Gary Shirley dropped the revealing bombshell during a guys’ trip: his teenage daughter Leah with ex Amber Portwood wanted to be adopted by his wife Kristina.
Thursday’s episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’s second season featured Gary, 37, getting candid during a ski trip to Michigan with just the guys from the MTV franchise.
Gary, during a conversation about his children, opened up about the relationship between his daughter Leah, 15, and Amber, 34, and shared that they hadn’t spoken since Leah’s birthday, which ended awkwardly.
“I think she can be saved, but what Leah needs is for her mother to be there all the time,” Gary said.
Gary said his wife Kristina was “the best thing” that ever happened to Leah and Tyler Baltierra, 32, agreed, calling her a “saving angel.”
Gary Shirley dropped the bombshell reveal during a guys’ trip that his teenage daughter Leah with ex Amber Portwood wanted to be adopted by his wife Kristina.
“Yes, and Leah wants to be adopted by Kristina,” Gary said.
The other boys were surprised and asked if Amber knew and Gary shook his head.
While the boys were playing beer pong, Tyler called his wife Catelynn, 32, and told her that Gary had mentioned that Leah wanted to be adopted and that Amber didn’t know yet.
“Gary needs to tell him,” Catelynn said.
He added: “You can’t take her by surprise. When she finds out, she’ll be furious. She may need extra support.”
Tyler assured Catelynn that Amber was a “grown woman” and could handle the situation.
Catelynn called Maci Bookout, 32, to share what she learned about Leah’s desire for Kristina to adopt her.
“I love Gary to death, but it bothers me because Gary shouldn’t be going around telling people things like this. It’s not fair. It’s a difficult and problematic situation,” Maci said.
Gary said Kristina was “the best thing” that ever happened to his daughter Leah.
“Yeah, and Leah wants to be adopted by Kristina,” Gary said, surprising the boys.
While the boys were playing beer pong, Tyler called his wife Catelynn, 32, and told her that Gary had mentioned that Leah wanted to be adopted and that Amber didn’t know yet.
“I love Gary to death, but it bothers me because Gary shouldn’t be going around telling people things like this. It’s not fair. It’s a difficult and troubling situation,” Maci Bookout told Catelynn when she found out what happened.
They both agreed that the development would affect Amber’s mental health.
Maci in a confessional said that she and Catelynn could be the ones to tell Amber.
Earlier, Gary had spoken to Kristina in the kitchen about the strained relationship between Leah and Amber. In a flashback, Leah lamented losing contact with her mother because of Amber’s new boyfriend, Gary Wayt.
Gary shared with Kristina a text message Amber sent him stating that she had reached out to Leah multiple times and begged to spend time with her only to be rejected.
Gary said Amber should make the effort to connect even if Leah was pushing her away and Kristina agreed that Amber needed to be persistent.
“I do everything a mother would ask for Leah. I go to all of her cross country meets. I take care of all of her schoolwork. But unfortunately, I can’t fill that void in Amber’s heart. I can be the mother figure, but she still has that void,” Kristina said.
“I think a lot of these things will weigh on him for the rest of his life,” Gary said.
The episode also showed Briana DeJesus dealing with challenges at home after her mother left for rehab. She struggled to balance work and personal life while picking up her daughters, Nova and Stella, from school.
Maci in a confessional said that she and Catelynn could be the ones to tell Amber.
Gary was previously shown talking to Kristina about the strained relationship between Leah and Amber.
He shared a text message Amber sent him claiming she had reached out to Leah multiple times and begged to spend time with her only to be rejected.
“I do everything a mother would ask for Leah. I go to all of her cross country meets. I take care of all of her schoolwork. But unfortunately, I can’t fill that void in Amber’s heart. I can be the mother figure, but she still has that void,” Kristina said.
She approached Nova’s father, Devoin, to ask for help with picking the kids up from school and he admitted that missing work would leave him homeless.
Briana considered alternative options and the girls liked the idea of transferring to a closer school.
They toured the school and Briana, while filling out a registration form, asked her daughters if there was anyone they didn’t want to be allowed to pick them up. Stella replied that she didn’t want her father, Luis, to pick her up and then admitted that she hadn’t seen him in a long time and didn’t want to interact with him.
Briana later found a note in which Stella expressed her negative feelings about her father and his absence. Briana told her sister Brittany about the note and acknowledged that both she and her daughter had struggled with parental rejection.
Cheyenne Floyd, 31, called her husband Zach Davis, 33, during the episode while he was on a boys’ trip after a disturbing incident involving their six-year-old daughter Ryder at a playground.
Zach invited Ryder’s father, Cory Wharton, 33, to join the conversation after Cheyenne said her daughter was crying.
Cheyenne said her mother confronted a man after a boy called Ryder the n-word and the man told her son to apologize.
“So the kid apologized, but he kept saying, ‘No, she’s a liar, she’s a liar,'” Cheyenne said through tears.
Cheyenne said they walked away, but Ryder was still upset and admitted that Zach and Cory felt defeated as mothers.
The episode also showed Briana DeJesus dealing with challenges at home after her mother left for rehab.
She approached Nova’s father, Devoin, to ask for help with school pickup and he admitted that missing work would leave him homeless.
Cheyenne Floyd, 31, called her husband Zach Davis, 33, during the episode while he was on a boys’ trip after a disturbing incident involving their six-year-old daughter Ryder at a playground.
Zach invited Ryder’s father, Cory Wharton, 33, to join the conversation after Cheyenne said her daughter was crying.
They both supported her and Cory said they should talk about how to handle that in the future because it will probably happen again.
“I’ve been called that my whole life. Every time a white person saw me and wanted to hurt my feelings, what do you think they called me? Every time someone wants to hurt me, that’s what they’re gonna do,” Cory said.
“I had to deal with that at his age. I had to deal with that when I was young and I had to deal with that all my life,” Zach said.
Teen Mom: The Next Chapter will return next week to MTV.
