MTV/Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office "Teen Mom" star Ryan Edwards accused his wife, Mackenzie Standifer, of cheating on his multiple times before he was arrested.
Former “Teen Mom” star Ryan Edwards did an interview with The Sun before he was arrested on Friday, February 10, 2023, in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Police charged him with harassment, being in possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
Edwards slammed his estranged wife, Mackenzie Standifer, claiming she “left” their two young children — 4-year-old Jagger and 3-year-old Stella — with him.
“She left them with me… I definitely feel sorry for my kids,” he told The Sun. “I thought that they needed to see us together and work it out.”
Edwards, 35, claimed that he “caught” Standifer having an affair. “I tried to make her better, but you can’t make somebody want something,” he told The Sun. “She’s a coward.”
The interview marked the third time Edwards accused Standifer of cheating. He wrote two social media posts — one on January 29 and another on February 9 — about the alleged affair. He retracted the first allegation, telling The Sun on January 30 that Standifer wasn’t that type of person.
Edwards posted a revealing photo of Standifer on February 9 that showed her wearing a leather jacket to Instagram and made a number of offensive comments about his estranged wife. The post was ultimately deleted.
Edwards’ bail was set at $5,000 and he’s scheduled to appear in court on March 30, 2023, according to a screenshot posted by Teen Mom Chatter.
The father-of-three — who shares a 14-year-old son, Bentley, with his ex-girlfriend Maci Bookout — alleged Standifer was concerned about the drama affecting the public’s perception. “That’s all she’s about, is how she looks,” he told The Sun.
Edwards said he’s in love with an old perception of his wife, 26. “I love the person I thought she was,” he told The Sun, saying he “can’t love” who she is now.
Edwards faced his own cheating scandal in 2019. He was accused of meeting up with a woman he met on Tinder, and Radar Online claimed to have screenshots of the conversation.
Edwards and Standifer have been married since 2017.
Standifer Hasn’t Issued a Direct Response to Edwards’ Allegations
Standifer has remained mostly quiet since the social media drama with Edwards began to unfold. She shared a cryptic quote on Instagram after Edwards hurled his first cheating allegation in January 2023.
“I used to wanna protect my name in situations, now I just wanna protect my peace,” Standifer posted to her Instagram Story, according to The Ashley’s Reality Roundup. “I let whoever think WHATEVER.”
She deleted the most recent picture of herself and Edwards at a concert, and reportedly removed “wife” from her Instagram bio, according to eagle-eyed fans on Reddit.
In a September 2021 interview with The Sun, Standifer said she and Edwards were in a good place in their marriage. “Nobody is saying that we haven’t made mistakes, because we have,” she said. “But I’m not going to harp over them or live in sadness or shame over the past five years.”
“People can say that it’s embarrassing and that I have no dignity and that I’m a horrible person, they can say everything they want to say, that’s fine,” she continued. “But at the end of the day we are allowed to grow and we are allowed to change and we are allowed to evolve as human beings.”
A few months earlier, Standifer told Without a Crystal Ball she was relieved when she and Edwards were fired from “Teen Mom” in April 2021.
“It’s almost, like, a weight lifted off of my shoulders,” she told the outlet. “I deserve to feel good about myself, I deserve to not be riddled with anxiety all the time.”
Heavy reached out to Standifer for comment but didn’t hear back.
Edwards Has a History of Drug Abuse and Trouble With the Law
Edwards’ February 10th arrest isn’t the first time he’s been detained by the authorities.
He was arrested in March 2018 after he violated probation, relating to a heroin charge, according to Page Six.
Soon after, Bookout was granted a two-year restraining order against her ex. In court documents cited by E! News, she claimed Edwards “left voicemail messages threatening to show up at [her] house and take [her] son” and alleged he “has made threats to show up and hurt [her] if [she didn’t] answer [her] phone.”
Edwards was arrested for a second time in July 2018, after police said he was in possession of heroin. He served a short prison sentence and was placed on six months of probation, according to Radar Online.