It was a rough birthday celebration for Leah, Amber Portwood’s daughter, on June 6th’s episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.
Leah was celebrating her 15th birthday at a restaurant with her blended family, and while Amber had the chance to show that she was going to take her role as a mom more seriously, she dropped the ball instead.
Amber Portwood Showed Up Late to Daughter’s Party
The disaster began when Amber showed up late to the party.
Instead of arriving on time, she was an hour late to the restaurant.
Leah’s father, Gary Shirley, Amber’s ex, was already there with his wife, Kristina.
Their daughter, and Leah’s step-sister, Emilee was also there to celebrate her birthday.
Once Amber arrived and sat down with the family, she immediately started making the event about her.
She first started talking about how Leah was going to need her more than ever, now that she was 15.
Amber Introduced New Boyfriend, Gary, at Daughter’s Birthday Celebration
The reason Amber gave was that Leah was about to get really crazy.
Leah didn’t have anything to say about the comment and seemed to ignore Amber.
Amber attempted to connect with her daughter again, although she made it about herself once more by sharing information about her new boyfriend, Gary.
Both her ex-husband and her new boyfriend are named Gary.
Leah didn’t seem interested, though.
In fact, she appeared uncomfortable about the topic.
In the episode, Leah appeared to say that she was scared when Amber kept trying to show her a photo of her new boyfriend.
Leah refused to look at the photo, but she did eventually say that she hoped her new boyfriend made her happy.
Amber Called Her Daughter, Leah, a Demeaning Word Associated with Lesbians
Amber didn’t seem to like Leah’s lack of interest in her love life, however, and she called Leah a demeaning word typically associated with lesbians.
Amber seemed offended by Leah’s disinterest, which is what led to her using the foul word.
Twitter, and even some of Amber’s fellow Teen Mom stars, weren’t happy about the word she used.
Briana DeJesus was one of the first Teen Mom stars to tweet about the moment.
Although she deleted her tweet, according to InTouch Weekly, she said that even though she was sure people weren’t going to like what she was about to say, she felt that she needed to say something based on what she had just watched on the show.
She went on to say that she does not support talking down to your kids or calling them names.
She then told Amber to do better.
Teen Mom, Jenelle, and Fans Share Thoughts on Situation
Briana also reposted other tweets that fans had made about the scene.
One of those tweets had a fan saying that it was Leah’s birthday, and her mom had made her cry, this was such a sad scene to watch.
Jenelle Evans, another Teen Mom 2 star, also made her thoughts known about the scene.
She commented on Briana’s deleted tweet, saying that she had just watched the scene, and then put a mind-blown emoji.
Devoin Austin, Briana’s ex, also had things to say about the scene.
He made a comment on Instagram saying that he supported Gary for how he handled himself during this particular moment.
He called the whole thing bad.
Then he went on to say that it was Leah’s big day and not Amber’s, and she shouldn’t have made it about herself.
Rachel Beaver, from Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant, made a long comment about when Amber told Leah that she was going to need her even more.
Rachel said that Amber was never really a mom to Leah.
Whenever she came around to spend time with her daughter, she always ended up making the moment about herself.
Rachel claimed that Amber has never really tried to get to know Leah.
She also talked about the nerve that Amber had to call her daughter a certain name when Leah was already hurting about the fact that she didn’t have much of a relationship with her mom.
Rachel then said that Leah had Kristina there to help her through her teenage years since Amber was unreliable.
Finally, she said she shared Gary’s frustration in the scene and added that she would have lost it.
Emotional Leah Asked Her Parents To Stop Fighting
The dinner didn’t get much better from there.
At one point, Gary asked his wife what time it was.
Amber didn’t like that and started to argue with Gary.
Leah ended up crying out of frustration and asked her parents to stop fighting.
She then asked to go to the bathroom, with Kristina and Emilee joining her.
The three were gone for a while, and when they returned, they and Gary packed up their things and left the restaurant.
Amber was left alone at the restaurant, crying.
There’s been a lot of backlash against Amber for ruining her daughter’s birthday and calling her an unpleasant word.
However, Amber has yet to comment on it.
Amber Portwood and Gary’s Engagement
Instead, she’s been focusing her energy on her new relationship.
According to US Weekly, Amber and her boyfriend, Gary, recently got engaged.
The proposal happened somewhere in the last week of May and the first week of June.
Amber said that Gary had taken an old family stone and repurposed it into an engagement ring.
The couple seem committed to each other as they have already started taking steps to make sure their relationship has a firm foundation.
In particular, they started attending couples therapy together.
The reason they’re already going to therapy together is to make sure that they take care of any problems before they get married.
How Teen Mom Star Amber and Gary Met
Amber first met Gary on a dating app in January.
The couple started slowly, getting to know one another, but it seemed they grew serious about one another very quickly.
Not a lot is known about Gary, but a few details have emerged over the months since she started dating him.
Gary doesn’t have any children, but he describes himself as a family-oriented man.
He takes care of his parents, who rely on him for assistance.
One of the things that drew Amber to Gary first was that he had no idea who she was.
He has never watched any of the Teen Mom shows, so he was unaware of her reality star celebrity.
Amber preferred that because a lot of the guys she had dated before had all known about her and her status.
It made dating difficult because she wasn’t sure if they were interested in her or her celebrity.
Since Gary has never seen Teen Mom, she knows that he’s more interested in her as a person.
She felt as though they were dating on more equal terms since he knew nothing about her and she knew nothing about him.
During the same episode where Amber made Leah cry, she also introduced Gary to the rest of the show’s cast.
She was on a Zoom call with the other girls in the show and revealed who he was.
She introduced him as her boyfriend, and they were officially a couple.
Gary showed some humor during his first appearance on the show, saying that his name was also Gary, referring to the fact that Amber’s ex was also named Gary.
Jade Cline joked that maybe this Gary was the Gary for her.
Amber seemed to agree saying that it seemed like it.
Why Amber Portwood Lost Custody of Daughter
Now, while Amber’s relationship with her new Gary seems to be going well, her relationship with her daughter Leah hasn’t been as successful.
Amber gave birth to Leah back in 2008, but she eventually lost custody of her in 2011.
Part of the reason she lost custody was because of a big fight she had with Gary.
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Fans of Teen Mom OG will remember that in the 2010 episodes, Amber was very violent toward Gary.
She’d slap him, choke him, and even kick him.
Police got a hold of the episodes before they aired and ended up arresting Amber for felony domestic battery and child neglect.
The reason she received child neglect charges was because she was violent toward Gary while Leah was present.
Gary ended up getting full custody of Leah, although he does co-parent her with Amber.
Leah Said Her Mom, Amber, Hadn’t Done Anything For Her
As Leah has gotten older, she’s opened up more about the lack of Amber’s role in her life.
InTouch Weekly reported on a March 30, 2021, episode in which Leah discussed how Amber had not been there in the past 12 years.
Leah said that Amber hadn’t really done anything for her in all that time.
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She said that all the maternal things came from Kristina.
All Amber did was just give birth to her.
Based on Leah’s latest birthday, Amber hasn’t done much to change her involvement in her daughter’s life.
