Don't point the finger at Jon Gosselin for all the madness surrounding his attempted shutdown of "Jon & Kate Plus 8," his manager said. The fault is with the show — which Gosselin claims is hurting his family.
"Basically we've put a halt on the show," manager Mike Heller tells PEOPLE. "Jon has been talking to TLC for a long time to cut back on the production and still honor his contract — because it's been getting in the way of his family, his children are complaining.
"It's been hurting the relationship that he's trying to reconcile with his wife — he's trying to get back with her as a parent," Heller said. "They are the mom and dad of their children [but] they talk by text message. He wants to take 90 days."
TLC announced Thursday that it was suspending the show until Jon and Kate Gosselin speak about the future of the show and raising their kids.
And it's not because, as most people seem to suspect, Jon was angry that he'd been cut out of a leading role in a revamped show that will be titled "Kate Plus Eight," Heller said.
"People are reporting he was fired. He was never fired. They just changed the name," Heller said. "This is not a ploy — it's an approach that he thinks will help him reconcile with his wife." Indeed, Heller insists that Jon is intent on putting his life back together on multiple fronts.
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"He's acknowledged he’s made mistakes and shouldn't have been running around. He took advantage of his freedom after he got it. It hurt his reputation," Heller said. "He's taken responsibility and you don't see him running wild any more. He hasn't been out partying. He's taken a look at himself in the mirror and he wasn't happy, it's not who he was. He never cheated on his wife. His wife is the one who ended the relationship," he said.
Days after learning that TLC would continue with a new version of “Jon & Kate Plus 8” that didn't include him as a major factor, Jon Gosselin demanded through his lawyers that the show cease production immediately or face potential criminal charges.
"Effective immediately, no production crews are to enter Jon's family home for any reason," a letter from his attorney said, according to The Insider. "In the event that anyone enters the marital property, Jon Gosselin will notify the local authorities to effectuate police action against any trespassers."
Jon Gosselin owns the property jointly with his wife. The letter is dated the same day as the TLC announcement that the reality show about the couple and their eight kids would be renamed "Kate Plus Eight" starting next season.
"It's pretty clear what's going on: Now that Jon isn't going to be on the show, he wants the show to end. All these years he's maintained that the kids aren't harmed by the show, but the minute he's removed from the show, suddenly it's bad for his family," a production source tells PEOPLE.
As for claims that Jon has been trying for several weeks to end the show, the set-side source reveals that Jon was actually happily taping the show, with his kids, less than one week ago, and that his attitude seems only to have changed once the announcement came from TLC that he was out.
"In the space of a few days, the show went from being something Jon was willingly participating in to something that is now detrimental," the source said. "That sure was fast."