Amber Portwood took to TikTok Live again for yet another late-night rant on Thursday, during which the Teen Mom star insisted that she isn’t the reason her teenage daughter Leah is in therapy.
Amber made these bold claims despite the fact that she is currently estranged from her 16-year-old daughter, whom she shares with ex Gary Shirley, and on the heels of Leah revealing on a recent episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter that she has “issues” due to Amber’s actions over the last 16 years.
During the Live, Amber also called MTV “desperate,” accusing those behind the show of “lying” and trying to make it seem like Leah had only recently been going to therapy, due to Amber’s estrangement from her over the last year or so.
Amber made an attempt in her latest TikTok Live sesh to back up her claims by encouraging fans to look up clips of a ‘Teen Mom’ Reunion from a few years ago, in which it was revealed that Leah was starting therapy. According to Amber, these clips prove that Leah began going to therapy for reasons unrelated to her or her parenting.
“Guys, MTV, really? Really?! Now, this is why I’m having a lot of issues, guys, with what’s going on right now,” Amber said. “ … I don’t know. I didn’t know about this until not too long ago, but it actually was told to me today … .
“ … I will not let them do that to me and lie to you guys either,” Amber continued. “So to prove my point, so you guys know that I’m telling the truth, I’m simply going to say to you guys, look up the Reunion from a couple years ago, when my daughter first started therapy. It has nothing to do with me.”
Amber went on to argue that “this is what they do”– “they” presumably being MTV and the people behind ‘Teen Mom,’ whom she also accused of lying to viewers.
“ … I call it desperation, but it’s lies,” she said. “And the craziest thing is that I don’t even have to prove this because they filmed it. So I don’t really know how they can even try to lie like this as if you guys are ignorant and, you know, wouldn’t catch on to that.”
While Amber didn’t confirm which Reunion she was talking about in the Live, it appears that she was referring to either the Teen Mom OG Season 8 Reunion or the one that aired in 2021. Leah being in therapy was a topic of discussion at both Reunions.
During the 2021 Reunion, Amber walked off the stage in anger after finding out that Gary and Kristina had put Leah into therapy without Amber’s knowledge. Kristina later revealed at the Reunion that it was Leah who requested that Amber not be told about it.
During the Season 8 Reunion, Gary and Kristina spoke about Leah having panic attacks, with Gary explaining to Dr. Drew and Nessa that Leah experienced these “panic attacks” whenever she got into trouble with her parents. Gary also revealed that he and Kristina had started taking Leah to see a therapist.
Despite Amber implying on TikTok Live this week that Leah seeing a therapist had nothing to do with her, Gary explained during that Reunion that he and Kristina actually began taking Leah to a therapist around the time that he and Amber were “going through some custody stuff.”
“ … We wanted Leah to have a place to open up [about] how she truly felt,” he said.
Gary went on to reveal that he was concerned that viewers would “trace a line from Leah to her mom” after it was revealed on the show that Leah was having panic attacks, noting that Amber has experienced similar issues herself over the years.
Later in the episode, Dr. Drew traveled to Indiana to speak to Amber one-on-one. During their conversation, Dr. Drew asked Amber how it felt to see Leah experiencing panic attacks that season and Amber said it “completely devastated” her, noting that she was around Leah’s age when she started having similar issues.
“I wanna be on board with Gary and Kristina,” Amber said regarding helping Leah. “I want us all to be on-board.”
Amber’s comments to Dr. Drew on the reunion suggest that she was very much aware that Leah had begun therapy at the time, despite claiming on TikTok Live Friday that she only learned about the details of the situation this week.
This is not the first time in recent weeks that Amber has denied having any part in her daughter having “issues.” During yet another TikTok Live earlier this month, Amber got angry when someone on the Live told her that she has put Leah “through enough” already.
“I put her through enough!?” Amber repeated. “We’ve already talked about everything from the past. She doesn’t remember anything, guys. She said it on the show that she didn’t remember anything bad…she didn’t remember anything but she would watch clips [of the show] online. And she said that’s what she hated.”
Amber went on to state that Leah doesn’t actually even have trauma.
“So it’s not trauma. She doesn’t have trauma. Thank God,” she said. “She’s had a rough life, yeah. But guys, not everything is trauma. And it’s not denial. You can’t call that trauma.
“I didn’t beat her,” Amber continued. “She’s traumatized about what?! “No, she’s not traumatized because of me. I didn’t do anything to her like that.”
You can watch the clip of Amber’s TikTok Live from Thursday below!
