Is he clean or not?
The road to recovery is different for everyone, and while certain tactics work fine for some addicts, it takes a while for many people in recovery to find something that sticks. Even for those with a strong support network and all of the best addiction recovery techniques, relapse might be part of the experience.
For Ryan Edwards, the stresses of struggling for custody of his son, living life as a newlywed, and being a reality television star add some serious complications into the mix. Although he says he’s been clean for months now, it was hard to overlook something that indicates he’s fallen off the wagon — that was even caught on camera in the last episode.
Credit: MTV
Life Threatening Addiction
Credit: MTV
For most addicts, sobriety is all or nothing. There’s no such thing as being a “casual user” of substances when you’re prone to addiction. For people who struggle with sobriety, any amount of use is something that needs to be addressed. Thats why Ryan’s recent behavior on Teen Mom OG has fans concerned — even a little skeptical — of his claims of sobriety.
After struggling with pill addiction, Ryan revealed to his wife Mackenzie, his lawyer, and every Teen Mom viewer that he had developed an addiction to heroin — an addiction that turned out to be serious and life-threatening.
Ryan eventually headed into a rehab program in an effort to get clean from his addiction. In this season of Teen Mom OG, he faces off with his ex, Maci Bookout, over custody of their son Bentley. Understandably, Maci won’t allow Ryan to see their son until he can pass a drug test and prove that his addiction is really a thing of the past.
But is Ryan really sober as he claims? The real answer to this question rang out loud and clear even though Ryan himself didn’t seem to see a problem. In fact, it aired for all the world to see on the a recent episode of Teen Mom OG, “Oh Baby.”
Caught on Camera
Credit: MTV
In the episode, Mackenzie and Ryan prepare to celebrate their formal wedding, even though they were legally married months ago. Although the wedding invitation seemed to clearly insult Maci and Taylor, Mackenzie and Ryan seemed excited about their big day. And what’s a wedding without a bachelor and bachelorette party?
“Well, brother, this is your last weekend as a free man,” one of Ryan’s friends said at his bachelor party. “So let’s go out and find ourselves some t*tties and some beers!”
Ryan is then filmed multiple times drinking alcoholic beverages, which throws his claims of sobriety into question. The moment left many fans shocked.
“Viewers could say what they want at this point,” Mackenzie defended her husband to Radar Online. She’s also shared her concerns about his addiction on camera, though.
“When Ryan was in rehab it was easy,” she broke down earlier this season. “I knew he couldn’t get anything. He was safe. When he came home life punched us in the face. If he wanted it, he could go get it. It’s scary.”
This isn’t the first time that Ryan has been caught drinking on camera. In fact, he put back a few beers on his first appearance this season after his stint in rehab, which had fans shocked on Reddit.
“I would think when your son comes home from rehab you would make sure he came home to a dry and clean environment,” wrote user 12adles.
While it’s true that not all drug addicts also struggle with alcoholism, the link between substances is obvious and dangerous. Sure, he may not have had a problem with drinking alcohol before, but it does seem questionable to concerned fans that he’s drinking so soon!
“When you drink you impair your judgement,” user catfor said, “[it’s] a one way ticket to relapse town.”
What do you think about Ryan’s drinking? Is it no big deal, or is he playing with fire? Let us know in the comments and SHARE this article!