Ex-reality TV star Jon Gosselin looks forward to spinning it his way at Allentown appearance

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Jon Gosselin, who for more than a decade starred as the father of sextuplets in the TLC channel reality TV show "Jon & Kate plus 8," said everyone still asks him how his kids are.

"And I say, ‘You mean my grown adults?’" Gosselin said. "They’re great."

It's been eight years since the show went off the air in 2017, and even his youngest children are in college now, Gosselin said.

That has left him a self-described "empty nester" and has allowed him to dive full-time into his new career as a disc jockey.

That career change will have him perform at 8 p.m. Friday, March 14 at the grand opening of Americus Nights, a posh nightclub at the Americus Hotel in downtown Allentown.

Gosselin said his twins Cara and Mady — the older siblings to the sextuplets — are 24 and live in Manhattan.

The two sextuplets who lived with him, Hannah and Collin, now go to York College and Penn State, respectively, and Collin also owns a business, Gosselin said.

"So he never comes home, nor would I," he said with a laugh. "He’s doing really well.

Of the other sextuplets, who lived with Gosselin's ex-wife in North Carolina, two attend N.C. State University, one goes to Appalachian State University and the other to East Carolina, he said.

"All my kids are — I can’t ask for more," Gosselin said. "They’ll be 21 in May, so they’re not little kids anymore. Some days I miss that."

'Take pictures and talk to people'

During its run, "Jon & Kate Plus 8" was among TLC's highest-rated programs, watched by nearly 10 million viewers.

But the Gosselins filed for divorced in 2009, and the series ended soon after, but continued as "Kate Plus 8" for two more years before the divorce turned into a bitter court battle.

Jon Gosselin moved to New York and spent time as fodder for the tabloids.

"I spent time with a Rolling Stone writer years ago and he said, ‘Everybody knows who you are!’" Gosselin said. "And I said, ‘That’s because I have 10 paparazzi following me around.'

"I don’t know why I chose to live there. That was dumb.”

He returned to the Reading area and his work as a computer network engineer and said, "there was a long time that I really didn’t talk to the public ‘cause I was getting sued by TLC, my divorce, all this stuff."

"I kind of just disappeared out of the media market for a while and did little pop-up things, ‘Where-are-they-now’ kind of things. I never talked to the public.

“Now it’s a little different. I get a better response now, you know what I mean? I’m a normal Pennsylvania person — I’ve lived here my whole life, minus some stints in LA and New York.”

Now, Gosselin said, "it’s not just DJ-ing when I DJ. I do meet-and-greets, take pictures and talk to people."

'Just do DJ-ing full time'

The change came after he got laid off from his computer job, Gosselin said. "I was kinda upset about it, but I wasn’t," he said.

He said his girlfriend, Stephanie Lebo [they recently got engaged], "was just like, ‘Maybe you should just do DJ-ing full time. You’ve been doing it for 14 years.' I was, like, ‘OK.’"

“Once my kids left, I realized I was an empty-nester," Gosselin said. He said he looked at Lebo, "And I was, like, ‘What am I going to do now?’

"And she goes, ‘DJ’ — ’ DJ more, you know what I mean? And I was, like, ’OK, that makes sense.'"

Gosselin said he “just started booking bigger corporate gigs during the week, and then I did a lot of club gigs."

Gosselin said he performed in “Denver, Austin, Santa Monica. I also play big celebrity festivals and it’s worked out really well. It’s interesting that I can work in my hometown area and still go to, like, Miami.”

Gosselin even did collaborations on original music with DJ Casper, who has worked with Jay-Z, Akon and Nicki Minaj, but "that kind of fell through."

"He worked up things, but it’s kind of, like, he’s the artist, he’s everything," Gosselin said. "And I told him, ‘You’re a great dude — you don’t need my name attached. But we’re still friend and stuff, we’re just going two different places.

“It’s kind of hard to merge TV and music. I’m not an actor — I’m coming from reality TV. Sometimes it might hurt the musician, as well, because of just the way people are.

"Especially to Hollywood. Like, I would never say I’m an actor — those people went to school to act. I went to Millersville University."

Now, Gosselin said, "I’ve learned to just consolidate them and do higher-grossing gigs — more money, less time — and really focus on my craft."

'Stream away'

Gosselin said he just signed a deal with Hollywood Casino, and is in his fourth week playing Saturdays at its location in Morgantown, Berks County.

He said is audience “age range is so great — 21 to, like, 90. So I get to hit all genres, it’s really open format.

"I worked in AC [Atlantic City] for seven years, so I get it. That’s still more of a party crowd than this. This is more like disco and Motown and classic rock and whatever kind of hops in my brain or what I have.

“So I really love and enjoy my work with Hollywood.”

That's the type of show he'll bring to Americus Nights, Gosselin said — “just to make sure everyone has a good time."

"I like the anticipation of going to a brand-new place and figuring it out. And it’s yours. I feel very honored the owners reached out to me.

"I really haven’t worked in Allentown since 2015. I think it’s one of those cities like Lancaster — it’s up-and-coming.”

And if you, like him, miss seeing his kids when they were little, "you can just throw on HBO and watch ‘Jon and Kate Plus 8’ if you want — to reminisce if you want.

"Help a brother out with tuition," for eight kids, he said with a laugh. "Stream away.”