all the attention she received from others. Kate has not always acted in a way that benefits her family, and she has become more arrogant as time went on and her fame grew. Kate Gosselin is raising a large family, and sometimes did not have a partner she could trust at all times. Her life was probably very difficult and complicated so I am sympathizing with Kate on this basis. Kate also went through a very difficult divorce, with which the police were called on the two of the parents multiple occasions because their arguments became out of control. Kate was also dealing with the fact that her partner was already moved on to other women and so this may have made her act out even more than she already had been. The media does not always shed light on Kate in a forgiving manner, many times they make her look like a crazy ex-wife who drove John away. Unfortunately, this atmosphere that John and Kate put their children through at times, could in no way be healthy for the children. In fact two of their children have been getting in trouble in elementary school, including being expelled and accused of bullying other children. It is clear that this constantly complicated family life is harmful to these children.


 * Behaviorist Perspective:** It must be very difficult for Kate to live in the spotlight all the time (Gonzalez, 2010), to be constantly criticized for her actions, to be called a bad parent to her eight children and to get through the complications in her life all at the same time. I still would consider Kate’s personality a neurotic one, even though the way she behaves could be caused by the difficult times she has been facing in the past few years. It is hard for people not to criticize the way that Kate behaves and especially toward her own children. However, if people were to take into account how stressful and complicated her life has to be on a daily basis they may reconsider all the harsh judgments. She has been let down and betrayed by her ex-husband which could have led to her bahvioral tendencies. As Kate has become alienated from her husband, it becomes difficult for her to maintain her normal behaviors towards her family. Many critics of reality television, and of her show specifically seem to think that fame went to her head. Gosselin has been found treating herself to things such as tanning, tummy tuck surgery, manicures and pedicures ("Kate gosselin is," 2011). In the aspects of parenting, Gosselin has been known for trying to save as much money as possible. This is just one example of why Kate has been described as self-centered, and even labeled as a “bad parent”. Recently Gosselin has been seen bringing her children’s unused clothing to a consignment shop, which stirred up the media because many found it unusual that she would try to make money off their used clothing instead of using them as donations, which is a common thing to do in many families; and especially from a family that makes enough money to not need the extra cash to get by ("Kate gosselin sued," 2011). Kate was also recently sued by her marriage counselor that was used during their marriage because there was a high amount of unpaid bills from earlier on in the marriage that had been left even after they stopped visiting the counselor ("Kate gosselin sued," 2011). It seems as though Kate’s personality has remained the same throughout the show, however her behaviors changed dramatically over the years of being a reality television star. As ““John and Kate Plus 8” got further into their seasons, the couple began to disagree more often, and these turned into full on arguments many times and the children were around this more and more. In the beginning, Kate and John would try to at least pretend to get along in front of their children, but as time wore on the fights were less concealed between themselves. Some could argue that Kate’s neurotic personality may have been what drove her husband away from her; her over-controlling parenting and micromanaging his whole life may have been too much for him to handle. From the behaviorist perspective though, you can think of Kate's behaviors as reactions to the complications and struggles she has gone through with her family life.


 * Trait Perspective:** I would classify Kate Gosselin as a neurotic personality type, despite the fact that her lifestyle may cause more neurotic tendencies, I think that Kate already has a personality type which tends to be more neurotic. She shows this in her many episodes of “John and Kate Plus 8” and her more recent showings on “Dancing with the Stars”, and on the many interviews she has made guest appearance on since her quick fame began. Appearing to be cheap and uncaring towards her children on her show often times, many viewers criticize Kate for her behaviors on screen and off. Kate shows her neuroticism in her high amount of tension and anxiety. In her reality television show “John and Kate Plus 8” Kate’s personality is revealed and many viewers see her as a hyper-controlling parent, who lets her husband make no decisions on their parenting. Kate has high amounts of emotional instability; often she has screamed at her children on set and cuts off John when he tries to get a word in. Kate seeks perfection in all aspects of her life, and shows this during the whole running of “John and Kate Plus 8”. One instance is when Kate’s father donated baby cribs to the family when the sextuplets were born, Kate was unhappy with the fact that these cribs were not matching and so she became angry with her father. Kate’s family has said that they have not been the same ever since this fight over matching cribs occurred ("Kate gosselin fired," 2009). Kate’s extreme perfectionism makes her not as likeable in the eyes of other people. Kate is judged by people in the media as being arrogant, selfish and conceited. It has become hard to defend Kate against these judgments when she behaves in ways that make her seem like she is all about the money, and not concerned with the welfare of her own children ("Kate gosselin fired," 2009).


 * Discussion:** Another positive view of Kate Gosselin’s behaviors in her show can be attributed to the fact that she is trying to make enough money to support her large family. Without this show, she would not be able to support her children and so her neurotic and sometimes crazy actions may be a way for her to keep her show going, stay famous as long as possible and continue to make enough money to keep her family going financially. Kate wrote a book recently; about herself, parenting her family and her personal struggles (Gonzalez, 2010)--this may have been another tactic that she used to bring in more money; whatever the plan was it did work out financially for the Gosselins when she wrote that book. “Kate Plus 8” has returned back to TLC last April 2010 after taking a break from the show during the divorcing complications. Kate is back at it again, making money off of her children seems to be a success and so she will continue this business for as long as she can. This is not to say that Kate Gosselin does not have a neurotic personality type, because I find that she shows this in her everyday appearances on television. You can see this neuroticism come out in Kate when she and John discuss their parenting methods on their show. In the majority of the episodes, Kate is the one controlling John, making all the shots and not being emotionally stable in her relationship with her husband. In her “Dancing with the Stars” debut, her dancing partner stated that she was very difficult to work with and acted too controlling for his liking. Kate seems to be low in openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness. Although she does have some aspects of an extroverted personality; which seems to be a must for a reality television star. Her personality seems to be stable in that she maintains her neurotic behaviors in and out of her shows.

Gonzalez, Maria. (2010, april 18). Kate gosselin news roundup: on keeping the fame and losing that seventh baby. //John and Kate Plus 8//, Retrieved from []
 * References:**

Kate gosselin fired 40 staffers in 3 months. (2009, May 20). //US Weekly//, Retrieved from []

Kate gosselin is nice to her kids to boost ratings. (2011, april 21). //INF Daily//, Retrieved from []

Kate gosselin sued for $10,000 by former marriage counselor. (2011, april 11). //INF Daily//, Retrieved from []