Recently, Jon Gosselin and Hannah took a trip from coast to coast.

The former reality star kept fans up to date on their journey with some cozy family photos.

In a new statement, Jon is praising his daughter's qualities as a "free spirit."

He hopes that his other children, from whom he remains estranged, can be inspired by Hannah's example and find their own voices.

This week, Jon Gosselin spoke to HollywoodLife about his amazing 17-year-old daughter.

“Hannah’s a free spirit,” he praised.

That gives him hope not only for her future, but for her siblings who remain firmly under Kate's unforgiving thumb.

“I hope her opening up will allow the others to open as well," Jon expressed optimistically.

"So," he continued, "maybe the others will start speaking their mind more freely."

Jon hopes that they can learn to speak for themselves while "knowing they have a voice then."

"A mentorship almost," Jon explained, in reference to Hannah serving as a role model to the others.

"Hannah’s doing it," he reasoned, "maybe we’ll do it too.”

Certainly, in some fearful environments, seeing one person speak up can inspire others. It can also discourage them, however.

Aaden, Leah, Alexis, and Joel, plus the older twins Mady and Cara, are all affiliated with Kate.

No matter what we think of Kate Gosselin, this is not the fault of those children, not even the 21-year-olds.

Growing up with a tyrannical parent like Kate is not something that people shrug off.

Hannah had to overcome countless generations of human survival instincts to oppose her worst parent.

Jon knows that he's not going to win any Father Of The Year awards, but he was clearly Hannah's best option.

We can only imagine the courage that it took for Hannah to take a stand and escape Kate and lead a more normal, healthy life.

Now, Hannah has been with Jon for three years.

In 2018, he gained custody of Hannah and then, after additional effort, of Collin.

Jon and Hannah picked up Collin from the institution where Kate had locked him away.

This week, Jon emphasized how Hannah's willingness to speak could hopefully one day spread to her siblings.

“It’s not just me speaking for her or mom speaking for her or the others,” he stressed.

Jon speculated: “Maybe they’ll see, ‘I can speak, too. I have a voice as well.'”

It is refreshing to observe that he's not saying that he, say, wants Hannah to brainwash her siblings into talking to him.

Jon has made it repeatedly clear that his kids can establish contact with him at any time, no questions asked.

But his focus, at least in this statement and in other interviews, is their freedom and their well being -- not his own ties to them.

That means that he's putting his kids ahead of his feelings as much as he reasonably could while discussing them.

That is something that they will not get from Kate.

Many have questioned over the years whether Kate fully understands that her children, or anyone else, are their own people.

Hannah has unfortunately been on the outs with some of her siblings since she broke ranks with Kate.

This is, sadly, expected. When you have a toxic family member, cutting ties with them sometimes means losing touch with others.

We hope that Hannah can exert a positive influence on her siblings. The Gosselins will all need a lot of therapy to process their lives.