Jon Gosselin: I'll Apologize to Kate
Jon Gosselin says he intends to deliver two powerful words to his estranged wife, Kate Gosselin, at some point: I'm sorry.
Gosselin shed light on his intentions in front of the cameras Sunday night.
This time, reports CBS News Correspondent Whit Johnson Gosselin wasn't on a yacht or in a nightclub with a new girlfriend. A "surprisingly introspective" Gosselin turned up in a very unlikely venue.
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"After a summer of parties and paparazzi," Johnson says, "it was the last place you'd expect to find Jon Gosselin -- a synagogue in Manhattan, where celebrity rabbi Shmuley Boteach kicked off the event.
Boteach, who once counseled Michael Jackson, joked, "I guess you all came here to hear my sermon on the Bible reading, right?"
Actually, audience members paid $20 a head to hear a serious Jon Gosselin -- of "Jon & Kate Plus Eight" fame -- dissect his troubled life and marriage.
In a dark suit and without his trademark earrings, Gosselin began by confessing that his celebrity is a mystery to him. "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."
He contended he never wanted the bright lights, saying, "I never asked for it, I never invited anyone. ... The only cameras that ever followed me around were TLC, and that was only three days a week, and that was work. It's a job. And then, all of a sudden, you know, I saw our marriage disintegrating."
And while he didn't vilify Kate, he did revisit a frequently heard complaint: "She always said I was the 'ninth child.' And I felt like the ninth child, because I couldn't get to the point that she could love and respect me."
Later, though -- some frank reflections. First, to Kate: I want to apologize to Kate ... so, when that time comes, I will apologize to her. And I'll apologize to her for openly having relationships in the public eye. And that was a huge mistake."
Then, to their eight kids: "I'm gonna have eight years to prepare, to think about how I'm gonna explain myself, what I did, in eight months. Even though I was a good father, I believe, for eight years, it doesn't matter. Those eight months have tarnished those eight years."