Jon Gosselin: "I Have to Be a Man"

Jon Gosselin told Larry King an "epiphany" made him realize TLC's recently re-tooled Kate Plus Eighthas exploited his family and claimed the network terminated his contract after it learned he wanted to end the program.
"I don't want them to film anymore. I don't think it's healthy for them," Gosselin said on Larry King Live on Thursday. "And I — the reason I don't think it's healthy for them is that we're going through a divorce right now.  And I don't think it should be televised.  And I think my kids should be taken off the show."

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Kate Gosselin's attorney, Mark Momjian, appeared on the program as well, to say the couple's divorce will not be delayed and that Kate would end the show if she felt it was detrimental to the children."What he doesn't understand is our life is our show, and our show is our life.  I want it to stop," Gosselin said in response. "I want it to stop completely." "I really have to be a father here.  I can't be a kid anymore," he continued.  "I have to be a man." Gosselin's appearance came hours after he issued a cease-and-desist order that caused TLC to suspend production. The father of eight, who was joined by his attorney, Mark Jay Heller, said he had intended for weeks to pull the plug on the show and planned to announce he was quitting on Live before TLC blindsided him with the show's name change on Tuesday."[TLC's legal team] sent me a letter in which they said when they learned we were going to go on the show, Jon should not proceed with his appearance," Heller said. "And when we told them we were going to still appear and we were going to, in essence, terminate the show, they then said yesterday we'd better do something first."Gosselin, who said he found out about the show's upcoming changes from an Associated Press story, said he does not get along with "the people at TLC," whom he said put him on house arrest for "breach of contract" after he was seen out with other women earlier this year. But the family's contract with the network is null and void, Heller said, because the network never secured permits to film the children nor have the children been compensated.

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TLC has denied the accusations. The show is under investigation by the Pennsylvania Labor Department, but a department spokesman said Thursday there was no new information about the probe.Admitting to making "mistakes" and having "messed up," Gosselin said he realized one day it was time to move forward without cameras. "I had an epiphany one day. I just looked in the mirror and I said I don't want to be this person anymore," he said. "I want the fodder to stop and I want Kate and I to mediate. ... I'm here to apologize to Kate. I'm here to apologize to a lot of people. I have made mistakes. I apologize to Hailey [Glassman]."Gosselin, who said Kate wants to continue the show for "financial reasons," said he last spoke to his estranged wife three and a half weeks ago. He said he texts her, but she doesn't reply.

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"I want us to become friends," he said, adding that that's why he's suspending divorce proceedings. "I want us to figure out our marriage and I don't want it to be filmed anymore.  And I don't want the kids involved."