Mama Drama!
We know that the women of Teen Mom have been in the limelight well since their teenage years. Pregnancies aside, the kind of pressure this puts on a young woman, her personal life, her romantic life, her education, her career, and her family is unfathomable. Then when the baby enters the world, it's all work all the time, nonstop, round the clock.
No parent is perfect. But most parents aren't constantly being followed, filmed, and criticized for every shortcoming either. The same can't be said for the cast of Teen Mom, but sometimes their mistakes or poor parenting choices are truly scary for the viewers!
1. The Boat Ride
Barbara Evans has never been a huge fan of David Eason, even when Jenelle and David first got together.
In an interview with Radar Online, Barbara recounted a time that David’s actions may have put her and Jace at risk. “I was at Jenelle’s house and she offered to take me and Jace out on their boat,” she said. “I said ‘Sure! I’d love to go,’ and I was really excited.”
Unfortunately, the trip turned out to be very exciting for all the wrong reasons. “David was driving that boat so fast that I was terrified,” Babs recalls. “He was crashing into the waves. It was horrible.”
“I was so afraid the kids were going to fall off the boat,” she said. “David was driving like a maniac. I was holding onto Jace as tightly as I could. I thought we could die out there!”
After he took his family out on the water, David was criticized by fans as soon as pictures surfaced of him and his family on the water without life jackets. It wasn’t long before Nathan Griffith claimed that Kaiser developed an intense phobia of water after that day.
Barbara’s Accusations
This isn’t the only abuse accusation that Barbara has against her son-in-law. "It is true that Jenelle locked Jace and Kaiser out," Barbara revealed. “It was over 100 degrees. Jace told me. He was upset. Because Kaiser kept going in and out of the house, David locked them out.”
Barbara also claimed to Radar, "Jace told me David hit Kaiser. Kaiser was pulling his diaper off because it had poop in it, and David got so mad that he spanked him really hard."
"I’ve been worried about Kaiser for a long time," she continued. "We think because he looks like Nathan, David gets more angry with him because of that fact… I think he’s trying to get rid of him, and then he’ll only have his own two kids and Jenelle in the house. He’s a conniving little thing."
2. Dazed and Confused
Another mom who has come under fire for putting herself and her kids at risk is Leah Messer.
Compared to her other co-stars who were getting married and having more kids, Leah already has two marriages under her belt, three kids, and she’s dealing with medical issues, so she doesn’t have time to date and deal with dudes.
But her fans are wondering if she’s started sinking down into depression yet again, as she has in the past. More so, they’re wondering if she’s resorted to illicit substances to get her through her pain.
Leah claimed to be taking anti-anxiety medication after Ali was diagnosed with incurable muscular dystrophy. She was also prescribed Hydrocodone, Percocet, and Tylenol 3 after the epidural she was given for Adalynn's birth. Leah was filmed multiple times in her home and driving looking extremely tired or even nodding off, but she said that it was simply a result of taking what she was rightfully prescribed.
She adamantly stated that she was not abusing drugs. She said, "I’ve had to take drug tests, and not just a regular pee drug test. I’ve had to take hair follicle drug tests." No drug misuse has been confirmed.
Feeling Foggy
Corey Simms grew so concerned about her behavior that he filed for full custody in 2014, saying, "People would randomly come up to me in public, around our small town, telling me how bad they’ve seen you on drugs." For her children, Leah checked into rehab in 2015 but said that it didn’t have to do with drug abuse.
In a recent episode of Teen Mom 2, Leah looked rather exhausted while she was driving to the doctor’s office to talk about Ali’s health scare. Because of her disorder, her muscles will become less able to carry the weight of her growing body; she’s already experiencing issues breathing, eating, and walking.
Leah found out that Ali’s breathing problems weren’t related to her muscular dystrophy, but she was feeling overwhelmed regardless. She almost seemed like her physical state was altered while she was in the car on this day. Her fans grew concerned since they’ve seen her like this before.
The Verdict
Redditor tickingtimebags talked about how she seemed out of it. "She is a drug addict though, and I honestly can’t imagine facing what Leah is facing with her daughter’s health and not wanting relief for a moment. Relapse happens. Hopefully that isn’t what is going on, but if it is, I hope she is taking her addiction seriously and seeking support for herself. I really feel for her, she’s a lost little hillbilly in a very painful situation."
AngelxDust concurred: "She ran over some curb or something and looked REALLY startled. First thing I thought was that she looked really HIGH and out of it. I rewinded it over and over and I’d lay money on her being on something."
