Former reality TV star Jon Gosselin posted a sweet snap with his daughter Hannah, 15 on Jan. 31. The 42-year-old captioned the photo, “Girl Dad”, a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant who was a proud father of four girls. Jon is a father of eight: he has 19-year-old twin daughters, Mady and Cara, as well as 15-year-old sextuplets, Hannah, Collin, Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah, with ex-wife Kate Gosselin, 44. Due to the couple’s ongoing legal, and custody issues, only Hannah and Collin live with their dad full-time at his house in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Jon posted the snap to Instagram, where he has more than 157,000 followers, and fans were quick to comment on the sweet father-daughter bond he and Hannah shared. “Truly happy for you,” one fan commented, while another noted that they “love seeing this”. Others addressed the ex-TV personality’s family drama: six of his children live with his estranged ex-wife Kate. “Sure wish your other 4 daughters would start to come around. Just because they haven’t yet doesn’t mean they won’t! Keep fighting for them,” one follower replied to his latest post.
The father of eight’s photo was clearly a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant, who tragically died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26. Following the accident, SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan broke down in tears when she remembered just how “grateful” the NBA star was to be a father of girls. “Just be grateful you’ve been given that gift because girls are amazing,” Kobe told ESPN’s Elle Duncan in an interview several years back. Elle relayed following his sad passing that Kobe said told her how after the birth of their third daughter Bianca, his wife Vanessa was up for trying for a boy but was “jokingly concerned” it would be a fourth girl. Ellen said she asked him, “Four girls? What would you think? How would you feel?” and she said that without hesitation Kobe told her “I’d have five more girls if I could. I’m a girl dad.”
Although there have been back and forth rifts between Jon and Kate and their children over the years, the concerned dad told HollywoodLife exclusively in Oct. 2019 that he thinks it’s important to trust his children. “You have to trust your kids, what you instilled in them. You don’t have to hover,” he said. “You have to trust that they’re educated and that they will do right. And what ever happens, happens. It can’t be so general and simple, it’s difficult. It’s hard to be a parent.” We’re so happy to see that Jon and Hannah share a great father-daughter bond!