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Kate Gosselin Scares Fans at Michigan Meet-and-Greet
In her first public appearance since acknowledging she and husband Jon Gosselin might split, Kate Gosselin briefly addressed their martial problems.
Accompanied by her bodyguard Steve Neild, Kate (who appeared exhausted and puffy-eyed) walked on stage at the Frauenthal Theater in downtown Muskegon, Mich., in a sleeveless, mauve V-neck dress and black leather peep-toe shoes.
The TLC reality show told the crowd of 800 she was surprised at the public interest in her marriage: "This is certainly not what I envisioned when I signed up for this."
Look back at photos of Jon and Kate through the years
"It's really, really difficult right now," she later admitted before pausing briefly. "And now back to our regularly scheduled programming!"
The crowd laughed.
See photos of Jon Gosselin and his 23-year-old mistress
Kate then gave a speech -- which she described as "the rawest, most real" talk she's ever given -- from her 2008 book Multiple Blessings.
She told the audience that ever since she was 12 she dreamed about being "a wife and a mom."
She thought her life plan was ruined when she was later diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome, an endocrine disorder.
"But my dreams came true when I became pregnant with twins," she went on.
Later, after using fertility treatments, she learned she was pregnant again. "When they found seven babies, I started sobbing," she told the crowd. "The office sent us out the back door, I was sobbing so loudly."
Despite miscarrying the seventh baby, she said she persevered.
"I'm a 'Give me a mountain and I'll climb it' person. I never give up," she said. "At my 12-week ultrasound, I saw six little people with arms and legs, kicking and flipping around in their little circles. I started to love them as my babies that day, even though I was still scared to death."
Around the same time, her husband lost his IT job. ("At one point Jon stood in line at the Salvation Army," said Kate, who now earns $75,000 an episode for her TLC show, in addition to a slew of freebies.)
But things perked up after the six healthy babies were born: "Jon went back to work," she said.
"I missed him," she continued. "He was the fastest diaperer! He could go through the whole assembly line in seven minutes!"
After spending three years as a stay-at-home mom, she said life began to feel "redundant.... But moms are doing the best job in the world. You are growing the people who will run our world one day."
See Hollywood's stylist moms
She then told the crowd, "I know that I am doing my best, even though that mommy guilt gets to you. Don't let it get to you, moms! Do your best and remember tomorrow is another day."
During a Q&A session after her speech, fans asked Kate if she and her family mind having the cameras around all the time. "The kids love them," she said. "They scream when they come over, and when it's goodbye, it's all hugs and kisses!"
Asked how she stays in shape, Kate said, "I torture myself on the elliptical machine at 5 a.m. Yuck! It's a great form of stress relief, though."
See photos of stars working out
Fans had mixed reactions after seeing Kate.
At one point, a girl put her arm around Kate for a photo, but Kate's bodyguard waved her off. "Don't touch her," he told the girl.
See more controversial reality show stars
Shannon Knapp, 34, Swartz Creek, Mich., told Usmagazine.com that she brought three gift bags with birthday gifts for Kate's sextuplets.
"Kate looked so intimidating - I didn’t even want to bring the gifts to her!" Knapp told Us. "I felt like I might get my hand slapped. Later, when I told her what the gifts were, she kind of warmed up and was nicer, but at first, she seemed very detached."
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