Some Insight Into Amber Portwood's Background

On last night’s episode of Teen Mom, Amber and Gary had another appointment with Child Protective Services to check up on the status and progress of the couple. They each brought their respective mothers along for the visit, and it was evident that Amber’s mother hates Gary’s mother, and was apparently difficult during the meeting (at which cameras were not permitted). Afterward, Amber’s mother continued to harangue Amber about custody issues — that were supposedly made clear during the meeting — obviously upset about the fact that Amber’s daughter Leah was spending a lot of time with Gary’s mother while Amber was getting her rented house ready. But it was later, when Amber’s mom really got on her nerves, that Amber finally flipped and started exposing the “shitty life” she’s had up until now, including mentioning her alcoholic father and absentee mother. It’s interesting to note that this is really the first season that Amber’s mother has really been around since her initial 16 & Pregnant episode. She probably has the most distant relationship with her mother out of all the girls in the cast.

And that’s why it’s particularly sad that things like a suspended license (caused by unpaid tickets) and a murky living situation are causing Amber to be away from her own daughter, allowing history to repeat itself. Seriously, how long does it take to “get a house together”? It looked readily livable, other than the fact that her possessions weren’t moved in, which is something that most people typically manage to do in a day, not over a course of weeks. But it’s a good thing she got that Marilyn Monroe art hung up, or else CPS could’ve deemed the residence untenable.