Kate Gosselin: Still Pining For Jon?!

They fought and fought. They split and traded barbs in the press. He paraded around with a bunch of mediocre girls, then faded into relative obscurity.

After all that, Kate Gosselin misses her ex, Jon.

The demise of Jon and Kate's volatile and fertile marriage was one of the more epic celebrity splits of recent years ... but is there still a glimmer of hope?

Jon may not care. He's happily out of the limelight, working a 9/5 construction job and supposedly so in love with girlfriend Ellen Ross. But Kate still misses her ex.

OK Magazine says as much, so it must be true, right?

"Friends" say she’s lost without him, professionally and personally, struggling with her mass motherhood situation and a show floundering sans Jon Gosselin.

“He was her whipping boy,” says a pal, “but also her best friend. Yes, things were very toxic between them, but there was at least some sort of camaraderie.”

Maybe so. It was the kids - but also the Jon and Kate Gosselin fighting over the kids, chores, infidelities, you name it - that made Jon & Kate Plus 8 so fun.

Team Kate saw Jon as a jackass. Team Jon saw Kate as a grating banshee. Team Neither wished they'd both go away but ate up the gossip just the same.

Kate Plus 8 (Minus Jon) has posted disappointing numbers. The show debuted with 3.4 million viewers, which promptly declined by more than 50 percent.

With a new season premiering this Sunday, April 4, the pressure’s really on.

“His departure made the show less interesting to people and left a very real hole in her life,” adds the insider, noting that she misses him personally, too.

“She pretends to be made of steel, but underneath, she is very sensitive.”