Amber Portwood: Leah Likes Me Now ‘Cause I’m Such a Good Mom!
Amber Portwood: Leah Likes Me Now ‘Cause I’m Such a Good Mom!
This week, the Teen Mom OG Reunion showed Amber Portwood flipping out and storming off.
The issue? Amber was furious that Gary had respected Leah’s privacy and wishes.
All season, the estrangement between Amber and her tween daughter was a major issue, sparking multiple Amber tantrums on and off screen.
Amber is swearing to everyone that things are so much better now … because she’s such a good mom.
Amber Portwood spoke to Page Six about where things stand months after this season wrapped filming.
She says that things with 12-year-old Leah Shirley are “so much better” now.
“I don’t want to mess anything up, but [things are] good,” Amber reported.
“She’s reaching [out] and I am [so excited],” Amber said of Leah.
She characterized: “My arms are up and open.”
That doesn’t mean that there are not awkward moments, however.
“She’s been asking questions,” Amber revealed.
“I’ve always told her the truth,” she claimed.
Amber then added: “as much as I could for her age.”
“As she’s gotten older, she’s learned more,” Amber observed.
“With her age right now, she’s kind of like, ‘Well, I don’t like that attitude or behavior. I’m not like that,’” she stated.
Amber confessed: “I think she has every right to be mad at me for a lot of things.”
Amber claimed: “I let her feel her emotions and I understand that.”
According to her, the times when she seemed to go to ground and ghost Leah were “methodical” in ways that viewers didn’t realize.
“I [needed] to give her her space,” Amber alleged, “because I know what my past was.”
“And one day,” Amber predicted, “she’ll come back and [we’ll] move forward.”
Those are certainly optimistic words on her behalf.
But so long as it is truly Leah’s choice and what Leah really wants, hey, maybe that’s for the best.
Amber raged at Gary Shirley on stage at the Reunion, even ranting about him and about his wife, Kristina, after storming off.
Leah was in therapy, and Gary had told her then — with Leah’s permission — after not divulging it to Amber out of respect for her privacy.
Amber felt blindsided and deeply enraged.
However, in her interview, Amber struck a very different tone.
“Gary and [his wife] Kristina [Anderson] have been a big help,” Amber said.
“We try to be one big, blended family,” she described.
Amber said that this is a daunting aim “which is so hard to do.”
She continued: “and I’m sure a lot of people know this.”
“But,” Amber affirmed, “we still try.”
“What you’re seeing is a woman who is literally trying to live a new life,” Amber described of her favorite topic — herself.
She noted that she is “trying to experience all of these new feelings at the same time.”
Amber stressed that trying to do so “right in front of your face” has put her “in a very vulnerable situation and in a very vulnerable light.”
“I’m opening [up] a lot to people today,” Amber shared.
She added that this is “because I feel that’s my path in life right now.”
On a positive note, Amber noted that she hopes that her story of coming out as bisexual in her thirties helps others. You know what? We do, too.