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Former “Teen Mom 2” cast member Jenelle Evans (31) regained custody of her 13-year-old son Jace earlier this month after coming to a mutual agreement with her mother Barbara Evans (69), according to Us Weekly on March 18.
In a new March 30 interview with E! News, Jenelle opened up about how Jace is settling in now that he lives full-time with his mother, as well as his half-siblings Kaiser (8) and Ensley (6), Jenelle’s husband David Eason, and David’s 15-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, Maryssa.
“My relationship with Jace is closer than ever and doing much better,” Jenelle said during her E! News interview, “I feel like being with his family makes him much happier. Our family wasn’t complete without him.”
Jenelle Evans Feels Her Mother Barabara is Still ‘Controlling’
Jenelle also shared that she feels the change has been good for Jace, saying, “We also didn’t like the crowds he was hanging out with, so now he’s in the country. He loves riding his dirt bike and working on it recently. He wants to sign up for dirt bike races in the future.”
Although some fans expressed concerns over Jace being in the home with Jenelle’s husband (who has had multiple run-ins with the law over the years), Jenelle said that David’s presence has been good for Jace, who didn’t have a father figure in the home when he lived with Barbara (his father, Jenelle’s ex Andrew Lewis, has not been active in raising Jace).
“David teaches him how to hunt, fish, fix dirt bikes or giving Jace dating advice,” Jenelle told E! News, “Jace needed a father figure and I can tell how happy Jace is having one around.”
In addition to her relationship with Jace, Jenelle also shared how the dynamic with her mother Barbara has changed, and how it has stayed the same, since custody was transferred to Jenelle, saying, “My relationship with my mother has got a little better, but truthfully she is still a little controlling. I think it’s going to take time for her to get used to this change.”
Jenelle told Us Weekly that part of the reason for her and Barbara mutually coming to the new custody arrangement was “to build our relationship back as mother and daughter”, and later said in a social media post that her mother was “completely fine” with the change and was “ready to have her freedom”.
How Did Jenelle Evans Originally Lose Custody of Jace?
Jenelle gave birth to Jace in 2009 at age 17, and the next year she gave custody of her son to her mother Barbara after being charged with possession of marijuana and breaking and entering, eventually receiving one year of probation. Jenelle faced 15 arrests between this time and 2016, the same year she and Barbara entered their legal battle over Jace’s custody. While Jenelle had temporary custody of Jace on multiple occasions over the years, it took until 2023 for Jenelle to regain permanent custody.
According to People, Jenelle and David temporarily lost custody of their other three children after David shot and killed their family dog, Nugget, in 2019, which also led to their being let go from the “Teen Mom” franchise.
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