SMITH: You say that they say their children is a top priority.
J. KREIDER: They say their children is their priority, but clearly it is not.
SMITH: This must be so painful for you to have this – what seemed to start so innocently spill over into this kind of national sensation.
J. KREIDER: Yes.
SMITH; And it can't be easy, I imagine, for you to come here and say...
J. KREIDER: No.
SMITH: You're almost begging your family members to walk away from this.
J. KREIDER: It's hard to – yes. As hard...
SMITH: Could they walk – do you think they could walk away?
J. KREIDER: No. No. No.
K. KREIDER: I think our focus is that laws do need to be passed that protect children.
J. KREIDER: Protecting children in reality TV shows because these shows are popping up all over the place.
K. KREIDER: For the future.
SMITH: Yes.
J. KREIDER: And it's time for people to see that.
SMITH: All these subsequent rumors, though, that this has also had an effect on their marriage. Do you have any sense that they're together or not?
J. KREIDER: Well, in their season premiere, you know, it's very clear that they are not. And it is tragic. It is – just about nine months ago, they went to Hawaii and did a vow renewal and that was for ratings. But, you know, the viewers felt that it was, you know, true.
And here, you know, their marriage...
K. KREIDER: You can't imagine as a child realizing that my birthday party, that all the outings that my parents took me on were because, you know, ratings, for ratings, and all organized by production companies.
SMITH: And last but not least, do you think the television company has any responsibility? Does TLC, is that about the cash register, or is there any part of them that is sitting there thinking, what is good for these children?
J. KREIDER: Unfortunately, I think it has come down to all about the ratings. And no one is looking at these children as what they are going through and the life consequences they are going to have as they get older.
SMITH: Kevin and Jodi, we thank you for coming on this morning.
J. KREIDER: Thanks for having us.
THE REBUTTAL
Here are some of Kate’s responses to Jodi and Kevin’s accusations:
Kate says Jodi and Kevin are "making money off of lies."
"My brother has made a lot of money off of saying things that are untrue about us. I've not allowed them to see my kids for two years. So I'm not quite sure what information they think they may have."
I happened to come across the following letter that Kate wrote to her manager, Julie May, to tell her side of the story. Kate’s version may or may not be what actually happened, but it’s her perspective on the situation in her own words so, in the interest of fairness, I have included the letter in its entirety.
Nearly 3 years later, Kate still couldn’t let this go. Tweeting in response to a fan, she still sounded as angry as she did back in 2009 when talking about Jodi and Kevin.
xxxxx @Kateplusmy8 i keep seeing the videos abt ur bro n wife...did they ever get paid for appearances? I hope not cuz wow they r mean n tell lies
oh yeah! And sold and bought a big house and went on vacation too... Blood money... Sick.
Kate would do well to learn to say, “That is a private family matter. I’d rather not comment on that.”
KATIE & JAMIE: BEST FRIENDS FOREVER?
“A mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like
is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.”
– Proverbs 27:19
They wore matching diamond solitaire pendant necklaces when they were together. They had similar hairstyles. They wore matching clothes. A few years back they were even rumored by the tabloids to be lovers. “They” are Kate and Jamie Cole Ayers.
So who is Jamie Cole Ayers? She is Kate’s best friend in the whole, wide world, of course.
I saw Jamie a few times with Kate, but I never had the pleasure of a conversation with her. She’s a bit scary and intimidating in my opinion. She appeared to enjoy the role of being Kate’s pseudo bodyguard as they ran around town shopping and running errands together. The times I saw her with Kate, she gave the appearance of a person just waiting to get into an altercation with the paparazzi, or anyone who bothered Kate. I kept a safe distance. This woman can scowl with the best of them. I found this background information on Jamie online:
Jamie met Kate 9 years ago at a church in Reading in PA. Also a mother of twins, Jamie currently resides in Michigan where she is originally from.
Her husband Mark Ayers filed for divorce from Jamie in July, 2008. The divorce was finalized in August, 2009.
Since her divorce Jamie has been flying to PA frequently and staying with Kate who trusts her so much, she allows Jamie to babysit and discipline the kids.
Kate doesn't have many friends and is urging Jamie to move to PA. She has even offered to help finance her relocation and offered her a recurring role on Kate Plus Eight so she'll have a means of support.
Through an associate, reportedly the two are close enough to hold hands and take naps together but it's a platonic love.
WITH FRIENDS LIKE KATE . . .
Kate Gosselin presents a holier-than-thou attitude every time she speaks to Jon, or anyone at all for that matter. She and Discovery have done everything in their power to convince the world that she is the good parent and Jon is the bad parent who is to blame for all of the children’s behavioral problems.
Kate has made many, many very public accusations about Jon, the father of her children. She has made a big deal to the media, and to Jon, about how concerned she is with his judgment regarding who he lets spend time with the kids, including me; yet, in the next breath, Kate can’t say enough good things about Jamie Cole Ayers, her best friend in the world and the only person besides Steve Neild that she can trust and count on. Here are a couple of paraphrased excerpts about Jamie from Kate’s journal:
August 2006
Kate said that she had so much fun with Jamie and said that she is such a blessing! Than added, during nap, Jamie mopped the floor and folded the laundry.
