You don't say!
Getting on the Show
Kailyn’s mother, however, was extremely unhappy about their decision to keep the baby so the teens decided to live in his Jo’s parents’ basement. Right before the move, Kailyn noticed that 16 & Pregnant was casting for a second season. She applied and was eventually picked for the show!
Like most of the rest of the girls, Kailyn had no idea what she was in for. “The first few hours of filming were the most awkward. I wasn’t used to having a lot of attention directed at me and now I suddenly had cameras following me around […] The impact on my life of being a part of a reality television show was overwhelming and I was’t sure if I could handle it.”
Absent Father Figure
As you probably noticed, Kailyn’s father is extremely absent in the show. According to her mom, he stole Kailyn, taking her from Pennsylvania to Texas when she was a baby. Her mom eventually found her with the help of lawyers and detectives. They haven’t heard from him since.
Then out of the blue (or not so out of the blue because Kailyn was on the show), Kailyn was contacted by her father’s sister. The MTV crews coordinated the trip to visit him, but it was a huge disappointment. The pregnant mom wrote, “The man who greeted me had a mullet, missing teeth, and was at least a foot shorter than I thought he would be.”
While the damage was too far gone between her and her father, she did learn that she had a sister and cousins, whom she eventually became close with.
Cheater Cheater
One of the most admirable traits Kailyn has is her work ethic. She made sure to finish high school. Things seemed to be going as well as they could be for the mom. She was on track for graduation and Jo had been working hard at Taco Bell to provide for his family and his baby.
However, Kailyn started becoming suspicious when Jo started missing classes at his community college and “picking up” late night shifts. While at a doctor’s appointment, Jo admitted he was cheating on Kail and had “gone so far as to put his uniform on when he went out and bring his regular clothes in a bag so I would think he was working when he was really meeting up with her.”