Shen Williams— mother of Teen Mom star Bar Smith— had a lot to say about the most-recent episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.
In a series of comments left on the official ‘Teen Mom’ Instagram page, Shen blasted MTV for “exploiting” the kids on the show. The ‘Teen Mom’ grandma’s comments came after she watched a clip from Thursday’s episode, in which 16-year-old Leah Shirley is having a conversation with Catelynn Lowell and Maci Bookout regarding the strained relationship Leah has with her mother, Amber Portwood. Catelynn asks Leah when she last saw Amber, and continues to question the teen about her feelings toward her mom.
Shen— who has been known to spew some word-salad thoughts to social media in the past— seemed to actually have many fans agreeing with her that producers putting a camera in Leah’s face to have that conversation was inappropriate.
“Smh sheesh she grilling her like that,” Shen wrote of Catelynn.
When someone agreed that Leah appeared to be uncomfortable having the conversation with Catelynn on-camera, Shen stated that she would not allow her daughter to be questioned in that way.
“I am pushing up if you grilling mine like this,” Shen wrote. “Absolutely [Catelynn needs to] mind her business.”
“MTV exploits these children,” Shen went on to state. “They ruin their life.”
Shen has been outspoken about her dislike for the show and its producers, stating that she no longer watches or will appear on ‘Teen Mom’ due to the way she says she’s been treated in the past. In her Instagram comments, Shen noted that she had only watched the clip and not the full episode.
“And I don’t watch it but [Catelynn] is so outta pocket [for] this sorry,” she wrote. “Yes, [Leah’s] like ‘that’s her [mom’s] friend. I would feel some type away. The way she’s grilling that baby. I hate the way they do the children. People don’t think about what they go through.
“They ruin the families and they don’t even show truth,” Shen alleged in her comments.
This is certainly not the first time MTV, as well as the cast and producers of ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ have been criticized for exploiting the kids from the show, particularly as they have become teenagers. In 2021, Maci caught a lot of flak for using her son Bentley’s private therapy sessions about his then-estranged father Ryan Edwards as her storyline. After Maci filmed phone conversations with the then-12-year-old’s therapist and revealed private things Bentley had mentioned in therapy, fans took to social media to slam her.
That same year, Teen Mom 2 star Chelsea Houska announced she was leaving the show, primarily because her eldest daughter Aubree was now a teenager and Chelsea was not happy that MTV was centering her storylines around Aubree’s personal life and family issues, rather than Chelsea’s.
While Shen’s posts on social media are often met with laughing emojis (due to their often “Farrah Speak” nature), many fans seem to agree with what she wrote about Leah and Catelynn’s on-camera conversation.
“I did think it was a bit intrusive like dang,” someone wrote.
“It’s disgusting. This is a very sensitive topic and they should NOT be discussing it with her at ALL,” another person commented.
“I agree 100% 16-year-old brains aren’t equipped to realize that this will be on TV forever,” someone else wrote. “The adults shouldn’t have put her in this situation.”
“This conversation is very inappropriate for Amber’s friends to be talking to her daughter on camera like this,” one person wrote. “I understand Amber is dead wrong but the conversation for the camera is inappropriate in my opinion.”
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