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"All she wanted was legal custody to film my kids to sustain her lifestyle," Jon said of Kate.
Ever since the pair's 10-year gag order ended, Jon Gosselin has been opening up about his marriage and divorce with ex Kate Gosselin.
During a clip for Monday's "Dr. Oz," the 42-year-old proved on trend as he dished on their relationship that ended in June 2009 after 12 years together and 8 children, beginning with where he felt it all started to go sour.
"I believe her intentions, in the beginning, were good intentions. she fought to have these kids. I think once fame and money got involved. It twisted her belief system. On my end, I've been fighting to get my kids off TV forever," Jon told the host.
And the fight for Jon was difficult and expensive.
"I literally hung a sign on my gate saying, if any crew members show up, I'll have you arrested for trespassing. They sued me for breach of contract. I pretty much bankrupted myself. But I did for moral reasons, obviously. I've spent 1.7 million in lawyer fees, from when TLC sued me and my divorce," he detailed.
Jon says in hindsight he sees why Kate fought for custody of the children, which was to continue their show "Jon and Kate Plus 8" somehow and keep up the lifestyle afforded by it.
"Kate on the other hand, TLC paid for her attorneys in the lawsuit and for her divorce. So I financed it by myself and she was financed by the network. I didn't understand at first why. But now I understand why. All she wanted was legal custody to film my kids to sustain her lifestyle and their lifestyle. See, it gets all warped. That's fame now, see? It just twists things around."
Fame, Jon believes, was difficult for both the young parents to navigate.
"Fame's different only because fame, things are given to you, you're held to a higher standard, you're put on a pedestal, the attention, and it's almost like a drug like an addiction, and once you have that and that lifestyle, you can see certain tendencies in people are just it feeds and feeds and feeds."
Kate, for her part, said in an exclusive statement to People."I have consistently made it a rule never to respond to Jon's delusional ramblings, and I will not break that rule now. However, at some point soon, I look forward to making sure the absolute truth about our family is known."
Jon and Kate are parents to 18-year-old twin daughters Mady and Cara, who are in college, as well as 15-year-old sextuplets Hannah, Collin, Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah. Currently, only Collin and Hannah live with Jon full-time.
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