Amber Portwood Dismisses That Daughter Leah, 16, Experienced 'Trauma' from Her Absence: 'I Had a Way Worse Life'

Mar. 15, 2025

Amber Portwood (left), Gary Shirley and daughter Leah.Photo:Amber Portwood/Instagram; ItsLeahTime12/Instagram

Amber Portwood/Instagram; ItsLeahTime12/Instagram

TheTeen Mom: The Next Chapterstar, 34, has navigated her estrangement from daughter Leah, 16, during recent episodes of the reality show. The teen has also opened up about her feelings about her strained relationship with her mom.

In addition to Leah, whom she shares with exGary Shirleyand his wife Kristina, Portwood is also mom to son James, 6, with exAndrew Glennon. Fans of the reality series have long been split on Portwood’s inconsistent presence in her children’s lives. In aTikTok Live, Portwood addressed some of those criticisms head-on.

When someone noted claims on the show that Portwood hadn’t spoken to Leah in four months at the time of filming, the reality personality shared her side of the story.

“I was told to stay away. Not to stay away, but… all that stuff,” she said, emphasizing she “would never” go that long without talking to her daughter.

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“I want to have my daughter with me. I would love to have my daughter with me. I would love to do mom and daughter things. It’s up to her,” she continued. “She doesn’t want to be around me at the moment, while she’s in therapy. I understand.”

Another commenter in the Live mentioned that Portwood had “put Leah through enough,” at which point she claimed she and Leah, “already talked about everything from the past.”

“She doesn’t remember anything, guys. She said it on the show that she didn’t remember anything bad. She didn’t remember anything, but she would watch clips online. And she said that’s what she hated,” Portwood said.

On the Thursday, Feb. 20 episode, Leah reacted to clips of16 & PregnantandTeen Momshe’s seen on TikTok.

“I see the older ones from when I was like 2 and it’s just weird to watch because it’s always just Amber screaming at you and you leave,” she said. “There was one clip where she’s like, ‘Why is Leah crying?’ when she was in a complete opposite room, just leaving me. It’s weird. I think those ones are painful to watch because it’s little me.”

On her TikTok Live, Portwood shared her that belief Leah “doesn’t have trauma.”

“It’s not trauma. She doesn’t have trauma. Thank God,” Portwood said. “She’s had a rough life, yeah. But guys, not everything is trauma. And it’s not denial. You can’t call that trauma. I didn’t beat her.”

She continued, “She’s traumatized about what? No, she’s not traumatized because of me. I didn’t do anything to her like that.”

Portwood clapped back as she was bashed in the chat, saying, “You guys are talking about denial and all this s—… I lived the life! Who’s traumatized? Who’s a victim? Who? Nobody ever said I was a victim, and nobody ever made excuses.”

“The day my son wants to tell me that I’m not there for him, that’s what my son will tell me. The day my daughter wants to say she’s pissed off at me because of my past, and me being a drug addict and having mental illnesses and going to prison and things like that, then that’s what the f— she’s saying, right now.”

“Damn, I had a way worse life than she can imagine, than more than half of you guys did” she continued. “You can’t sit there and do that with your kids. You can’t sit there and pamper to the point of, you apologize for years and the people are being pushed away from you and you’re still apologizing.”

New episodes ofTeen Mom: The Next Chapteron Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.

source: people.com