Jon Gosselin Gives Advice to Alec Baldwin on New TLC Reality Show: ‘Don’t Do It’ (Exclusive)

Jon Gosselin is offering up some blunt advice to Alec and Hilaria Baldwin as they get ready to film their recently-announced reality show.

Sitting down with ET’s Rachel Smith alongside his daughter, Hannah Gosselin, to chat about their lives post-reality show and his 50-plus pound weight loss thanks to the Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Center, the 47-year-old dad of eight says the best wisdom he could give to the actor, 66, and his 40-year-old wife — who share seven children of their own — is to get out now. 

“I’d say, ‘Don’t do it. Only because you’ve already made it, you’re like an amazing like award-winning actor,'” Jon shares of what he might tell Alec and Hilaria as they embark on this new journey with TLC. 

He adds of his own foray into reality TV, “I did it for the money in the beginning ’cause I didn’t know how I was gonna support my family […] I sometimes have regrets because they [the kids] didn’t sign a contract, I signed the contract.” 

Jon, of course, was part of TLC’s hit reality show, Jon & Kate Plus 8. He starred in the series alongside his then-wife, Kate Gosselin, and their eight children. The show aired five seasons after premiering in 2007, even after the pair filed for divorce in December 2009. 

Previously, Jon and several of his children — including Collin Gosselin in an interview with ET — have opened up about how they believe the show led to the implosion of their family and a now irreconcilable drift. 

Jon and Kate share older twins, Mady and Cara, 23, and the sextuplets: Alexis, Aaden, Hannah, Collin, Leah and Joel, all 20. Both Hannah and Collin have publicly separated themselves from their mother while the other six children are close with Kate, 49.  

Citing the issues that the show created for his own family and that the children “didn’t have a choice” but to live a public life after Jon & Kate Plus 8 took off, Hannah weighed in on what she would tell the parents as they plan to launch their own TLC series. 

“Just make sure your kids are okay and happy. And that’s what they want to do, like, obviously it is their choice,” she says. “I would say like look out for your kids in that aspect, in that world. Because it’s a crazy world.” 

The pair also referred to Sylvester Stallone‘s reality show, The Family Stallone, which follows the lives of the actor and his wife, Jennifer Flavin, and their three grown-up daughters — Sophia, 27, Sistine, 26, and Scarlet, 22.

Jon and Hannah say that it’s completely different compared to their own show or The Baldwins as Stallone’s daughters are all of an age where they can consent to the project and their likeness being public. 

“His daughters are like in their twenties, these children are tiny,” Jon says. 

Alec and Hilaria share Carmen, 10, Rafael, 8, Leonardo, 7, Romeo, 6, Eduardo, 3, Maria, 3, and Ilaria, 1. Alec is also dad to 27-year-old Ireland Baldwin, who he shares with his ex, Kim Basinger. 

“Look at the nuclear fallout that happened [to our family],” Jon shares of his fears for The Baldwins. “I feel like it was more on the network side and being taken advantage of versus the decisions we made because we feel like they forced us into those decisions.”

He says his hope is that Alec, as an actor, works with contracts and lawyers more often and therefore has a better understanding of what he is getting his family into. Otherwise, things could turn sour very quickly. 

It was just last month that the Baldwin family announced they would be bringing their rambunctious crew to reality TV.  “We’ve got an exciting announcement to share! Coming in 2025…,” the couple captioned a video shared on Instagram in June. 

“We’re inviting you into our home, the ups and downs, the wild and the crazy,” Alec says. “Home is the place we love to be the most.” 

The official announcement comes a full year after the 30 Rock actor first revealed that he and his wife were entertaining pitches for a reality TV show. At the time, he told Kelly Ripa on her Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast that it would only make sense for their bunch. 

“Everything’s about my family. I have really tried in the last several years, once we had five and then six, and then seven kids. I can’t go anywhere for any length of time,” Alec said at the time. “In the old days I’d jump on a plane and go to L.A… It was easy to pick up and go… I need 12 plane tickets — nannies, kids, my wife, I need, like, 11. They don’t even have 11 seats in the business class section of the plane.”

A source also told ET at the time, “Alec’s favorite thing is spending time with Hilaria and their kids. Anyone who’s around them knows how much they love being together. They are excited about the idea of a show where they can show people who they truly are and what matters most to them.”

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