Then, Redditor ROFL_stiltskin put it all in perspective, "Don’t think so… although I do think she seemed a bit preoccupied but IMO this can be attributed to having a lot on her mind and worrying about her daughter’s health.
"However, it wouldn’t surprise me if she was on some sort of anxiety medication, but not abusing it like we’ve seen it past episodes. I think what we witnessed was just a stressed out and worried parent."
What do you think?
3. Rumors Turned Fact
In the Teen Mom fanbase, it’s not hard for some rumors to fly for a while before they’re actually addressed by the stars. Even though some of these rumors are harmless, every now and then a serious accusation will come into play. This is especially true for Jenelle Evans.
Radar Online reports that Jenelle may have returned to her previous days of drug use. In fact, they allege that Jenelle may have been using drugs during her pregnancy with Ensley.
So who is responsible for these rumors and accusations? Well, that would be none other than Jenelle’s ex Nathan Griffith’s mother.
Drug use can have life-altering effects on anyone, especially when it comes to long-term addiction. However, drug use paired with pregnancy is extremely dangerous, and can have lethal implications for mother and child alike. Needless to say, accusing someone of using drugs while pregnant is a serious accusation and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
So when the mother of Jenelle Evans’s ex, Nathan Griffith, decided to take these accusations to court, she set off a wildfire of new rumors concerning the recent mother-of-three and bride-to-be. At the heart of the accusations, she begged the courts to grant her custody of Jenelle and Nathan’s son, Kaiser.
According to Radar Online, Doris Davidson, Nathan’s mother, took to court to plead that a judge grant her custody of Kaiser. She claimed that Jenelle "has an extensive history of drug use," that returned while she was pregnant with Ensley. She wrote, "Upon the birth of Ensley, the newborn tested positive for marijuana."
She went on to claim that "DSS became involved due to Ensley testing positive for marijuana and opened an investigation. Upon information and belief, both Plaintiff and David had positive drug screens for marijuana."
According to Radar, the papers also added, "The Plaintiff and Defendant [Nathan Griffith] are at this time not fit and proper persons to provide for the care custody and control of the minor child."
This is my confession
Earlier this year, Jenelle came forward about the drug claims against her.
She revealed that CPS planned to do a wellness check on Ensley after she was born. "Everything [was fine]; they closed the case," she said. She revealed that CPS had come to her home numerous times due to "haters online who say that [she abuses] her kids."
Jenelle chalked her marijuana use up to her esophageal disease during her podcast appearance, claiming that Doris’s attempts to bring it up are nothing more than a custody grab for Kaiser. However, fans on simply weren’t buying it. It doesn’t help that the court documents indicate that Ensley did indeed test positive for drugs at birth, which Jenelle denied.
In court documents obtained by Radar Online, it was claimed that "DSS became involved due to Ensley testing positive for marijuana and opened an investigation. Upon information and belief, both Plaintiff and David had positive drug screens for marijuana."
Still, fans weren't buying it. Reddit user Shelovesthem80sbby was alarmed by how often CPS was stopping by Jenelle’s home. "How she casually talks about CPS is crazy," they wrote. "I’m not sure if she understands that normal women who give birth, don’t just have CPS visits as frequently as she does. It’s not normal."
4. Family Picture
Although many of the moms get a huge amount of love on Instagram, one small misstep can mean a pretty angry fan-base.
Leah Messer experienced this firsthand (again) after posting this controversial picture to her Instagram. Although she likely thought her post was no big deal, fans are disappointed… and they are calling her out!
Leah posted this sweet picture of her leaning back with her three girls, Ali, Aleeah, and Grace. She wrote, "We had our own sleepover! #girltime is the #besttime #motherdaughter #bonding#mywholeworld #myeverything #mylife#aaa #thegang #mygirls #love #party#sleepover #makeup #princess #barbies#games #fun #love." They were all beaming in the picture, but it’s a small detail that had fans upset: the girls were wearing makeup. Viewers were upset that Leah allowed such young girls to have makeup on.
"They are so sweet and precious I just wonder it seems like every picture they have make up on….." wrote user iamashh30. "Why do your LITTLE girls always have lipstick on!!!" wrote user ambamz11. Others accused Leah of perpetuating gendered stereotypes and teaching her daughters that they need makeup to be beautiful.
