Teen Mom Family Reunion viewers are accusing Amber Portwood of using the show to “gaslight” her daughter, Leah Shirley.
During this week’s episode of TMFR, the moms had a casual conversation about putting their kids in therapy.
Briana DeJesus brought up her daughter Nova’s relationship with Devoin when Cheyenne asked whether Nova was in therapy, to which Briana replied, “No.”
When Briana mentioned that she didn’t think Nova was affected “that deeply” by her parents’ struggling co-parenting relationship, Amber Portwood added her two cents on the topic, pointing out that Leah isn’t interested in seeing her mom and even feels embarrassment towards her.
Amber Portwood says daughter Leah Shirley is ’embarrassed’ of her, ‘doesn’t want anything to do with’ her
“If you started therapy now, it’ll be better for the future because with me and Leah, the thing is that she doesn’t want anything to do with me pretty much right now at the age of 12,” Amber told Briana.
“Honestly, therapy when they’re younger…” Amber added, giving a thumbs-up to Briana, “Best thing to f**king do.”
Cheyenne chimed in and told Amber that she noticed how she often mentions Leah being embarrassed of her.
“She is. She’s said it before,” Amber replied. “Yeah.”
Teen Mom Family Reunion viewers say Amber Portwood ‘gaslights’ daughter Leah
After the episode aired, TMFR fans took to Instagram Stories on the Teen Mom Chatter fan page to share random thoughts about the cast.
One viewer wrote in and felt that Amber’s comments about Leah keeping her distance from Amber and admitting to being embarrassed of her mom were a form of manipulation.
“Amber using this show to gaslight Leah,” the comment read. “She knows what she’s doin for the camera.”
Other TMFR viewers voted and 80% of them agreed that Amber used the show to gaslight Leah.
Last season on Teen Mom OG, viewers watched as Leah finally expressed some complicated emotions that she developed from her mom Amber’s absence in her life.
One episode of Teen Mom OG showed a very awkward dinner when Amber visited Leah at Gary’s house, only to be ignored by Leah then leave early.
Due to Amber’s multiple mental illness diagnoses, along with a history of drug addiction and domestic violence, the 31-year-old mom of two spent a bit of time in jail and consequently lost custody of Leah. Amber also shares joint legal custody of her three-year-old son James with her ex Andrew Glennon.
Despite their troubled past, Amber recently said that she and Leah now share a mended relationship and they actually talk.
Earlier this month Amber admitted, “I can say very happily that giving her the space […] and some people might not understand why that was the best thing that I ever could do, because we actually talk now and she sees her brother all the time and that’s exactly what I wanted.”
Teen Mom Family Reunion airs on Tuesday nights at 8/7c on MTV.
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