During one of her latest TikTok Live rants, Amber Portwood defended her decision to continuously speak out against the Teen Mom franchise, claiming that her ultimate goal is to prevent her teenage daughter, Leah Shirley, from going through what she went through on the reality series. Throughout her hours-long Live on Monday night, Amber claimed that the show’s producers are trying to get Leah prepared to star on a new spin-off show about the ‘Teen Mom’ teenagers.
Amber has made a habit of taking to TikTok Live as of late to rant about everything from her issues with ‘Teen Mom’ and some of her co-stars, to her mental health struggles, to estranged relationship with Leah, whom she shares with ex Gary Shirley.
Earlier this week, Amber claimed that her recent decision to leave the MTV franchise to try to prevent Leah from appearing on the alleged spin-off about the kids of ‘Teen Mom’ that she claims the franchise’s producers are trying to make happen.
“I don’t want her to go through what I went through,” Amber said. “I don’t want her to be pushed to the forefront [of a show]. I don’t want it, guys. I just want her to understand and not be judgmental … .”
“They’re trying to take my daughter right now and push her to the forefront so they can have a new show with the kids!” Amber insisted later in the Live.
Amber was also unhappy about some of her castmates having on-camera conversations with Leah. (During recent episodes, Cheyenne Floyd spoke to Leah about her relationship with Amber, as did Maci Bookout and Catelynn Lowell.)
“Now MTV is pushing [Leah] to the forefront. And also flying out people from other states to come and talk to my daughter about us,” Amber said. “What do these girls on this show know anything about what I’ve been through, what I’m going through or what my daughter’s been through? They don’t know anything. They’re not therapists, psychiatrists or anything.”
Amber claimed that she spoke with a producer on Monday night and expressed her concerns about the ‘Teen Mom’ kids show idea; however, according to her, the producer had “no remorse.” She also claimed that the show’s producers made Cate & Co. have the on-air conversations with Leah, something Amber took personally.
“I never knew that I was going to get bullied and torn down by a franchise I helped build tremendously,” Amber stated.
While Amber claimed there’s a spin-off about the ‘Teen Mom’ kids being talked about by the network, no one else on the ‘Teen Mom’ cast has mentioned or confirmed that this spin-off is actually being discussed. However, ‘Teen Mom’ dad Cory Wharton did reveal in April that the MTV series is currently “on pause” and that the cast is “waiting to get green lit” for the next season of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.
In between getting emotional on TikTok Live and responding to comments in the chat, a tearful Amber explained this week that “the only way” she can ensure that Leah doesn’t experience what she experienced on reality TV is by Amber walking away from the franchise herself.
“What I wanna say is I love my daughter enough to leave hundreds of thousands of dollars,” she said, presumably referring to her decision to quit ‘Teen Mom.’
In addition to accusing a “really big company”– presumably MTV or the production company behind ‘Teen Mom’– of pushing an “agenda,” Amber told fans that she “gave so much” of herself to the franchise, only to experience things that “weren’t good.” Amber didn’t go into detail about what she was referring to with this comment and instead, told viewers that she couldn’t talk about it on TikTok Live. She did, however, reiterate that she doesn’t want her daughter “to do [the show] anymore.”
In response to someone in the chat who suggested that Amber needed to get off of TikTok Live as “it’s not helping anything,” Amber insisted again that she was speaking out on the platform for a reason.
“ … I’ve spent half my life just trying to help people because of the pain that I went through and was going through, but it’s time for it to stop,” she said. “MTV or 11th Street [Productions] … I don’t know what they’re thinking or what they’re doing … .”
While Amber may not want to see her daughter continue appearing on ‘Teen Mom’ (or any alleged spin-offs) Leah recently told People magazine that she enjoys sharing her story on TV.
“For me, having my life captured on TV has been a blessing,” Leah told the outlet. “I like being able to share my story and help other people who have gone through some of the things I’ve been through.”
New episodes of ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ air Thursdays on MTV.
