Peter Kramer/NBCKate Gosselin saved the day for her twins Cara and Mady when the trio appeared on the Thursday, Jan. 16, edition of NBC's Today. The single mother of eight and her elder daughters sat down with co-anchor Savannah Guthrie to continue their crusade to change the public's perception of their family.
Mady was first asked to give an update on how her siblings are doing since TLC's Kate Plus 8 was canceled in 2011. The 13-year-old caved under pressure and let silence fill the air. "Mady, use your words," Kate politely prodded. "It's your chance."
"This is their chance to talk," the best-selling author continued. "This is the most wordless I've heard them all morning. I don't want to speak for them but, Mady, go ahead. Sort of the things that you said in [People] magazine, that years later they're good, they're fine. Go for it, Mad. it's your chance."
"No," a nervous Mady replied, smiling. "You just said it."
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Guthrie then asked Cara if TV viewers have the "wrong impression" of the Gosselins. She, too, stayed silent—though after a brief pause, Mady decided to speak on her sister's behalf. "I wouldn't say 'wrong.' I would say not the full, like, story. Like, a lot of people think that filming our show has damaged us, but it's only really helped. It's not really done anything [bad]."
Kate, 38, then explained why her daughters felt it was necessary to set the record straight on Today and in a recent People magazine cover story. "They're more aware of what is out there, the inaccuracies, things that are said by the general public, their father, whoever, because their friends talk about it at school. So, I sort of am forced to kind of inform them. We talk about it a lot."
"They get really frustrated that people assume certain things in our house and they always say, 'But that's not how it is, mommy. Why do they say that about us?'" she continued. "Any TV things that we do, obviously, I mean I can't get them to do, at this age, 13, anything that they don't want to do. It's not like I forced them to do it. They agree to it, as with my 9-year-olds. It's a family decision."
With eight children to raise, Kate said she doesn't have time to worry about what critics say. Still, her daughters felt compelled to put rumors to rest. "That's why they're here, even though they're tongue-tied this morning, to say that we're okay. We're doing well. Would that be accurate, girls, to say?"
The twins nodded in agreement. Asked if they would ever return to reality TV, Mady lit up and said yes. "It was really fun and I really miss it. And you do, too, Cara. Cara does, she's just not gonna say it."
Kate indicated that it's a possibility but said it's not a priority. The point she hoped to make, she said, was that Cara and Mady are "just really regular, everyday, awesome teenagers."
Well, that's one opinion. According to Mady, she and Cara are "a little bit more fabulous" than that.
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