Former Jon & Kate Plus 8 stars Kate Gosselin and Jon Gosselin welcomed their sextuplets on May 10, 2004. The exes are also parents to twins Cara and Mady, whom they welcomed in October 2000. With the arrival of their sextuplets – Hannah, Leah, Alexis, Joel, Aaden and Collin – four years later, the famous family was complete with their eight kids.
Jon and Kate met in October 1997. At the time, Jon was living with his mother and working at a hotel while Kate had just graduated from nursing school. The hotel Jon worked for would regularly have company picnics, and Kate attended the event with a friend who also worked at the same hotel. Jon proposed to Kate just over one year later on Christmas Day 1998. They tied the knot on June 12, 1999, and they honeymooned in Disney World.
The couple sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇᴅ to conceive because of Kate’s polycystic ᴏᴠᴀʀɪᴀɴ sʏɴᴅʀᴏᴍᴇ (PCOS), they revealed in their 2008 book, Multiple B.lessings. She underwent in ᴠɪᴛʀᴏ ꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ (I.V.F) treatment for both of her pregnancies. After conceiving twins, the couple wanted one more child – but the procedure yielded their sextuplets.
Jon and Kate say their lives were turned upside down the day they found out they were expecting sextuplets. At just 26 years old, Jon says he immediately thought of the family’s finances, as well as Cara and Mady. “I was thinking of my twin daughters and, ‘How am I going to afford this?’” he says. “As a father, I think you want to take care of your family and do the best you can.”
They knew raising eight children would be draining – emotionally and financially – but Jon and Kate say they never considered reducing the number of ꜰᴇᴛᴜsᴇs in the ᴡᴏᴍʙ. “When we went in for that ꜰᴇʀᴛɪʟɪᴛʏ appointment, I said to them every time, ‘Really be careful with us, because we’re not doing that ever. It’s not for us,’” she says. “Actually, right before that ultrasound, the last thing I said to the doctor was, ‘Whatever you’re giving me, we’re taking.’”
Jon and Kate Gosselin welcomed their sextuplets into the world on May 10, 2004, and since then, the entire family has become TV stars thanks to their multiple reality shows, starting with Jon and Kate Plus 8 that premiered in 2007. The show chronicled Jon and Kate Gosselin’ lives as they raised their eight young kids – twins Mady and Cara, and sextuplets Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel, and Leah. The hit series gave fans a look into a life that was far different from their own, but then Jon and Kate divorced in 2009 and began making headlines for things other than their large family.
Their divorce was finalized that December. Kate was awarded full custody of their eight children, but in 2018, Jon won custody of Hannah and Collin. Despite their family’s ups and downs, the sextuplets have changed so much over the years. We’ve rounded up photos showing their transformation from cute kids to trendy teens. Ready for some serious nostalgia? Scroll through the gallery below for photos of the Gosselin sextuplets then and now.
