Despite showing some hostility on last week’s episode of Teen Mom 2, exes Kail Lowry and Jo Rivera have since put aside their differences and are in a good place.
In a new interview with In Touch Weekly, Kail and Jo said they were able to get past their rough patch involving custody and child support disagreements for their son Isaac, and Kail credits Jo’s wife Vee for making it happen.
On last week’s episode, viewers saw Kail get hit with paperwork requesting that she pay Jo child support (as well as back child support), despite Kail claiming she and Jo each had 50/50 custody of Isaac. After learning that Jo decided to get the court involved, she allegedly lashed out at Jo via text… especially when she and her lawyer began to look at the worst case scenario.
As The Ashley previously told you, the state of Delaware (where Kail and Jo live) uses the Melson Formula to calculate child support payments, which factors in an individual’s income when determining payments.
“I was angry, partially at myself, because I didn’t drop it right away,” she told In Touch. “But also because when I offered to pay him back the amount he’s paid in child support he agreed … but then never came back and said, ‘Here is the amount I came up with $x.’”
Kail went on to say that Jo also failed to give her a heads up about his filing for child support, which she said felt “sneaky.”
Kail told In Touch that things between she and Jo are good now—thanks in large part to Vee and her ability to help the two see eye-to-eye.
“If it wasn’t for her, things would be a lot different,” she said. “I can’t speak for her, but I know she saw both sides and ultimately wanted what’s best for Isaac and for all of our relationships, really.”
“It’s hard to watch the show back right now because we feel like we need to defend ourselves but we are all good again,” she added.
Part of the exes getting to an “all good” place involved Kail paying Jo back for the full year of child support, as he had requested.
FYI I paid jo back a years worth of child support
— Kailyn Lowry (@KailLowry) February 26, 2019
“I paid him back for the full year,” she said. “Wrote him a check for whatever he paid while we had 50/50. I paid it in full. Custody never changed.”
Kail also agreed to take over insurance responsibilities for Isaac, Jo told In Touch.
“In the end, I asked for her to drop my child support payments and refund a portion of it as well as cover his health insurance from here on out,” Jo said. “In exchange, she didn’t have to reveal her income or do child support calculations, she was relieved of any arrears she would have had to pay and we all got to move on.”
Yes! We fcame to an agreement that works for both of us and I finally have this huge weight off my shoulders after 8 years @KailLowry we got through it
— Jo Rivera (@NerdIn_aCoolKid) February 24, 2019
The child support battle is still currently playing out on ‘Teen Mom 2,’ however. The settlement must have happened within the last few weeks, as Jo was still upset (and posting on Twitter) about the child support battle in mid-January. (Much of this footage that is playing out now was filmed during this time.)
As The Ashley previously reported, Jo (as well as the rest of the original dads who started on the show) make the same amount as the original moms per episode. (Basically, if Jo appears in an episode, he is paid his episodic rate, regardless of how long he is in the episode.) The “original” dads make much more than the “add-on” dads, who came into the series after 16 and Pregnant (i.e. Javi Marroquin, Jeremy Calvert, etc.)
Still, the original moms make more, because they most likely appear in more episodes than the dads. Kail’s income from her side projects outside of ‘Teen Mom 2’ also bring a substantial amount of income, which Jo pointed out during the recent episode.
(Photos: MTV, Twitter, Instagram)
18 Responses
I wasn’t too crazy about Jo on 16 & Pregnant, nor through the first season or two of Teen Mom 2, but he has matured so much, and he’s one of my favorite TM dads now.
Jo and Vee have always put Isaac first, and refused to engage in any drama (for the most part). Even back when Kail was complaining about Vee smoking pot, Vee chose to sit down and write Kail a letter to explain some things, and she asked Kail to meet up to talk and get to know each other when Kail felt comfortable. Most of the girls on this show would have just bashed each other on camera, or even worse, gotten into a screaming match in front of the kids. Vee showed that she was genuinely interested in making things right with Kail, but understood that it wasn’t going to happen overnight.
In addition to packing up and moving to Delaware to be near Isaac, it also said a lot to me when Jo once told Kail that he loves Lincoln, because Lincoln is Isaac’s brother (this was before Lux came on the scene). Jo has always seemed to be a quiet support for Kail through whatever she has going on, and even when she’s treating him badly, he just listens and tries to have a rational conversation with her. I think Jo is one of those people that would probably say, “She has issues, but she’s my son’s mom, and she’s good to him, so that’s all that matters.” I think Jo and Vee are just genuinely good people, who will be fine long after MTV is gone.
Vee is definitely above and beyond the drama and mature beyond her years. I wish more of these parent battles could take a cue from her.
Joe needs to save that money because Kail Kong will hit him with another child support order 5 minutes after Teen Mom gets cancelled.
Vee is a freaking saint!!!
Jo didn’t tally up the amount owed of the money that she deceitfully collected (according to the guidelines of her state) so she didn’t bother to pay him back? Kail is such a cunning, conniving glutton!
She conveniently forgot to stop the support order, she can’t reach out to her mother because the woman only moved two hours away! Isn’t kail from Allentown PA, where her mother also lived two hours away? What, this is in a different direction?
Kail can’t have several healthy relationships at once…good with jo and bad with Javi, she’s not interested in her mother because she has the half sister. Personally, I think kail is way to clingy and intrusive to her “ sister”… on camera for the nation she asks to have ( control) the baby shower, are you sure nobody will mind? WTF!!
Vee has tolerated a lot of bull shit from Kail. The fact that she’s still an incredibly chill, kind person to Kail speaks a lot of her character. Jo definitely upgraded.
Does anyone know what Jo does for work? I heard real estate and house flipping.
So it took Vee to point out to Kail she was wrong. Not Isaac.
Is Kail still getting railed by those 5 clones? I also would love to give Vee the love hammer. Jo is playing way over his head.
As far as I’m concerned, Vee and Kristina are the two best moms in the entire “Teen Mom” franchise.
Ashley What does Joe do for work?
@Hannah – he does house flipping and Vee sells real estate! -The Ashley
I am glad they worked it out, but I’ll be honest, this disagreement renewed all my negative feelings towards Kail. She’s been sneaky and selfish to the hundreth power. I laughed out loud when she accused Jo of being sneaky.
So jo and Kail have 50/50 custody. Jo pays for issac when he’s at his home. How does it make sense he has to pay when issac is at kails house? Let’s not leave out Kail cussed him out. Kails the greedy one. Once again kails talks out of her azz.
For sure Kails from hell! Lets let the cat out of the bag, KAIL MAKES At least $500,000.00 a year. She should’ve been paying for everything!!! If the shoe were on the other foot, you bet she’d be asking for support!! Look at all her new vehicles, not one but two, my bad, she just sold her new Benz or BMW.
Kail didn’t refund Jo for a year because he didn’t tell her how much she was collecting in child support? Sure, Jan.
Anyways, glad it’s over for Isaac’s sake. Vee for the win, again.
I’m glad they worked it out and are moving on. Isaac deserves the best from all his parents!
That wedding picture is adorable; Jo and Isaac are dressed identically.
Thank goodness for Vee. At least she can make peace. It hurts Isaac in the end.