MTV/Mackenzie Standifer "Teen Mom" star Maci Bookout revealed that Ryan Edwards not being on the show anymore was a "huge" relief.
“Teen Mom” star Maci Bookout is relieved she doesn’t have to film with her ex-boyfriend, Ryan Edwards.
The former couple share a son together, 13-year-old Bentley. But Edwards and his family were fired from MTV after Bookout and her husband, Taylor McKinney, got into a fight with Bentley’s paternal grandparents, Jen and Larry Edwards, at the “Teen Mom” reunion in 2021.
Bookout hinted that “Teen Mom” made her relationship with Edwards worse.
“I think being on TV and doing this show was not the main portion of why our relationship was always so toxic,” Bookout told Page Six.
“But … there was no way to create room or space for us to heal or move on or get over some things because we’re constantly having to talk about each other when we don’t even talk to each other,” she continued to Page Six. “What’s the point in that? So yeah, safe to say it’s a huge relief.”
Bookout Doesn’t Think She’ll Ever Co-Parent With Edwards
Bookout said it didn’t make sense for Edwards to be on the show anymore because they never co-parented together. She always communicated with Jen and Larry Edwards to set up meetings for Bentley.
“So it got to a point where it felt it wasn’t very authentic because I had never really co-parented with him. I had always just co-parented with his parents,” Bookout told Page Six. “Truly not trying to be mean but, in my mind, you actually have to show up and be a parent to co-parent.”
Bookout doesn’t think Edwards will ever be the father she had hoped he would be for Bentley.
“What I hoped would happen or wished would happen, will probably never happen,” she told Page Six. “It’s not up to anyone but Ryan, so I don’t foresee a world where we’re actually co-parenting.”
Bookout Is Standing by Amber Portwood
While Bookout is relieved she doesn’t have to talk about her ex-boyfriend on “Teen Mom” anymore, she’s making the effort to reach out to co-star Amber Portwood.
The Indiana native lost custody of her son, 4-year-old James, in July after a judge ruled that her ex-fiance, Andrew Glennon, would be awarded primary custody.
“I just feel like when somebody that you’re close to is going through such a difficult time, like she is, if I think about her, I’m texting her,” Bookout told Us Weekly. “Because I’m like, I never know if there’s a moment when she really needs somebody to check in and I don’t wanna not check in. And I feel like it’s important for the people that are close to her to do that.”
Portwood, 32, doesn’t have custody of either of her children. She lost custody of her daughter, 13-year-old Leah, in 2011 after Child Protective Services. Portwood fought for five years to regain her rights, but settled with her ex-boyfriend Gary Shirley. She agreed to pay him child support and give him primary custody of Leah.
To find out what happens next, don’t miss “Teen Mom: The Next Chapter” when it airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.