Kailyn Lowry Says She Agreed To Film Her Life for ‘Teen Mom’ Out of ‘Pure Desperation’

Fans first met Kailyn Lowry on 16 & Pregnant when she was expecting her first baby, son Isaac, more than 15 years ago. Though she has since left the popular MTV reality franchise, in a new interview, Kail is looking back on her time sharing her life on Teen Mom for so long and what prompted her to say yes to being followed around by cameras in the first place.

Kailyn’s life looked a lot different when she welcomed Isaac in January 2010. Not only was she a teenager, but she also was in a tough spot. When she found out she was pregnant, she was living with Isaac’s dad, Jo Rivera, and his parents. She didn’t have any support from her family, and she needed to make a plan fast. While talking to People in a wide-ranging interview published this week, she said seeing the first season of Teen Mom sparked her to apply for the show herself.

“I remember seeing 16 and Pregnant season 1 – Maci, Catelynn, Amber. I remember watching their stories play out in real time and then I was already pregnant,” Kail told People. “I went on MTV.com and it said, ‘Now Casting.’ So I just quickly sent in a little synopsis of my story and then the rest was history.”

Kailyn knew she needed money, and making the decision to film for the show was one she said she made out of “pure desperation.” Even though she knew Jo’s family would have helped her for as long as she needed, she wanted to know she could provide for herself and her new baby on her own.

“I needed money. I needed to go to college. I needed to be able to provide for myself and for my son,” she told People. “And at that time – by April I knew that I was going to be trying to get out of Jo’s parents’ house pretty quickly – so there was just desperation to find stability on my own.”

Now that she’s no longer a part of Teen Mom and is focused on building her own businesses (including multiple successful podcasts) Kail told People she hopes that eventually, being on the show won’t be what she’s best known for.

“I hope to potentially keep building the brands to the point where people don’t necessarily remember me as someone on Teen Mom,” she said. “It’s building something to a place where I can take a step back and not be the face of everything. I think that would be the goal for the next 15 years.”