5. Using Drugs?
Like her co-stars, Jenelle posts pictures of her children on Instagram at every opportunity. There’s no question as to why: she has some absolutely adorable children. That said, one update struck viewers as a little strange. In fact many of her fans have accused her of altering recent pictures of Ensley to cover up her daughter’s health complications.
Jenelle’s history of drug addiction is a well-known topic on Teen Mom 2. Even though she’s been clean from hard drugs for years now, she’s had more difficulty kicking the weed habit. Although she hasn’t discussed any drug use in recent seasons, most fans are convinced that she still smokes marijuana. More importantly, Nathan Griffith’s mother Doris is convinced that Jenelle still uses drugs.
In fact, Doris believes this so much that she tried to take Jenelle to court over the issue! Although Doris never gained custody of the three-year-old, the accusations of Jenelle’s drug use during her pregnancy remained. Now, fans are convinced that the star has gone to serious lengths to cover up the fact that her youngest child isn’t well.
Photoshopped?!
Twitter user buggy19631960 tweeted, "Did you see her new pic where she photoshopped that baby’s head?" They attached a picture Jenelle recently posted on Instagram where Ensley’s head appears to be pulled in around her headband.
Another user, ConfinedInMind, wrote, "Maybe she should photoshop while SOBER" and posted a before and after of Jenelle’s alleged photoshopping. User PomMon_xo wrote, "What in the world is going on with that baby’s head in the second pic? what kind of mother photoshops the shape of her child’s head."
Fans on Reddit discussed the picture as well. "Omg it’s so edited the head doesn’t match under the headband at all,” wrote user givenchycrocs. User i-am-canadian-sorry wrote, “If it is shopped it’s quite sad that they spend the effort and time into shopping a photo but not making a phone call to a doctor.”
But not everyone was so convinced. “I think it’s more likely just her hair bunched up under the headband. The first two could be photoshopped, but if so then I don’t think the reasoning is anything to do with disguising Ensley’s head shape. The last two photos look normal to me,” wrote user RuthBC. TdubLakeO wrote, “I’ve never understood all of the controversy over this baby’s head! We see her on the show from all angles without headbands all the time, her head is FINE, it’s perfectly normal!”
6. Picture Imperfect
And the Photoshop claims weren't the only time fans have been alarmed by Jenelle's photoshoots.
Like many of the Teen Mom cast members, Jenelle has made her pets a major focus in her life. Although she’s been accused of abusing her animals in the past, her love for her pets is more than clear in recent episodes. That said, fans aren’t sure she made the right choice when she let one of her dogs pose for a picture with Ensley — especially since it was a pit bull.
"Yeah they will babysit your baby or eat it. Risk isn’t worth testing," wrote Instagram user mrs_nolan. User lizbrooks06 wrote, "so scary! Never ever in life would I have a dog like that in my babies face."
User llrainie wrote, "SO not worth the risk….GEEEEZ!! I was bit by a pit! It’s ALWAYS gonna be an UNPREDICTABLE ANIMAL smh."
Then again, many users defended Jenelle’s choice. User sosoflyy24 wrote, "Awww I love the dog pic!!! Too precious. Pits will protect Family to no end."
7. Horsing Around
Thanks to Jenelle’s history, her social media posts often fall into dispute. The comment sections of her posts contain equal parts hate and petty criticisms about everything from her hair to her kids’ clothes. However, this particular video seems to have fans genuinely concerned about her children’s safety.
It’s normal for children to horse around, especially at a certain age and especially when they’re boys! Jenelle’s step-daughter Maryssa got in on the fun as well in a clip Jenelle posted of the kids playing wrestling. Although all of the kids seem to be having fun, there is one moment when Maryssa grabs Jace and flips him over, letting him land on his neck.
"Doesnt matter that Jace could end up paralyzed guys… what matters is ‘it’s their room’ not hers," wrote Twitter user @Anon_Mafioso. They added, "dont care that theyre playing, even rough housing BUT Jace was clearly saying Maryssa was hurting him then pulled a very unsafe neck roll and she was more worried about a room? Who will take care of him if hes paralyzed? Not [Jenelle]…BABS and she already has enough problems."
This user was far from the only one who thought that this behavior was alarming. "She has no self awareness or any sense of what is appropriate or not with regards to her kids," user @HPoshCloset wrote. "I cringe to think of what we will see as they get older."
"As a nurse and mother, this is horrific," wrote user @dee_gunter. @sksmith_rn chimed in, "Absolutely agree. Most parents would shut down that kind of behavior, not post it on Snapchat for the world to see. Poor Jace!"
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