MTV’s Teen Mom Reveals How Amber Portwood Handled the Disappearance of Then-Fiancé Gary Wayt

   

Maci McKinney showed up for her friend during a difficult time. 

The Teen Mom: The Next Chapter star shared that she was worried about the emotional state of pal Amber Portwood—her costar on the MTV series—following the disappearance of Amber's then-fiancé Gary Wayt, who she reported missing in June after he vanished from the North Carolina hotel he and Amber were staying at.

"Amber's inside," Maci told costar Catelynn Lowell in an exclusive E! News clip of the Sept. 12 episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter. "If you just saw the state that she's in right now it's beyond. It's so bad. I feel so terrible for her."

Maci went on to note that she helped Amber—who confirmed her engagement to Gary, 38, just days before he went missing—call the Bryson City Police Department for any updates on the investigation, but the pair received disappointing news. 

"He basically was like," the 33-year-old recalled, "'You've done everything you can to help us here, but you just need to go home and get some rest.'"

But the emotional rollercoaster wasn't over for Amber yet. At another point in the clip, the MTV personality—who shares daughter Leah, 15, with ex Gary Shirley, as well as son James, 5, with ex Andrew Glennon—broke down in tears after Gary was sighted in surveillance footage captured on June 9 in New Mexico, over 900 miles away from where he was last spotted. 

"So many days, I just didn't even know if he was alive or not," Amber told Maci. "To even know that, like, 1 a.m. he was in New Mexico makes me feel so much better."

Gary was discovered on June 14, five days after he first went missing from his and Amber's Bryson City hotel. A little over a week later, the couple called off their engagement. 

And while their relationship didn't stand the test of time, Amber—who was the one to report him as a missing person to officials—cleared up speculation that the couple had a disagreement prior to his disappearance.

Amber PortwoodInstagram

"There was not a big blowout fight," she said during a June 11 YouTube Live. "He is a missing person right now. All the police officers, everybody is looking for him. I am praying for anybody that sees him."

Through tears, Amber added, "This man asked me to be with him. This man then asked me to marry him. I have not touched this man in any horrible way. He does not touch me in any horrible way. We do not yell at each other. We have a wonderful relationship."

Catch more moments of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter on MTV Sept. 12.