It’s been over eight months since Teen Mom OG star Amber Portwood was thrown in the slammer and charged with domestic battery against her baby daddy Andrew Glennon. In the time since her arrest, she’s been sentenced (after accepting a plea deal) and is currently in the middle of a nasty custody battle with Andrew over their son James.
However, in a new interview with Us Weekly, Amber assured her fans that she is now in a much better place than she was before and after the arrest in July. The ‘Teen Mom’ star talked about the “dark place” she was in both mentally and physically in the weeks following her arrest.
“My body was in shock,” she told the magazine.
“I got into a really, really dark period for a couple of months,” she said. “I lost about 35 pounds in less than three months. My hair was falling out. When I say I went into shock, I literally, my body went in shock. I didn’t sleep for almost two weeks. I had to get out of that state of mind.
“It was definitely a deep depression that I went through,” she continued. “Through prison and everything I’ve been through, it was one of the worst times of my life and when you go through something like that, you have to learn from your mistakes.”
Amber said the whole experience ended up showing her what she needed to work on, how to work on it and how to stop making excuses.
“I think once I started doing it that way and really working hard on it in the best way that I could, I learned to truly, truly love myself in a sense,” she said.
While Amber said she found self-love in the aftermath of her arrest, she claims to have also found a new focus when it comes to family and relationships, which fans will see in the upcoming season of ‘Teen Mom OG.’
“I think that one thing that people are going to see within this next season is me just completely changing, in some aspects, of how I do things differently when it comes to my family and how I relate them back into my life,” she said.
“I feel like I had this very immature outlook on filling that void in my heart,” Amber admitted. “I needed to fill it with some sort of love and the main focus I had was men at the time.”
Amber— who also has daughter Leah with Gary Shirley— told the magazine that she’s now focused more on her kids.
(The Ashley can confirm that, currently, Amber is spending a lot more time with her son James than she did before her arrest. According to a source, Amber gets the nearly-two-year-old James about two or three times a week for visitation.)
“My children are my main priority always, even though it might be hard for some people to think that,” she continued. “I truly just try to think of my family, think of my beautiful children and what I need to do next so I can be here for them and be the best mom I can be.
“I did a major change within myself and within my life in a little less than a year and I am happy. It’s a blessing in disguise as well as one of the hardest times in my life.”
The new season of ‘Teen Mom OG’ premieres Tuesday, March 17 on MTV. Click here to watch the trailer!
(Photos: Instagram; MTV)
43 Responses
Here’s the thing, NO ONE BELIEVES YOU AMBER!!!!! Plain and simple.
Amber is about as honest as Jenelle, or Pinocchio. It’s only a matter of time before she is behind bars again! Once they cancel this freak show or kick her abusive self off of it, her well of “trailer trash lottery money” (thank you, Nathan the wordsmith) will dry up and she won’t be able to hide on her couch and do her drugs all day long. How will she face life? How will she face pretend motherhood? How will she look in the mirror without throwing up? She won’t be able to, and will act out once again. I just hope this time her innocent children will not be a witness to her disgusting behavior.
This is all for show for her, she’s disgusting!! Gary’s just lured in by the HUGE paycheck, there’s no way any decent human would back her manipulation tactic if not.
I can see Amber is busy at downvoting all the true comments about her.
Please. This bitch will NEVER change.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again
If Amber was any more of a bitch she would have puppies!
stay lit
If she was a dog we could have had her put down long ago.
When Amber admits that she is a screw up and stops blaming everyone. She loves to preach about how she has discovered herself blah blah blah.
Face its Amber, you are a terrible mother and a terrible partner in a relationship. Yeah you really blew it letting Matt into your life but Gary and Andrew were there for you, and they are great fathers and have stepped up to fill the void you left in your children’s lives.
Personally I can’t stand it when she has her “revelations” and then becomes preachy and self-professed expert on mental illness, addition, relationships, parenthood, etc etc etc. I really wish she were off the show, period.
“I lost 35 lbs in weeks and didn’t sleep for 2 weeks. WAH!” Drugs will do that to you Amber.
And before anyone jumps on my case here, I struggle with depression. Yes, I know these are symptoms of depression. For Amber, it’s drugs. It’s just like Janelle saying “I’m not hungover! My head just hurts and I feel sick.”
Who would jump on your case?! I think the majority of us agree with you. Amber has been using her depression, bipolar or whatever as an excuse for years. She is a shitty person period.
All that came to mind when I read this post was the word “bullshit”. She’s trying to clean up her image but there’s no way she has changed. When I saw her on Marriage Boot Camp I couldn’t believe how awful she is.
Jumping on my case for insinuating that you can’t drop that much weight being depressed. You know how touchy some people get on this site.
Anyone watching this show for more than a hot minute can pick up on the fact that Amber is 100% THAT SICK (sorry Lizzo, no disrespect to you or your song)
Janelle and Amber are crackwhore bitches and they need to go and join Farrah and Mama June in a van with Geno as their PIMP.
Please. She’s now making her children and family her priority? Same shit different day
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Love you Amber I can tell you What I seen you or great I have the same thing and it is truly hard to deal with but I am getting help to
Oh, hi Amber. Any of us that have watched this show for any period of time know you tend to saw “I seen” rather than “I saw” (the schools in Indiana aren’t well), that “to” rather than “too” at the end is another clue.
Blah blah blah. We’ve heard this all before from you Amber.
