Kate Gosselin broke more than child labor laws. When she still had custody, Jon says, she effectively broke Collin.

Jon is speaking out about the way that the trauma that Kate inflicted upon their son will haunt him for life.

It's no surprise to anyone who has followed the Gosselin family to hear that Kate has done worse to her children than exploit them for profit.

Many have perceived a troubling dynamic, where Kate views Collin as her adversary, since he was very young. 

In a new interview with The Sun, Jon Gosselin is being very frank about the lasting damage that shipping Collin off to an institition has done.

Jon acknowledges that Collin will "always" be emotionally "affected" by that trauma during such an important period of his development.

"I think that will always affect him," Jon expresses.

That is not a radical notion. Childhood traumas shape a great deal of who we are as adults -- and often for the worse.

"But," the father reasons, "that’s something he’s going to have to deal with."

“Those are things that he will have to move on from now, moving forward," Jon adds.

"The past is the past," Jon affirms.

"But," he adds, "he will work through those issues through therapy."

"And these are questions he’s going to have to answer himself," Jon adds, without specifying the questions.

Collin, he says, could process his experiences "maybe through interviews, through the public, or privately."

Jon also went into further detail about Collin's institutionalization, which happened when he was 11.

He reveals that Kate unilaterally did this, without Jon's permission.

Jon has since clarified that Collin does not have the "special needs" that Kate claimed.

He also reveals that it was when he received a letter from Collin, pleading for help, that he began to take every action possible to bring him home.

These days, of course, both Collin and Hannah are living with Jon, in his custody.

Their four fellow sextuplets are still living under Kate's control, apparently by choice.

(There are a lot of complex psychological factors behind why some children seek escape, while others cling to authoritarian, toxic parents)

The eldest twins are currently living with Kate but are young adults and college students -- they returned home during this pandemic.

When Jon says that Collin will remain emotionally affected for life, what does he mean?

Well, institutionalization has a profound impact upon the human brain, even in adults.

For a still developing brain of a preteen, that would be even more dramatic.

Adding to that the way that Collin missed milestones, even his own (and his siblings') birthdays ... and his life will never be the same.

Naturally, fans don't imagine that Kate was thinking about this much when she decided to ship Collin off for the crime of thinking for himself.

It's much easier to picture how much easier it would be for her keep the other children in line without Collin.

Her biggest concern, many imagine, was how it might look to viewers once they learned what she had done.

Perhaps she simply hoped that, with so many children, fans woud be willing to overlook one missing without too much griping.

The lasting effects of trauma do not magically disappear once you are removed from the situation.

In fact, the sick joke of conditions like PTSD -- extremely common in abused children -- is that one's mental state gets worse after the trauma.

As the survival mechanisms that you used to cope at the time clash with a world where you're no longer in danger, there's a lot of suffering.

Jon was right when he said that Collin will work through it in therapy. We also hope that, one day, he's prepared to call his mom out very publicly.

View Slideshow: Jon Gosselin: TLC Was Gonna Pay Me $1 Million to Stay Married to Kate!