HORSHAM, Pa. — It’s bad enough that Santa isn’t real — for the Gosselin children, Christmas is fake, too.
In a hearing today about whether Jon & Kate Gosselin violated child labor laws when filming “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” Kate’s brother, Kevin Krieder, testified that the family filmed a fake Christmas celebration for the benefit of the cameras. They only later told the kids that it wasn’t really Christmas.
“One very vivid example comes to mind,” Kevin Kreider told the hearing panel. “The children were told it was Christmas morning. It was so that the camera crew could get the genuine reaction of the children.”
It wasn’t until after, later that they were told it was not Christmas morning,” Kreider said, “they just did it for the show. Can you imagine how confused eight little kids were that morning?”
Krieder also discussed his concerns about potential psychological damage to children on TV shows, including a lack of adult supervision and financial security.
The state of Pennsylvania later ruled that the Gosselins should have obtained work permits for the children, but that it would not take legal actions against the TLC show’s producers.
The show followed the lives of the Gosselins and their 8 children. Jon and Kate eventually split up after it was reported that Jon had been stepping out on Kate. They are in the process of divorcing and are in the middle of a custody dispute.
Kate is reportedly signed on to another TV show with TLC. The state said no action will be taken against them provided a portion of the proceeds from the now-canceled reality show are put into a trust fund for the children and child-labor permits are obtained for future filming, according to the AP.
— MyFoxPhilly.com and the AP contributed to this report.