Catelynn Lowell & Tyler Baltierra Issue Public Statement Saying Bio Daughter’s Carly’s Parents Demanded Carly’s “Gift” to Them Air on ‘Teen Mom’

Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra posted a lengthy statement to social media on Thursday in at attempt to provide some context about a “gift” from their biological daughter Carly, which viewers will see them receive on Thursday’s season finale of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.

Catelynn and Tyler have been at odds with Carly’s parents, Brandon and Teresa Davis, for over a year, with Brandon and Teresa ultimately deciding last year to cut off contact with the MTV stars. 

In their statement, Cate and Ty told viewers what was going on behind the scenes of the segments set to air on Thursday. They stated that Carly’s parents sent them a “gift” from Carly— a clip of her singing— but Cate and Ty say Brandon and Teresa would only give the clip to them if it was aired on the show. This stipulation caused the ‘Teen Mom’ stars to be “confused” and feel “manipulated,” among other things.

On a recent episode of ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter,’ viewers saw Cate and Tyler reach out to Dr. Drew Pinsky for advice on the situation, to which Dr. Drew offered to contact Brandon and Teresa himself to hear their side of the story. In a preview from this week’s season finale, Dr. Drew tells Cate and Tyler that he was able to speak to Carly’s parents, who informed him that Carly is “thriving” and “doing all these wonderful things.”

In response, Cate tells Dr. Drew that she feels bad to hear those things, somewhat, because Brandon and Teresa are “keeping that beautiful girl for me.” 

“I don’t think that’s the intent,” Dr. Drew replies, to which Cate says that’s “how it feels.” 

As Catelynn begins to get emotional, Tyler acknowledges that he and Cate can never say they’re not grateful for Brandon and Teresa, but that doesn’t change the fact that he also wishes Carly’s parents “would have been more upfront and honest” about what they wanted out of this adoption before they “took the baby.” 

As for Tyler and Cate being blocked from contacting Brandon and Teresa, Dr. Drew insists that Brandon and Teresa may be willing to open that door again. He also tells Catelynn and Tyler that they are still “encouraged to send gifts” to Carly,” but only when gifts are “completely appropriate.” (As The Ashley previously reported, Catelynn stated earlier this year that she was told by Teresa to stop sending Carly gifts because Teresa felt it was “uncalled for” and “inappropriate.”)

While Catelynn and Tyler say they appreciate this information, they find it “weird” that they had to hear it from Dr. Drew and not “the two people we made an agreement with.” Dr. Drew explains to the couple that currently, Carly’s parents feel that a “reset” is needed for all parties in order to “let all the negativity kind of settle.” 

“As part of this reset, they shared something very important to me, something rather moving and remarkable from your daughter,” Dr. Drew tells Cate and Tyler. “She sings in church, she’s quite an accomplished singer and they recorded a song of hers … .” 

In response to another preview from the finale, in which Tyler claims that the “intention” of the recorded song “feels manipulative.”

Tyler and Catelynn posted a joint statement to social media on Thursday thanking Brandon and Teresa for taking the time to record the song, which they called “a beautiful gift and so meaningful,”; however, they also informed Carly’s parents that they requested to listen to Carly’s song privately before doing so on-camera, in order to “process the inevitably intense feelings that come from it.”

The pair went on to explain that this “gift” also creates a lot of confusion, as they’ve been asked by Carly’s parents to not speak about their adoption story publicly, but then Carly’s parents gave them a “very personal song” that they demanded be played on TV. 

“It’s confusing because you don’t want us to have the song ourselves (even though that’s what Carly wants), but yet you want the whole world to have it & are using TV to do so … ,” they wrote. “So I hope you understand how that can make us feel stuck, confused, controlled & manipulated, regardless if that was your intent or not.” 

Tyler and Cate went on to apologize to Carly’s parents if their decision to speak their truth as birthparents has hurt them or Carly, insisting that was “never our intention.” They also stated that while they “will always speak about adoption,” but will refrain from speaking about their own adoption journey moving forward, noting that “this reconciliation effort” isn’t for themselves or Brandon and Teresa, but for Carly and “what she needs and wants.” 

“ … We cannot allow any of our own personal pain & insecurities to get in the way of that,” they wrote. “We’re adults here & it’s our job to put everything aside for the best interest of Carly. Which requires open, honest & transparent communication. So we hope moving forward, you will participate in that requirement.” 

Along with their lengthy statement to Brandon and Teresa, Tyler and Catelynn told fans in the caption of their post that receiving Carly’s song was something that was “thrown onto us out of nowhere with MTV’s set up.”

The couple also claimed that it was MTV’s idea for them to reach out to Dr. Drew, as their producers were the only people Carly’s parents were willing to speak to. 

“Their original plan was to have MTV film them & their family, as long as MTV didn’t have them talk about the adoption while filming. (Which MTV didn’t think made sense, so they compromised behind the scenes with the song idea),” the couple claimed. 

Cate and Tyler went on to say that they wanted to listen to Carly’s song privately before doing so on-camera, they were informed that, “the only way to hear the gift is if we listened to it on camera & that we weren’t actually allowed to have it personally.” 

“ … It was truly heartbreaking to have something so special just dangled in front of us, to then have it ripped away like that,” they wrote. “Navigating an open adoption as a birthparent is so difficult, especially with such a constant power dynamic… Birthparents are always at the mercy of the adopters (which is understandable, since we’re the ones who relinquished our baby to them) but that still doesn’t make it any less hard or painful.” 

The caption concluded with the couple vowing to no longer speak about their biological daughter or her parents publicly. 

“ … That’s why we’re actually relieved that this episode is airing, so that way we can all just finally move forward,” they added.

The season finale of ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ airs Thursday on MTV.