It might be a crazy life...

Wow, so after I mentioned on this blog that I wanted to see more coverage of what appeared to be the beginning of the deterioration of the marriage between Jon and Kate Gosselin, it seems as though a media shit storm erupted all over the blogosphere and tabloids.  Seriously, I can't go a day without reading more about how absolutely controlling Kate is, how she has alienated almost every single personal in her family's life, how she isn't quite the wonderful mother that she tries to make herself out to be and that she is, possibly, also having an affair with her body guard.  And, even though I've feel dirty about it, I cannot stop reading any of this gossip.

Last night, after I spent the day getting pretty drunk -- it helps to start at 10 AM with strawberry daiquiris made with fresh fruit -- out on Fire Island and then commuting back into the city, I was able to ride out my inebriation just long enough to catch the premiere of the new season of Jon and Kate Plus 8 and, let me tell you, it was so fucking sad.  There were points at which I wanted to cry because, even though they never seemed to be absolutely perfect and unstrained, this family has literally fallen apart.  The amazing thing?  The kids seem to be remarkably well adjusted to this situation.  They seemed to really enjoy their birthday party, even though Kate basically ignored Jon the entire day, flitting around with her crazy looking hair, fake nails and tan, and laughing her obnoxious laugh.  But the kids showed each parent equal amounts of love and affection and, even though Kate seemed to want to draw more attention to the fact that their lives have been invaded by us and the paparazzi, they never cried and were the cute children that drew me to watching this show in the first place.  

Yes, I have a completely unfounded disrespect for Kate.  I don't know why I have chosen to view her as the villain of this situation, but I have, and I often want to sort of grab her and be all, how do you not see that you have gotten your family into this situation?  At the end of last season, Jon made it very, very clear how unhappy he was with doing the television show, but admitted that it made Kate happy and he would acquiesce to her happiness at the expense of his own.  I admired him for recognizing that to a certain degree, Kate has had a more difficult job in raising their two sets of multiples since she was the one who stayed home with them all day every day while he worked.  However, it's become clear that Kate has taken the experience of this show and her book to view herself as a sort of celebrity and she bitches about her "personal life" being invaded by the paparazzi as most celebrities do.  And, seriously, when you invite the cameras of a major television station into your home to "document" the lives of your children, you must realize that you run the risk of this happening, especially when we live in an era in which we as a public often think of reality television personalities as bona fide celebrities.  

Still, it's so, so sad to watch a family crumble before your very eyes and I hope that these children are able to remain as grounded and happy as they seem to be and I hope that Jon and Kate can find the sort of happiness that we all deserve as humans whether it be together or apart.  And, as much as I can't stop reading about them, I do hope that the media/paparazzi do eventually leave them alone so they can move forward as a family, broken or not.  And, let this be a cautionary tale to all those people out there who want to have their 15 seconds of reality television fame.  Sometimes, it just doesn't end once the cameras are turned off.