August 2006
It was a sad morning because Jamie left!!!!! Kate added that Jamie was the very best helper ever! She made Kate think about how much easier her life would be if they had a part time helper/cook/childcare provider!!!!! And Kate finally added about her ‘best friend,’ She doesn’t annoy me or get in my way.
Based on these journal entries, it would appear that the main prerequisite for being one of Kate’s “friends” is that you also have to mop floors, fold laundry and do other chores for Kate.
In her journal, Kate said that she and Jamie care for their kids the same way. Does that mean that Jamie Cole Ayers beats and humiliates her children as well? Maybe she does, because we’ve seen the tabloid photo of Jamie grabbing and yelling at one of the sextuplets right in front of Kate’s garage on Heffner Road – in front of the gawking paparazzi.
Well I would question your judgment, Kate, in who you allow to be close to your children. I question the steady stream of revolving-door “helpers” and babysitters I have seen entering the children’s lives in the short time I’ve been watching.
I wonder how well Kate really knows Jamie Cole Ayers, her best friend in the world. I wonder if Kate ever saw the email or the topless photo that Jamie sent to her husband Jon as she was trying to seduce him – while Kate and Jon were still married.
I’ve seen them.
I have them.
Here’s Katie setting the record straight via Twitter. Why she doesn’t just ignore these kinds of tweets instead of feeling the need to tell outright lies is beyond me. This tweet came almost a year after Jamie’s comments aired on the final episode of Kate Plus Ei8ht.
xxxxx @Kateplusmy8 I was wondering if you ever feel like fame got to you? You changed so much that you seem like
a completely other person…
lol SEEM(what u c)& TRUTH r 2different things! I am same albeit I’ve learned a lot! Friends say ‘ur same old Kate’ – good2hear!
Kate must not have been paying attention during the final episode of Kate Plus Ei8ht when Kate’s absolute best friend in the world, Jamie Cole Ayers, took to the interview chair to share a few final thoughts with the viewing audience.
“What’s funny, one of the last episodes they showed some flashbacks of Kate. That’s the Kate that I met at Reading Hospital. I saw the softer and the love spark in her eye. Now… I see her but it’s more TV, it’s more, what am I wearing? How skinny can I be? It’s not the Kate that I used to know. I always say to her, you’re not Angelina Jolie. And she gets mad.”
And that did it for Best Friend Forever, Jamie Cole Ayers.
It looks like Jamie was voted off Gosselin Island and banished from Gosselin Land forever after Kate saw Jamie speaking negatively about her during the RV and final episodes of Kate Plus Ei8ht. The show was canceled, and so were the paid help/friends, Ashley and Jamie.
But wait! It appears that by July 2012, there was reconciliation between Kate and Jamie. In her never-ending quest to prove to the world that she really, really does have friends, Kate tweeted like a schoolgirl that Jamie was coming to visit. She tried her best to alert the paps that a photo op would be happening, but there were simply no takers.
So Kate tweeted a photo of Jamie doing what Jamie does best for Kate…being a paid employee, cleaning Kate’s house for her, and watching her children while Kate runs important errands such as going to the tanning salon and picking up her mail.
This falls under the ‘ways your friends offer to help when they visit’ category.. http://t.co/0Mni6FUx
The photo Kate tweeted shows Jamie standing barefoot on Kate’s kitchen counter, wiping grease and dust off of Kate’s giant range hood. What exactly was the point? Yes, Kate, we get it. The only way anyone can be your friend is if they clean your house, or do your laundry, or fix your tractor, or fix your garage door, etc., etc., etc.
Those aren’t friends, Kate. Those are paid workers.
Kate also tweeted this while Jamie was staying at the Gosselin house:
All settled back in at home… Let the chaos increase…..my kids plus 3 more at r house w only 2 adults this week!It’s A LOT louder here!:)
In case you missed that, Kate just let it slip that there were ONLY TWO adults watching the kids that week, meaning her normal babysitters got a few days off because her “friend” Jamie was in town to do all the work for them. A beautiful friendship, indeed.
IN STEVE WE TRUST
“Nobody has had the public recognition that Kate has.”
– Steve Neild
Steve Neild is Kate Gosselin’s bodyguard, travel companion, manager and pack mule. This chapter will give you some background information on Steve Neild and discuss his involvement with the Gosselins. The following information was taken directly from his security company’s website:
Steve K. Neild
Executive Vice President
Prudential Associates
Steve Neild served with the New Zealand Police Department for 19 years, during which time he lead the special operations section and focused on counter-terrorism and dignitary protection.
His special expertise is in VIP protection and major event security planning.
He has been the central point of contact and liaison with marketing and major corporate management operations, local police, various military representatives, and with government and international intelligence agencies.
Mr. Neild also has substantial experience in law enforcement and counter-terrorism operations and management of large critical facilities, such as Auckland International Airport in Auckland, New Zealand.
