While we love to get caught up in the drama of our favourite reality TV shows, sometimes behind-the-scenes, things are a lot more sinister.
From trouble with the law, family estrangements and fraud, we’ve looked into some of the international stories that have made headlines over the years.
The shadow of eight
When family reality TV show Jon & Kate Plus 8 was launched in 2007, viewers couldn’t get enough of watching the young couple raise their twins and sextuplets. But all was not as happy as it seemed.
In 2009, after allegations of Jon cheating and reports of police being called to the Gosselins’ Pennsylvania home, the couple split and their custody drama played out in the tabloids.
Nearly two decades on, one of the sextuplets, Collin, has released a tell-all memoir revealing the abuse he allegedly endured from his mother, Kate, 51.
Collin makes claims in the book, In The Shadow Of Eight: Surviving The Reality Of My Childhood, that this physical and emotional abuse intensified when he refused to film the TV series. He alleges he was separated from his siblings, isolated in a basement room and once bound with zip ties by Kate after trying to escape.
At age 12, Collin was sent to a mental health institution where he lived for 21 months.
Collin alleges Kate told him, “You are here because of you. You broke our family.”
Kate told People magazine in 2016 that Collin had “special needs” and that she’d “felt very alone” during that time.
Collin was eventually removed from the facility by Jon, who was granted legal and physical custody of him.
Still estranged from her son, Kate has hit back at Collin’s allegations, claiming he is “mentally ill” and that her son “remains a very troubled young man who continues to need a lot of help”.
Jon, 49, has quickly retaliated, issuing a statement saying, “I couldn’t be more proud of my son’s heartbreaking memoir and his mission to help other victims of abuse. Also, let me be very clear: if you continue to falsely label my son Collin as ‘mentally ill’ you will be held accountable.”
Ill-gotten gains
Jen Shah is just one of a number of Real Housewives stars who’ve run into trouble with the law.
An original Salt Lake City cast member, she was known for her lavish lifestyle. “I make millions,” Jen claimed in a casting tape, according to Business Insider. “I probably spend at least 50 grand a month.”
Explaining how she made her money, Jen explained her background was in direct-response marketing. But the truth was her riches were built at the expense of vulnerable, often elderly, working-class people.
During the filming of season two all was revealed when Jen, now 53, was arrested for wire fraud and money laundering in relation to a telemarketing scheme.
Her so-called “first assistant” on the show, Stuart Smith, was also arrested. Jen pleaded guilty in July 2022 and her “new reality” involved serving a (since-reduced) six-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Stuart received nine months.
“I’m sorry,” she said, now out of jail. “I’m accepting responsibility, and I’ve made it my mission to make sure that people are paid back.”
In her Instagram bio, she refers to herself as an “entrepreneur”.
Dance of disgrace
Dance Moms’ star Abby Lee Miller spent months far from the glittering sequins and tutus she was surrounded by in her reality show. In 2017, the feisty dance instructor was sentenced to a year and a day in jail for bankruptcy fraud and failing to declare around $120,000 in cash she brought back to the US from Australia.
It was a huge fall from grace after seven seasons of the hugely popular reality show in which she became known for her intensely high standards and harsh critiques, as well as her fierce clashes with the dance mums.
Several dancers and their mothers have since distanced themselves from her. Her star dance student Maddie Ziegler said, “I was sick of being in a toxic environment,” adding, “I haven’t spoken to her since. I feel at peace.”
Now out of jail, Abby is still in the spotlight and continues to be involved in dance on and off camera.
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