Amber Portwood, now 34, had her daughter, Leah, on “16 & Pregnant” back in 2008. Now, Leah is 16 years old herself and beginning to process her childhood trauma on “Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.”
A recent episode of the MTV spin-off showed Leah opening up about her struggles with her mother, Amber, who was in and out of her life.
The teen primarily grew up with her father, Gary Shirley, as well as his wife, Kristina, and Amber’s absence left her with “abandonment issues.”
That’s why Leah decided to go to therapy in hopes of one day forgiving her mother, saying, “I just think I have a lot of, like, issues because of Amber in the experiences I’ve had. I want to overcome so that I can forgive her and just move on, and I think that it would help to have someone guide me on how to forgive someone because it’s hard for me to do that.”
However, Amber, who’s now 34, has begun voicing her side of the story. She went live on TikTok and responded to fans’ questions about her and her daughter’s estrangement.
First, one viewer pointed out how, at the time of filming a recent “Teen Mom: The Next Chapter” episode, Amber hadn’t talked to Leah for four months. Amber responded by claiming she was “told to stay away” and “never” would’ve gone so long without speaking to Leah.
“I want to have my daughter with me. I would love to have my daughter with me. I would love to do mom-and-daughter things. It’s up to her. She doesn’t want to be around me at the moment while she’s in therapy. I understand,” she stated.
Additionally, when Leah opted to begin attending therapy during the February 20 episode, she spoke to her father, Gary, about how she’s come across old “16 & Pregnant” clips on TikTok, some of which show domestic violence in her parents’ relationship.
“I see the older ones from when I was like 2, and it’s just weird to watch because it’s always just Amber screaming at you, and you leave,” Leah told Gary.
“There was one clip where [Amber’s] like, ‘Why is she crying?’ when she was in a complete opposite room, just leaving me. It’s weird. I think those ones are painful to watch because it’s little me.”
This prompted one viewer on Amber’s TikTok Live to accuse her of putting Leah “through enough.” Yet, Amber argued that she and her daughter had already discussed their past, and Leah didn’t remember “anything.”
“She doesn’t remember anything, guys. She said on the show that she didn’t remember anything bad. She didn’t remember anything, but she would watch clips online. And she said that’s what she hated,” Amber detailed.
Finally, Amber admitted that she actually doesn’t believe Leah has any childhood trauma. She noted that her daughter had a “rough life” but told her viewers, “Guys, not everything is trauma. And it’s not denial. You can’t call that trauma. I didn’t beat her.”
“She’s traumatized about what? No, she’s not traumatized because of me. I didn’t do anything to her like that,” Amber continued.
The 34-year-old acknowledged how Leah didn’t grow up in a healthy environment as a young child, given the recurring fights and tension. Nonetheless, viewers of her TikTok Live began berating her in the comments, and she fought back.
“You guys are talking about denial and all this [stuff]. I lived the life! Who’s traumatized? Who’s a victim? Who?” she asked, “Nobody ever said I was a victim, and nobody ever made excuses.”
Amber ended the TikTok Live by asserting that she had it “worse” than her daughter.
“I had a way worse life than she can imagine… than more than half of you guys did. You can’t sit there and do that with your kids. You can’t sit there and pamper to the point [that] you apologize for years, and the people are being pushed away from you, and you’re still apologizing.”
