‘Teen Mom’ Star Posts Support for Amber Portwood

Amber Portwood

Getty "Teen Mom OG" star Amber Portwood received support from one of her co-stars.

“Teen Mom OG” star Amber Portwood received support from one of her co-stars despite facing a wave of criticism from viewers. Mackenzie Douthit McKee said she was “rooting” for the Indiana native after she apologized to her estranged daughter, 12-year-old Leah, in an emotional video on the September 28 episode of “Teen Mom OG.”

“Idc what anyone says. I’m rooting for Amber,” she tweeted after Portwood’s segment aired.

McKee received dozens of responses from fans, many of whom were perplexed by her message.

“Root for Leah. Her mom did this,” one of the top responses read. “To deflect blame on someone else instead of yourself shows a lot. Amber is blaming Kristina when she should blame herself!”

“I rooted for her and defended her for many years, but at some point she has to take responsibility for her own actions,” another person said. “She thinks the rift in her relationship with Leah is because someone is “in her ear”, which only goes to show that she still doesn’t get it.”

“Root for Leah,” a third viewer added. “The child in the situation. Amber doesn’t need it.”

McKee, 26, is one of the newer cast members to join “Teen Mom OG.” Portwood has been on the series since its inception, while McKee was promoted to “TMOG” in 2019 after Bristol Palin left the series. Before that, McKee and her husband Josh started on “Teen Mom 3,” which was ultimately canceled by MTV.

She and Josh have three children together: 10-year-old son Gannon, 7-year-old daughter Jaxie and 4-year-old son Broncs.


Portwood & Leah Haven’t Talked in ‘Months’

According to Portwood’s own admission, she and daughter Leah haven’t spoken in “months.” Leah cut off contact with her biological mother — whom she referred to as “Amber” in last week’s episode —  after Portwood posted a video on Instagram where she called Leah’s stepmother Kristina Anderson a “whore” and a “homewrecker.”

“I love Kristina and [Portwood] tried to hurt somebody I love and I can’t love somebody who hurts other people,” Leah told her father, Gary Shirley.

Shirley urged his daughter to communicate with Portwood and tell her how she felt. “Nobody tells her anything,” she said about Portwood. “I don’t want it fixed. I don’t need that.”


Portwood Hinted She Didn’t Care About Impressing People

Portwood worried about how long it would take Leah to forgive her in the September 28 episode, but on October 1 she posted a video where rapper Nicki Minaj talked to Ellen DeGeneres about not trying to impress people anymore. 

The Sun shared a screenshot of her post, which was shared to Instagram story.

“No matter how great your life is, you can’t even impress people,” Minaj said at the time. You just have to do you and make yourself happy and forget about trying to get everyone’s approval. It’s better just to keep those things sacred… I have just learned over the years to let things come and go as they’re going to come and go.”

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