Now comes Amber trying to convince people shes a better person, shes changed and learned from her mistakes, the men she chases after are the problem, her children come first, she had a bad childhood, she has bipolar and borderline personality disorder, shes sober off drugs….etc etc etc. Everyones listened to this bird chirp for over a decade. Nothing ever changes with her and it’s all lies.
Whatever Amber. We’ve all heard the audio now with many of those recordings taking place months and months before her arrest in July so her excuse of being depressed during that time doesn’t excuse what she did months before. She is straight up evil. The horrible things she said about James, not to mention punching Andrew in the nose on Leah’s first day of school, and pummeling Andrew while he is holding James shows she is a monster. I think some people are just mean. Mental illness or not. She just isn’t a good person.
She has lost custody of both her children to their fathers. SHE is the problem. No one else.
She needs to give it a rest. At this point she’s looking for a pity party. She’s been given so many chances and flubbs all of them. There’s no coming back from this, and she can’t blame anyone but herself for that.
What happened to the Belgian dude though? Did they break up or is she hiding him now?
So if they’re still together, this whole blabber makes no sense. She already filled the void with a new man.
What??? She’s almost 30 and Yes, she has been through a lot, but We’ve heard this story many times from amber. It should not take a whole bunch of nonsense, and a decade of making millions on tv, for her to have this epiphany. I’m sorry, but a good, solid parent doesn’t need to have their kids taken away.
Might I add, I believe people can change and I certainly believe in second and even third chances. But a person who has gotten violent with their child (infant) is a different case. Sadly amber cannot be trusted by her exes and although she claims to have had this epiphany, we all know this game by now.
I agree, people do change, but she’s to the point in her life where you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. It seems like she’s on her umpteenth chance, and it’s always the same outcome. Ambo beats up her new boyfriend, blames it on mental illness, and cries.
Clearly she’s going to say whatever she needs to to justify her still being on tv. Also, “fans” really. What has she EVER done that would merit her having fans?
See this what you are good at, bullshit we heard this same story back when you first got out of jail an with the other duece bag an this guy here, I agree you are bipolar but you want everyone to give you pass Everytime you want to put your hands on some one an now you are spending time with the kids,well like I said all bullshit, you are a fuck up an that’s it I hope they lock your ass up
“Deuce bag”. Day is made.
She’s obviously mentally ill. Can’t trust anything she says.
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Why didn’t they fire her?!!!! I won’t be watching! Too bad I wanted to see macs storyline with her mom…
Oh really she lost 35lbs and didn’t sleep for 2 weeks that’s not depression that’s called a drug addiction why in the world can no one see what a train wreck this woman is. I sure hope they take this show off the air for good so these stupid people can go find actual jobs and know how to live in the real world
While I agree she’s lying and drugs are involved, please, THINK before making blanket statements.
“Oh really she lost 35lbs and didn’t sleep for 2 weeks that’s not depression that’s called a drug addiction” While not true in Amber’s case, that CAN HAPPEN in cases of real severe depression and by saying that it shows you don’t understand mental illness or you don’t have empathy for the mentally ill. Don’t insult millions of people when you’re clearly uneducated in the matter and reacting out of a hatred for Amber. Think before you speak. Or at least do a Google search on severe depression. ?
NOT a defense of Amber. I was defending the mentally ill that actually TRY.
Don’t think millions of people w/ mental illness will be offended by this ” blanket statement”. This woman used every reason possible to justify her horrible actions towards everybody. And seriously she IS an addict. So how do u know she wasn’t using drugs and lost weight?
The poster didn’t say everyone that loses weight and sleep is drug addicted. She is talking about Amber and Amber only and most of us agree. Not sure why you took it so personal.
Thank you for saying that Emmatherevelation! I too am bipolar! It is harder some days than others! Some people rather be ignorant than understand any mental illness. This world needs to change. Stop hating and being judgemental on things you know nothing about! If you were her or one of your family members were mentally ill you wouldn’t be so hateful or judgemental.
She’s focusing on her children but she already has a new man.
She is such a trash person. She will never change, and she never has been, nor will she ever be, a good mother.
It took me a machete and beating up my ex to realize I have to spend more time with my kids and that abusing people is a no-no. So I’m mature now.
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I mean, who hasn’t gone through that swinging-a-machete-at-my-partner-who-is-holding-our-infant-son stage as a new mom? No big deal! Glad that pesky lil “dark period” blew over! ?
She said all that shit 10 year’s ago after she beat Gary first time, we haven’t seen any lasting change. I gave her the benefit of the doubt when she got released from prison and was seeing Leah regularly and then all that changed the minute she got with Matt. She is happy getting both kid’s for a few hours then giving them back but won’t admit that to anyone.
Amber your a pane of glass we all see through you. Nobody is buying this act. How come you haven’t come clean re the koploin and opioids. You are a user and are using Garry because he still cares for you. Black to the core.
I don’t believe anything she says, she has lied so much in the past, she just can not be trusted, I feel very sorry for both of her children, especially Leah who seems like a very smart girl, she knows about her mother very sad!
I don’t believe anything Amber says anymore. To me, she will always be a pathetic and poor excuse of a mother. I don’t think she will ever change. If she didn’t change after spending time in prison, she won’t change now that she got away with not going back to prison. I feel bad for James and Leah, I hope they don’t expect much from her because they will only be disappointed. I’m through with Teen Mom. MTV created entitled brats that can get away with anything.
Amen.