Hands up if you thought the Gosselins' 15 minutes would last this long? Yeah, life's full of surprises, isn't it?
A year after her headline-grabbing split, Kate Gosselin turned up on the Today show this morning and took a page from the Dina Lohan School of Denial, refusing to admit that her children, who were widely reported to have been expelled from school, are anything less than fantastic.
When it came time to talk about Jon Gosselin, however, Kate took a slightly different tact.
First of all, those kids. The rumor mill has been working overtime claiming that Collin and Alexis, both 6, were expelled from their school. Not so, says Kate. Though that's not to say that they're currently in school, either.
"We are doing wonderfully," she began. "It is so great a year later to feel put back together and normal."
And as for that whole expulsion thing…
"That is false. They were not expelled from school. We have a situation where my kids are in an academically excelling school," she explained, adding that the rigors of an academic life, along with the emotional hardships that children of divorce deal with, was something of a one-two punch for the duo.
"The two collided and they just were not doing well with the combination…They were having anger issues, they were acting out, they were having behavior things.
"We mutually agreed, we brought them home, I have them with a tutor…she's teaching them one-on-one and they are excelling, along with weekly therapy," she said. "My kids are back, they're happy, they're functioning, they're well. All is well again."
Kate said that she hopes to get them back into school before the end of the year, once they've had adequate time "to get the pressure off a little bit."
Then it was time to talk Jon.
When asked by Meredith Vieira whether or not she's managed to reach a truce with her ex, she replied, "There's no truce necessary in that regard."
So, no?
"The holidays have always been something that we've worked out peacefully," she explained. "I've always approached it that the kids need to see both of us, if not together, on the holidays."
And as for how they communicate such a time share—whether they hash out a deal via phone or via lawyer—Kate said it "depends on the day, depends on the hour."
"I always reach out to him first, as far as trying to do it in the normal manner, and I do it amicably…I try to talk to him the same way we always have talked."
As for that apology Jon tweeted out last month—in which he says he's ashamed of his past behavior and has "apologized to Kate, my family and to my friends"—it might not have been as sincere as people thought. Shocking, right?
"I have never personally been apologized to," Kate said. "I don't personally consider an interview on TV or a tabloid as an apology, unfortunately. But I have strangely and ironically forgiven him for the sake of my kids. I think people that are close to me are actually annoyed that I don't get more angry. I am angry. I'm hurt and I'm anrgry…but I don't have time to waste sitting around and being upset."
Or sitting around and listening to the rumor mill. As for the latest round of reports, that her Kate Plus 8 TLC show has been axed, she denies that's the case.
"The show is not canceled, no," she said. And that seems to be just fine by her. "It's a heaven on Earth job, it really is."
(Originally published Dec. 1, 2010, at 7:49 a.m. PT)