Oy! Jon Gosselin Admits He’s A Mess, Turns To Rabbi For Help
Oct. 29 2009, Published 5:40 a.m. ET
Is it real, or is it more spin?
Jon Gosselin is once again chastising his own behavior publicly and vowing to be a better person. And this time he says he’s going to do it with the help of a rabbi!
Jon, who just days ago stood on the steps of the Montgomery County, PA courthouse with his lawyer Mark Heller and attacked wife Kate while cameras rolled, says he is now in counseling to reconnect with his spirituality. He also pledges to make “things right” with Kate and their eight children.
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He started his mea culpa by denying rumors he was going to appear in a reality show with Octo-Mom Nadya Suleman.
"I am troubled to learn that the media has accepted as true the scurrilous rumor that I would appear in a reality television program with Nadya Suleman. This is utterly false. I do however accept that some of my previous actions have in some way lent credence to such outrageous stories," Jon said in a statement.
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Gosselin also admits that his behavior over the last few months have been less than exemplary and he’s turned to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
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"I am well aware that my behavior over the past few months has not always reflected my personal and religious values,” he added. "I further accept that I have allowed myself to become somewhat severed from my own moral anchor and be carried away by the challenges of fame. It is for this reason that I have endeavored of late to reconnect with my deeper, more spiritual, more altruistic self with regular study sessions and counseling. with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, whose morality-centered-and-values-based advice, coupled with his profound commitment to fatherhood and family, I deeply respect. "I have always endeavored to be a loving father and a devoted parent who serves as a moral exemplar to his eight children. That’s what my father, a children’s dentist who always extended himself to his poorest patients, was to me. “My father was my inspiration and moral compass. I intend to serve the same role for my own children by taking responsibility for my errors and making right any pain I have caused to those I love.”
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On Monday he stood by – sometimes chiming in – as his lawyer called Kate Gosselin the “woman who lived in a shoe” and then went on a long, rambling, bitter anecdote about Kate living in a glass house and throwing stones that would bounce back. Heller and Jon were complaining that Kate was not at a court hearing, even though she wasn’t required to be.
Despite Jon’s new-found spirituality there’s no sign that he’s dumping Heller.
Jon’s path to atonement will begin on Sunday when he will participate in a forum at New York’s West Side Synagogue where he will publicly apologize to those he has hurt.
"I wish for the public to know my regret at having, at times, betrayed the moral principles that have always guided me. This forum will also allow me to illustrate the further steps I am determined to take to regain the trust and confidence of loved ones as well as the public who have watched me over the years, together with Kate, raise our eight beautiful children."
He also discussed the scrutiny he is under and says some of his behavior has been growing pains as he adjusts to the attention, which he admits he at times went after. As for his estranged wife Kate, he just wants to make “things right”: "I am committed to making things right with Kate and especially my children. I ask you to please give me the opportunity to prove myself."