Mackenzie Edwards Admits To ‘Co-Parenting’ Struggles

MTV Mackenzie Edwards posted a cryptic statement about gaslighting weeks before the new season of "Teen Mom OG" debuted.

Mackenzie Edwards posted a statement about “gaslighting” weeks before the new season of Teen Mom OG debuted. Fans automatically assumed Mackenzie was talking about her husband’s ex, Maci Bookout, but the MTV alum revealed that she has to co-parent with another set of parents.

Mackenzie, 24, and her husband Ryan Edwards, 32, share two children together–2-year-old Jagger and 11-month-old Stella–but she also has son Hudson from a previous relationship. Some fans might not be familiar with Mackenzie’s oldest since he rarely appears on Teen Mom OG.

In her original statement, which was posted to Instagram and shared on Reddit, Mackenzie shared a definition for gaslighting, which said:

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation and emotional abuse. The gaslighter avoids responsibility for their toxic behavior by lying and denying and making you question your facts, your memory and your feelings. Basically, the gaslighter makes you feel crazy and confused. KNOW THIS NOW: You’re not crazy. You’re being manipulated and this is toxic and not acceptable.

At the bottom of her post, Mackenzie added a statement of her own. “If your co-parenting relationship looks like this–you too are being gaslit. You’re welcome.”

Chatter soon started to swirl that Mackenzie was slamming Maci, the mother of Ryan’s oldest son, 12-year-old Bentley. The 24-year-old, however, denied she was talking about the Teen Mom OG alum.

“Y’all realize I have a child with someone else, right?” she wrote after her statement was posted on TM Mama Drama. “This has absolutely nothing to do with the show or the people on it lol.”

Some Fans Accused Mack of Being Hypocritical

Aside from seemingly slamming Maci–even though she denied it–some fans called Mackenzie out for addressing gaslighting but not to her husband’s addiction. Ryan has struggled with an addiction to heroin since 2017.

“She can see someone being gaslighted, but can’t see her own husband with a drug addiction? Ok, Mack,” one viewer wrote.

“If she’s talking about her ex, her husband was an addict who was falling asleep at the wheel. I don’t blame him for not wanting their kid around him,” another added.

A third person talked about Ryan being the issue. “I mean we’ve seen the show, we all know Ryan is the problem,” they said. “She needs to stop trying to push her fake narrative that nobody believes. After the wedding car scene, nobody takes her a** serious.”

Ryan Spent 90 Day in Jail For Heroin Possession

After he allegedly threatened Maci at one of Bentley’s baseball games while under the influence of drugs that year, Maci filed a restraining order against him. As noted by The Sun, it was dropped in May 2020.

Over the past few years, Ryan has been detained multiple times and done various stints in rehab. Most recently, he was arrested in January 2019 and charged with theft and heroin possession. He spent 90 days in jail and released in April 2019.

Mackenzie and Ryan, who have been together since May 2016, eloped in May 2017. Ryan was infamously filmed nodding off while driving on the way to the wedding. The couple then held a second ceremony and wedding reception in November 2017.

Teen Mom OG is slated to return to MTV on January 26.

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