Joining the Jon & Kate Debate

Just finished watching the Jon & Kate Plus 8 premiere and thought I would give my thoughts on the show, the controversy and all things Gosselin.

Yes, I watch Jon & Kate Plus 8... get over it.

So, if you've been in any kind of store lately, you've seen Jon and Kate on the cover of nearly every tabloid amidst tales of infidelity on both parts, rumors of divorce and most recently, for show regular and Kate's sister-in-law Jody calling for a boycott of the show.

Now, Jon led off the show saying he didn't cheat on Kate. My old man always said he never cheated on my mom too, but that wasn't the case, so I'm not fully convinced. That being said, consider me on Team Jon, provided he wasn't playing hide the pickle.

We've watched the show from the jump and in the five years, Kate has gone from being the doting mother who didn't care about fashion and appearances to a celebrity who happens to have kids. From where I've been sitting, she comes off as someone who has really gotten caught up in being a celebrity, loves the attention and doesn't want to be anything other than that.

Jon, on the other hand, wants none of it. He wants to be a dad and have a somewhat normal life. While that isn't entirely possible any longer, you can't really blame him. After five televised years of not being able to finish your own sentences, getting criticized for just about everything and having decisions made for you, I'd be at my tipping point too.

While they chose to let the public into their lives and therefore have to live with the consequences, there seems to be such a huge rift between the two in terms of what they want moving forward that an amicable solution doesn't seem possible and that is sad.

Although there is no way that they will ever escape the glaring eye of the paparazzi and have a "normal life" like you and me, you can choose to minimize your exposure and it comes off like that is a choice Jon would like to make, while Kate does not want to relinquish her place in the spotlight. She's not Kate the mother of 8 anymore; she's Kate Gosselin, author, speaker and celebrity mom and that isn't what it should be about.

You've gained a great deal - and undoubtedly sacrificed a lot too - and I would wager that your kids are set for life right about now, so why not walk away and try to salvage the marriage, the family and the bond that everyone fell in love with in the first place?

I don't know...