In the latest episode of Teen Mom, Amber Portwood’s 16-year-old daughter Leah Shirley, who lives with dad Gary Shirley and stepmom Kristina Shirley, addressed their “fake” relationship.
Amber Portwood’s daughter is not performing for the cameras.
During the May 1 episode of Teen Mom, Amber’s daughter Leah Shirley, who primarily lives with dad Gary Shirley and stepmom Kristina Shirley, called out the relationship she says Amber tries to uphold while filming the reality series.
“It's fake,” Leah, 16, confessed of Amber’s behavior to Teen Mom costars Catelynn Lowell and Maci Bookout. “You don't text me. You don't see me. And then when you do see me, for the purposes of there being a camera in your face, you try to act like you're the best mom ever.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Leah admitted that she didn’t want her mom Amber to join in on a family trip to New York, especially following her TikTok Live tirade about stepping back from Teen Mom.
"Obviously like, I was already not wanting a relationship with her before, because she hasn't been there,” Leah told her dad in another scene, “but after her recent activities, I don't even want to be near her at this point.”
As Leah also admitted, she has simply grown tired of her mother’s behavior.
My entire life, and probably before that too, she's always been like this,” Leah explained. “She's always been out to get people and just to make sure all the attention's on her or something, and always turns herself into the victim of everything.”
And when Gary suggested that Amber isn’t aware of Leah’s true feelings, the 16-year-old agreed.
“Maybe she doesn't even know that she's treating people like crap,” Leah continued. “She needs to know though. I think maybe she doesn't really realize that I'm the one that has been actively not wanting a relationship with her. I feel like maybe I need to text her or something and let her know.”
InstagramAnd while the teenager emphasized she doesn’t “hate” her mom, she admitted she needs to take some space—and that’s a decision she came to on her own.
“I understand that she has her own issues to deal with and it makes it difficult, but I just can't handle it myself,” Leah added. “She tells people we have a good relationship and I think she thinks it's my dad's fault, and I want to clear that up because it's not fair for her to blame my dad for something that I want.”
Amber, for her part, had written Leah a note for her birthday back in March, telling her daughter she’d wait for her forgiveness. However, Leah noted at the time she wasn’t particularly touched by the gesture.
As she put it, “That doesn't really make up for an entire year and all times before that she hasn’t been there.”
