By Alexis Tereszcuk - Breaking Celebrity News Entertainment Editor

Explosive secrets about Kate Gosselin, including how she allegedly hit her children with a wooden spoon, are about to be revealed in a bombshell new book, and Breaking Celebrity News has learned that the author is a journalist who’s close friends with her ex-husband Jon Gosselin!

Reporter Robert Hoffman has been friends with Jon for years, which is how he learned the supposed behind-the-scenes details of Kate’s private life.

Hoffman was an employee of the local newspaper near the Gosselins' home and began working for Us Weekly magazine covering the reality show couple in 2009 when he became good friends with Jon, the blog Small Town Gosselins reports.

“Robert Hoffman and Jon Gosselin eventually became friends, or, in my opinion, Robert ingratiated himself to Jon. Jon gradually included Robert in his social activities, inviting him inside the fence, including him in dinners and on trips such as the one to Las Vegas for the Wet Republic pool party,” the blog reports.

As Breaking Celebrity News exclusively reported, Hoffman tells the new issue of Star magazine that he found secret journals Kate used to help her write her books, Multiple Bles8ings and Eight Little Faces, and claimed that she hit the children with a wooden spoon, saying: “She uses that ‘Spanker’ on a daily basis for anything and everything. The spanking entries are endless.

“She was beating 2-year-old babies in diapers,” he claimed and said that Kate kept detailed notes on her co