MTV "Teen Mom OG" star Ryan Edwards was pictured leaving a store.
“Teen Mom” fans discussed a new picture of Ryan Edwards after it was posted to the Teen Mom Tea fan page on December 9, 2021.
“Ryan out and about with his one true love 😆,” the page wrote as the caption. Edwards, 33, was shown holding his dog, Chance, as he left a store. Before he was fired from “Teen Mom OG,” the Tennessee native was often filmed while holding his dog.
Some social media users on Instagram remarked that Chance might be a support animal for Edwards, who has struggled with an addiction to heroin.
“I’m not a fan of his; however, people who have addictions can really benefit from an emotional support animal,” said one of the most popular comments.
Other people said Edwards care more about Chance than his children. “He loves that dog more than his own kids,” they wrote.
Edwards has three children. He’s the father of 13-year-old Bentley, who he shares with ex-girlfriend Maci Bookout, and he has two children with his wife, Mackenzie Standifer: a 3-year-old son, Jagger and, a 23-month-old daughter, Stella.
While social media users on Instagram were mostly talking about Edwards’ relationship with Chance, a different type of discussion bubbled on Reddit. There, fans said they noticed a change in Edwards’ appearance.
One interpretation of the “Teen Mom” alum’s apparent “weight gain” was that he was maintaining his sobriety. “I’m actually looking at this from a different perspective,” one said. “Yes, he looks old, but I think the weight gain shows that he’s likely not on heroin. Fat sober will always look better than skinny druggie.”
“Ok I can appreciate the possible sobriety with his weight gain,” another person agreed. “I will give him props for that, if he’s sober. Heroin is a hell of a drug.”
During an interview with The Sun in April 2021, Edwards maintained he stopped using drugs.
The comments came after Bookout’s husband, Taylor McKinney, accused Edwards of relapsing at the “Teen Mom OG” reunion in April 2021. During the season, it seemed like Edwards was having a hard time staying awake during his scenes.
“I can see why he made the comment, but really I was just exhausted 99 percent of the time,” Edwards told The Sun. “Staying up all night then helping Mackenzie with kids in the day.”
The former MTV star said he would build buggies at night and was getting ready for a big race.
Edwards Slammed Social Media Users Who Criticized Him
Although the father-of-three rarely comments on social media, Edwards broke his silence when he faced backlash from fans.
Standifer shared a picture of Edwards holding their daughter Stella and smiling. “Pretty rare that we get 1 on 1 time with each of our kids… but when we do it’s perfect✨,” she wrote.
Originally the comments section was open, but she removed it once Edwards spoke out, saying trolls write negative things about him online but never say anything to his face in real life.
“10+ years I’ve never met one motherf***** to say one negative thing to my face,” he said in part of his statement. “You think that with everything else going on in our country right now you would question the way you act because it’s the people like you who act like whining a** b****** that got us in this pathetic state.”
The Edwards Blamed Bookout for Being Fired
When the Edwards were fired from “Teen Mom OG” in March 2021, Standifer told Without a Crystal Ball that Bookout spoke to producers about having them removed from the series.
“Maci’s agent went above their heads and went to Viacom and said that they wanted to focus on all of Maci’s abilities and whatever she does and that we took up the time on the show that she could be using to show all that,” Standifer told WOACB.
MTV left Standifer and Edwards the option to come back, but the Tennessee native wasn’t interested.
“They said that when [Maci] didn’t fulfill her obligations or, like, basically didn’t have enough content that they call us back,” Standifer told WOACB. “Ryan was just like, ‘Don’t. We’re gonna move on. We’re gonna live our lives. We’re gonna do our jobs and, you know, have a normal life. Like, don’t waste your time or your breath coming back.’”
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