Hailey Glassman Denies Breaking Up Jon and Kate Gosselin's Marriage

Hailey Glassman, a new cast member on "The Real Housewives of New York," has addressed persistent rumors that she was responsible for the dissolution of Jon and Kate Gosselin's marriage. On a recent episode of the Bravo show, Glassman explained to her co-star Jessel Taank that her relationship with Jon began after he and Kate had separated, though the separation had not yet been publicly announced, leading to the perception of infidelity.

Glassman recounted an incident where a photo of her and Jon on her father's yacht was published by TMZ, accompanied by the headline, "Jon with mystery woman, and plastic surgeon’s daughter." This, she stated, fueled public speculation and criticism.

"So it became this whole, like, ‘Home-wrecking Hailey, she ruined a family of eight,’" Glassman said, emphasizing that this narrative was false. She asserted that the media at the time was primarily interested in "salacious lies."

According to Glassman, her connection to the Gosselins began when her father, a plastic surgeon, performed a procedure on Kate after the birth of their sextuplets. This led to her parents and Jon developing a familial friendship. When Jon and Kate separated, he moved into Glassman's parents' home. Glassman noted that this coincided with her return from college, and a close friendship between her and Jon evolved into a romantic relationship.

Glassman, now 39, shared that the intense media attention surrounding her relationship with Jon, now 49, had a profound and lasting impact on her.

"The media was just destroying me, and at 22 you don’t know who you are," she stated in a confessional. "It’s almost like if you could rewind your life in time and pinpoint that one moment where a piece of you died but there was no funeral for you. That whole ordeal ruined my life."

She further described how tabloids allegedly invaded her university, Indiana University, seeking "juicy stories" about her in exchange for money. This intense scrutiny, she claims, contributed to the eventual end of her relationship with Jon, which lasted from June to October 2009.

"I was just so beaten down," she admitted.

Jon and Kate Gosselin, who were married in 1999, gained widespread recognition through their TLC reality series "Jon & Kate Plus 8." The show documented their lives with their eight children and aired from 2007 to 2009. The couple publicly announced their divorce in June 2009 during an episode of the series. Jon and Kate are parents to twins Cara and Mady, 25, and sextuplets Aaden, Joel, Collin, Leah, Hannah, and Alexis, 22. The former couple is reportedly not on speaking terms.

Following their divorce, Kate continued to star in a rebranded series, "Kate Plus 8," which ran until 2017. New episodes of "The Real Housewives of New York" air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.