Jon Gosselin is Sorry, and He Really Wants You to Know It
Nov. 2 2009, Published 11:22 a.m. ET
Rather than quietly slip back into the private world and attempt to heal his wounded family, Jon Gosselin continues to make sure everyone who will listen hears exactly how repentant he is for his behavior in recent months. On Sunday, the former reality star marched his pity parade straight up to the stage at Manhattan's West Side Jewish Center, where J.Goss spoke candidly with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and the audience about — you guessed it — what a jerk he's been and how he's really, sincerely, honestly, trying to improve.
"Half the stuff I've done, if I look at my moral compass, I shouldn't have done," explained Jon, referring vaguely to his flaunting his relationship with Hailey Glassman, the 22-year-old daughter of his wife Kate's plastic surgeon. "I know that but I did it anyway. It's like fame canceled out conviction."
Jon also shared that he now feels the need to apologize to his estranged wife for his acts, but that he wants to do it privately. "I'll apologize to her for openly having relationships in the public eye. That was a huge mistake, because if she would've done that to me, I would have been extremely pissed off," the thoughtful father-of-the-year explained. "And now that I think about it, it was a very wrong thing to do. I definitely regret it."
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And just in case you weren't aware of just how sorry he is, Jon added, "It's hard for me because I can't forgive myself for the things I've done... So to ask for forgiveness from someone who may never forgive me is tough for me. I do apologize to Kate. I'm sorry for doing the things I did. I do ask for her forgiveness."
In one laughable moment, Jon — who has gone onto every imaginable show that will have him to either point the blame finger at Kate or to blab about his own shortcomings — declared, "I'm not a fame seeker... I don't sing. I don't dance. I'm not a Nobel Peace Prize-winner. I just had eight kids and I had a show on TLC."
With regard to his sputtering relationship with Hailey, which had been reported to be over late last week, Jon spun the news this way:
"We decided not to take a break, just slow things down, until I get through my divorce and I know everything is settled and okay," said Jon. "I don't want another failure in my relationships. I don't want to make the same mistakes I made with Kate, with Hailey."
Let's hope that at the very least he doesn't repeat the whole "having eight babies" thing with Hailey.