Former TLC star Collin Gosselin says his mom Kate Gosselin had her 'own agenda' and that reality TV destroyed his family

• Collin Gosselin spoke about mom Kate Gosselin for the first time since being institutionalized in 2016.
• He also said he believes reality TV is to blame for his family's estrangement.

Former TLC child star Collin Gosselin is 18 years old now and opened up for the first time to Entertainment Tonight reporter Kevin Frazier about being institutionalized twice by his mother Kate Gosselin. He also discussed why he believes reality TV tore his family apart.

Collin grew up on television with his sextuplet siblings and older twin sisters Mady and Cara Gosselin on the former TLC reality show "Jon & Kate Plus 8," which was eventually renamed "Kate Plus 8" in the wake of Kate's divorce from ex-husband Jon Gosselin in 2009.

Kate sent Collin to an institution around 2016 to address what she called "special needs" at the time, but Collin told Frazier he shouldn't have been there.

"I came to the conclusion that everybody has their own agenda, you know, my mom had her own agenda, I don't know exactly what that was," he said, adding that he just wanted to make it "out on top" of the "tough spot" in which Kate had put him.

Collin said he was "in a dark place, mentally" when he was sent away and that "being in a place like that does more damage than it helps you."

He told Frazier he was "hopeless" when he found a way to write a letter to Jon begging his dad to help him get out of there so he could have a "second chance."

When Collin was released he lived with his dad who was granted temporary full custody of him in 2018. Kate reportedly didn't show up to the custody hearing.

The teenager said that after he left the institution, he "didn't have a relationship" with Kate. "Even before that, I don't think we had much of a relationship," he added.

Collin said that it's "unfortunate" he doesn't have a relationship with his mom. "But, I'm doing very well."

His sister Hannah also lived with Jon, but Collin said he hasn't spoken to his six other siblings in many years. He started crying when asked if he had a message for them.

"How I see it is, without parents involved it's just me and them and I really hope that one day when I have kids that my kids will know their aunt and uncles."

Representatives for Kate didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Collin blames reality TV for tearing his family apart

Collin admitted that he thinks his family would still be together if not for "Jon & Kate Plus 8."

"I think the pressure of being in front of the whole world and every mistake you make is out there, I think that was a big influence of them not being together," Collin said of his parents.

Jon and Kate no longer speak to each other, but Collin said he wishes his parents were still together or could've at least co-parented together. "Nobody wants their family to be torn apart," he said.

"If they had the capability of co-parenting that would be nice," he said. "They don't need to be best friends, but it would've been nice if they could be adults about it and get along and do it for the sake of their kids."

Despite his past struggles, Collin said his life is "great" now. He's finishing high school and has a full-time job along with hopes of eventually joining the Marine Corps.

"I want to say that in life we all go through hard things. We all get knocked down, we all experience really, really difficult things," he told Entertainment Tonight. "But don't sit around and mourn and cry about it, address the situation you're in and fix it and come out on top of it. Because resilience is a really important thing."