Season four of MTV’s Teen Mom will premiere on June 12, 2012. The fourth season of the reality TV series stars Amber Portwood, Maci Bookout, Catelynn Lowell, and Farrah Abraham.
What You Need to Know:
Teen Mom is a spin-off of MTV’s 16 & Pregnant. We’ve seen these ladies struggle with teen pregnancy and adoption, now we follow their lives through the first couple of years of motherhood. MTV announced this will be the last season of the show.
Over the past three seasons, Maci Bookout and the father of her child, Ryan Edwards, have been on-again-off-again, mainly because Ryan would never help out and was always staying out all night. They finally broke up for good, but continue to fight over custody of their son, Bentley. Ryan seemed to be fine with the situation, but his parents have egged him on about getting more time with Bentley (likely because when it’s his time to have him, his parents were really taking care of him).
By the end of season three, it seemed they worked it out like adults without the yelling or name-calling and even managed to not go to court about it. Maci also had a new man in her life, Kyle King. After a brief break-up, because he was uncertain about dating a girl with a child, they got back together and now he’s very involved in Bentley’s life.
Maci struggled with college, having to drop classes at one point, but she is determined to finish.
Amber Portwood dropped out of high school when she was pregnant with her daughter. Throughout the seasons of Teen Mom, she’s said she wants to get her GED but has yet to do so. She and the father of her child, Gary Shirley, have also been on-again-off-again, a relationship that included twice being engaged to each other.
The couple has had a very turbulent relationship, and at one point Amber became physically abusive during an argument, punching and kicking Gary. During that particular episode, MTV put up a hotline number for people to call if they were in an abusive relationship. Things went downhill from there for Amber because shortly after that episode aired, she was charged with felony domestic battery and felony child neglect which resulted in a no-contact order put in place.
And, unfortunately, her troubles have not stopped there. Although it hasn’t been included on the show thus far, TMZ reports Amber has a drug problem and has been ordered by the court to go to rehab. When she failed to comply with that, it was announced she was sentenced to five years in jail.
Farrah Abraham still lives with her parents and has a very rocky relationship with her mother, and at one point when the show was on a break her mother became physical, leading Farrah to call the police. Her mother was charged with assault. Due to the altercation, Farrah moved out with her daughter, Sophia. After court and sentencing, Farrah patched things up with her mother and rented out the house across the street – which her parents also own.
In 16 & Pregnant, Farrah barely spoke about her baby’s father, but it was known her parents did not want him involved in the baby’s life because they disapproved of his lifestyle.
On December 28 2008, a few months before she was due, the baby’s father (Derek Underwood) was killed in a car accident. Farrah felt like she had no one to talk to about that because her mother was unsympathetic about the situation, given her strong dislike of Derek and his family. Farrah began to see a therapist to help deal with her loss and to help deal with her rocky relationship with her mother.
Farrah was told she could get government assistance for her daughter because the baby’s father was deceased, but she had to prove paternity. After contacting Derek’s sister and convincing her to take a DNA test, it was proven he was the father. Derek’s mother tried to fight Farrah for visitation rights but lost.
Farrah did get in contact with Derek’s father and stepmother and worked on having a relationship with them. She went and visited his gravesite accompanied by his dad and stepmom as well as baby Sophia.
Farrah wants to go to college in Florida, but Farrah’s mother doesn’t think she should take Sophia with her. After getting upset with her mom over the fact she would even ask her to leave Sophia behind, it looks like she does in fact decide to leave her daughter with her parents.
Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra have been together on and off since they were in seventh grade. Their relationship led to their parents meeting and ultimately marrying. Yes, they are stepbrother and sister now and are still together.
Tyler’s father has been in and out of jail his whole life, and Catelynn has moved around her whole life. They knew their lives were too unstable to raise a child. They chose open adoption for their daughter, a decision Catelynn’s mother and Tyler’s father were not happy about and that caused a lot of tension between them and their parents.
In 16 & Pregnant, they showed the adoption process and how they picked Brandon and Theresa. In Teen Mom we see them graduate high school and start to plan their lives.
Tyler proposes to Catelynn, but they briefly break up when he finds out she was still texting an ex from Florida. Tyler’s dad goes back to jail and Catelynn’s mom, April, does not handle it well. And yet again Tyler and Catelynn are there to pick up the pieces.
Catelynn has a tumultuous relationship with her mother who when upset verbally abuses Catelynn, cussing her out, calling her names, and often throwing the fact she gave up her baby for adoption in her face.
Finally, after much drama, Catelynn and Tyler get to go see Carly for the first time since giving her up for adoption. By the end of season three, Catelynn is trying to work on having a better relationship with her mom.