This resume certainly makes Steve sound like an impressive fellow who has been involved in some high-level security operations. But times change, and today he follows Kate Gosselin around carrying her purse and luggage. If you watch Steve when he is with Kate, he does not exhibit any of the behaviors typical of a bodyguard protecting someone. He comports himself more like a companion. So how does one go from working security assignments of grave import to babysitting Kate Gosselin and doing the extremely dangerous work of carrying her shopping bags?
Perhaps Steve just wanted to retire from the stress of serious security work and opted to go for easy money. A lot of people retire and then take a part-time job pushing shopping carts at the local supermarket to maintain health benefits, etc.
Steve Neild was originally hired by Discovery to protect the Gosselin kids while Kate and Jon were traveling for filming. Here’s how Kate described it:
Kate said that it came to her attention as a mother thinking if she was going to put kids out there in public, she needed to be responsible and do what she needed to do to keep everyone safe. It was her request that they started traveling with security. Kate said of Steve, “He really has the history, as far as where we’ve been to now because it’s night and day.”
Kate’s expressed reasoning is completely understandable. We have three kids, and I’m a nervous wreck keeping an eye on them and keeping them safe when we travel, even somewhere local. But somewhere along the line, what began as security for the Gosselin children morphed into Steve becoming a private man-servant and handler for Kate.
TLC provided another bodyguard, named Luke, to Kate Gosselin. Luke looks like an NFL defensive tackle. He’s huge. Luke is what a good bodyguard should look like. Luke would make anyone think twice before trying to harm someone he was guarding. Steve Neild on the other hand, not so much. When I see Steve, I just want to run up to him and give him a big hug. I’ve stood next to Steve Neild and had a pleasant conversation with him. He’s very personable and likeable. I’m not a giant guy, but I didn’t find Steve to be even a little bit intimidating. He looks like he’d be fun to have a few drinks with.
It made sense to have a bodyguard to look out for the safety of the children, especially when they were traveling so much and were subjected to interactions with strangers, but why, though, does Kate feel that she needs a personal bodyguard when she travels alone, and even to this day, in 2013? I watched her closely for more than 2 years and I never saw an instance of anything remotely threatening happening to her. Nobody in her hometown hassles her at all. If anything, the occasional house mom or some teenage girls would come up to her to say “hi” or to ask to take a picture with her. I have never, EVER, even heard anyone say or yell a nasty word at her. Yet she feels the need to pay a bodyguard $800-plus a day to travel with her.
In 2010, on the “Inside Kate’s World” edition of Kate Plus 8, Steve Neild said of Kate:
"She has been betrayed by some of the closest people to her."
"I've had threats left in her mailbox, threats left on the front doorstep, so there's a lot of stuff that members of the public don't know. There's stuff Kate doesn't even know, the contents of these emails, that haven't been shared with her. From a security perspective, we look at all that."
"The other side of that now is the media interest. In the last 18 months, it's got to the stage where she can't go to California; she can't go to New York, without 20 or 30 paparazzi following her. It's dangerous."
Steve Neild says he has protected royal families, presidents and elected heads of state during his career. If these claims are true, it makes his statements that none of them have compared to Gosselin and “nobody has had the public recognition that Kate has” simply laughable. He is saying that Kate Gosselin has more public recognition than the British Royal Family and former President Bill Clinton. He is either delusional, or he is just trying to market himself as the protector of the most important woman on earth. In either case, his claim is ridiculous. I find it strange that someone who is supposedly as respected and accomplished as Steve Neild, according to his company’s website, would spend the bulk of his time, in the prime of his career, following a mean-spirited, D-list, has-been, fo
rmer reality TV personality around to the grocery store and to get her hair done.
Discovery paid for Steve’s services only when he was traveling with Kate for the show. I have seen, in Kate’s own writing, lists of travel dates and details where she makes special notations of when Discovery paid for Steve and the days that she was actually responsible for his salary.
Kate and her manager also included a stipulation for Steve’s services into Kate’s contracts when traveling for book signings, speaking engagements or various television interviews, etc.
Steve’s constant presence has caused much speculation about the nature of his relationship with Kate. I have heard all of the rumors that he and Kate are having an affair, and I have seen them together so I can draw my own conclusions. I don’t know anything for certain, however, so I am not going to spend too much time speculating on the subject. All I can do is tell what I know and have observed.
I know that Steve Neild is a liar. I know this because on the first episode of the new season of Kate Plus Ei8ht, in yet another desperate attempt to create drama and get ratings, Steve Neild, himself, took to the interview couch to defend Kate’s need for personal security. He stated, while looking us right in the eye, that everywhere Kate goes, there are 20 to 30 paparazzi always following her. That was not true.
Having personally followed Kate Gosselin every day for an extended period of time, in Pennsylvania and beyond, as a writer and a working paparazzo, I can tell you that, after the summer of 2009, there was only one dedicated paparazzo who followed Kate every day, or just at times when he felt like it. He lives closer to Kate’s house than he does to New York City where the real action is, so it made better financial sense for him to photograph her than to drive 2 hours each way to the city.
KATE GOSSELIN: HOW SHE FOOLED THE WORLD - THE RISE AND FALL OF A REALITY TV QUEEN Page 45