Jon Gosselin's Girlfriend Stephanie Lebo Defends His Parenting, Claims He Wouldn't Have Gotten Full Custody of Kids If He Was a Bad Dad

Jon Gosselin's girlfriend rushed to his defense when it came to his abilities as a father.

After privately dating for two years, Stephanie Lebo, 35, and her daughter, Giulianna, 13, both recently moved into a rental home with the former TLC star. Despite years of custody battles and legal drama with his estranged ex-wife, Kate Gosselin, her time with Jon has proven to Stephanie that he is the real deal as partner and as a dad.

"I sometimes think with Kate and other people Jon has been around — is it something to do with your childhood, growing up, was there some issues — is that why you are how you are?" Stephanie told a news outlet.

"Because everything they say is wrong with Jon, I just don’t see it," she added. "We don’t argue about anything."

She argued that Jon, 46, has stepped up as a father-figure to her daughter — whose own dad is not in the picture — over the past two years "and he doesn’t have to do that."

"But for her [Kate] to sit there and say this and that in the public about him and towards Collin and Hannah, well number one, a judge awarded him custody for a reason," she pointed out. "Number two, he’s never yelled at my child or done anything bad to them, or manipulated them in any sense, no way."

"It takes a lot in the state of Pennsylvania for the judge to award full custody to a father," she noted. "It’s usually veered towards the mother."

Jon and Kate divorced in 2009 after 10 years of marriage. They share 22-year-old twins Maddy and Cara , as well as 19-year-old sextuplets Joel, Leah, Aaden, Alexis, Hannah and Collin. However, in the years following their split, Jon became estranged from all of his children other than Hannah and Collin, who eventually chose to live with him prior to turning 18.

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"I wish the other kids would come around," Stephanie admitted, revealing that there are several members of her own family who refuse to speak to each other. "I struggle with it."

Added Stephanie, "I do wonder about the other kids and all the holidays and things like that they have missed out on all being together."

Stephanie spoke with The Sun about her relationship with Jon.