Kate Gosselin Defends Busy Schedule; ‘Dancing’ Cast Defends Kate

Kate Gosselin may have survived to dance another day on “Dancing with the Stars,” but behind the scenes, everything is anything but calm for the reality mom.

While ex-husband Jon has filed a motion seeking primary physical custody of the couple’s eight kids, Kate is fending off a shot from Jon calling her an “absentee” mom, due to her time spent in LA for “DWTS.”

In fact, the working mom – who built a dance studio in her basement at the family’s home in Pennsylvania so she could be with her kids as much as possible – recently defended her busy schedule to Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush.

“Maybe because I’m in front of the camera so much and people see where I am – I’m in LA. I’m in New York. I’m here or there – the bottom line is I’m just doing what every other mom is doing. They just don’t have cameras following them so people can’t keep tabs on how many hours a day they spend with their kids,” Kate told Billy. “I have to do it. I have eight kids. It’s not a joke, it’s the truth. I have to provide for them.”

The new family drama comes on the same week that Us Weekly has described Kate’s “DWTS” performances and poor attitude behind the scenes as “Kate’s Train Wreck.”

So, what do the folks who work closely with Kate on the show have to say?

“Well, I saw the train wreck last night. I was there,” judge Carrie Ann Inaba told Access of Kate’s ballroom performance. “It was kind of scary, but the thing about Kate is, she’s a housewife and I think that people really relate to that… She’s inspiring people who have never danced before… She’s not the best, but she’s still doing it and I give her a lot of credit for that.”

Meanwhile, “Dancing” co-host Brooke Burke also came to Kate’s defense, shooting down the reports of “diva” behavior.

“It’s really interesting. I haven’t seen anything from Kate other than loveliness and happiness and kindness,” Brooke told Access. “I think she’s really frightened and she’s going through a lot of stress on the show. I want her to pull through this and succeed, I really do. I want her to conquer this for her own self as a woman and as a mother.”