In the newest episode of their podcast, Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra have come out swinging at accusations that they are exploiting their biological daughter Carly— and accusing Carly’s parents, Brandon and Teresa Davis, of doing just that behind closed doors.
During Wednesday’s episode of the Cate & Ty Break It Down! podcast, the Teen Mom stars spilled some behind-the-scenes tea about Brandon and Teresa, revealing that the couple has repeatedly used their situation with Carly for their own fame and money.
As ‘Teen Mom’ fans know, Ty and Cate placed Carly for adoption with Brandon and Teresa at birth. Over the years, Brandon and Teresa have made several appearances on the show, but have forbid Cate and Ty (and MTV) from showing Carly’s face. Last year, Carly’s parents blocked Catelynn and Tyler and cut off communication, essentially closing Carly’s adoption. Since then, Ty and Cate have been very outspoken about the grievances they have with Brandon and Teresa— as well as the concept of adoption in general— but Wednesday’s podcast episode marked the first time they had exposed some of the things Carly’s parents have demanded over the years.
“I know a lot of people say we are exploiting Carly or posting stuff when we were asked not to,” Catelynn said. “Part of this podcast is to also get my part out of that’s not all factual.”
The couple told creator Jordy Cray that Brandon and Teresa have, in her opinion, used Carly and her adoption to garner themselves fame and money plenty of times, despite them acting like they want privacy.
“When it’s beneficial for them to exploit Carly and post…” Catelynn began, later stating that, “They’ve kind of exploited their situation too. It’s those things. People want to put all the blame on us like, ‘You’re on a reality TV show and they didn’t sign up for that’ but they did.”
As fans know, Brandon and Teresa agreed to appear on Catelynn’s 16 and Pregnant episode, believing it was a one-off documentary and did not know at the time that Catelynn would be chosen for the spin-off ‘Teen Mom.’ However, Brandon and Teresa have made several appearances on ‘Teen Mom,’ even allowing MTV to film the most-recent visit Ty and Cate had with Carly in 2023, as long as Carly’s face wasn’t shown.
Tyler then spilled the tea that Brandon and Teresa allowed MTV to show the back of Carly’s head on the show— but only if MTV paid them for it.
“‘If you don’t compensate us, then you’re not allowed to use these pictures on TV,'” Cate claims Carly’s parents told the network.
Tyler added that Brandon and Teresa have financially benefitted “hugely” from Cate and Ty being on TV.
“It’s hypocritical. I don’t understand,” Ty said. “If it’s really a moral standpoint that you’re taking, OK. But it’s not, because you literally went on the magazine when she was five and put her face out there, and that was fine and that was OK.”
(In case you’re wondering, Tyler is referring to a 2012 issue of Lifelines magazine, an adoption-centered publication put out by the Bethany Christian Services adoption agency that Brandon and Teresa appeared on the cover of, along with Carly and her little brother.)
Later in the podcast episode, Tyler and Catelynn discussed another time where Carly’s parents were upset with them, due to Cate and Ty “costing” them some MTV money.
“They called us [after we posted the photos from the 2023 visit],” Cate said
Tyler and Catelynn said they respected Carly’s parents’ wishes and only posted approved photos that didn’t show Carly’s face; however, Teresa and Brandon were still mad. According to Catelynn, Brandon told her that they were upset that Cate and Ty posted the pics of Carly, because “now MTV can’t pay us.”
“Because now it’s not an exclusive picture, we [posted] it first,” Tyler added.
“A lot of people don’t know that there’s so much backstory to our story!” Catelynn added.
The couple claimed that they have always shied away from painting Carly’s parents in a bad light, so they never publicly discussed the times Brandon and Teresa were money-hungry.
“My thing is that we’ve stayed silent on all those little details up until now, because now we have nothing to lose,” Tyler said.
Catelynn gave more details about Carly’s parents being mad about losing out on the MTV money.
“And it’s not like they get the money and they put it in an account for Carly,” Cate said. “No, they’re using it to pay for their flights, pay for their hotel [for the visit], which I get. But when we had that conversation about [them not getting paid] on the phone, I said, ‘I wish you would have told me. I would have helped you. I would have said, ‘You ain’t getting my picture either unless you help them with their travel!'”
Tyler and Catelynn also claimed that Brandon and Teresa are calculating about what they decide to participate in, attempting to make sure whatever they do makes them— and their adoption story— be seen in a positive light.
“If it benefitted them, they were going to do it,” Cate said, with Ty adding, “And if it made the adoption look really good.”
The couple also claimed that Brandon and Teresa got upset whenever they’d say anything even remotely negative about the adoption.
“If you expressed your feelings, or [said] anything negative about [the adoption], it was like, ‘You can’t do that. Now it’s bad. Now we’re mad,'” Tyler said. “It’s a weird power dynamic and it feels like for so long we had to be silent because, I don’t want to ruffle feathers, I’m not in control. So, we have to kind of be like, “OK, because I don’t want you to take her away’ so we didn’t speak out about a lot of things that happened behind closed doors. Because priority number one is to be able to see her and have access to her. So now that the access has been taken away [we are talking about it].”
Tyler also accused Brandon and Teresa of constantly changing the rules on them as to what is– and isn’t OK— often for their own personal gain.
“My whole thing is your moral ground can’t be shaky,” Tyler said. “It has to be firm…if your concern is for her privacy or her safety, then why are you agreeing to getting paid for a photo of the back of her head?
“Why does the moral ground keep moving?” he continued. “For years, those things would be happening behind closed doors and obviously we were kind of like [not wanting] to shake the basket at all so we were like, ‘Oh we’re not gonna say anything,’ but at this point I think it’s only fair that the full scope of the story gets put out there.”
Catelynn— who previously revealed that Carly’s parents demanded that she stop sending gifts to Carly– also gave more background about that situation.
“They don’t want people to look at them in a negative way,” she said. “For instance, when Teresa told Dawn to tell us, ‘Don’t be sending any more gifts, it’s uncalled for,’ she also told Dawn to tell us that, ‘You can’t send any more gifts or anything, it’s uncalled for and disrespectful. But don’t tell anybody that I said that.’
“Does that make any sense?” Cate said. “It’s almost like you don’t want the full truth out because then it’s actually showing how you really are being as an adoptive family. And then you’re telling me that I can’t say that so in turn it’s making me look like the bad guy all over again.”
Brandon and Teresa have never publicly responded to Catelynn and Tyler’s statements.
