Leah Messer‘s new book, Hope, Grace & Faith is full of bombshell revelations about her life, and in one part of the book— coming in May— the Teen Mom 2 star describes a night from her teen years in which her mother, Dawn Spears, pressured her into having sex with someone Leah barely knew.
In an advanced copy of the book obtained by The Ashley, Leah states that Mama Dawn would often hang out with Leah and Leah’s teenage pals on nights that Dawn’s husband, Lee, would go out of town. On one of these nights, Leah writes about her mother suggesting a game of Spin the Bottle, which eventually led to Dawn shutting Leah in a room with a random teen and pressuring them into having sex.
Leah— who reveals in the book that she lost her virginity at age 13 before this incident occurred—wrote that she was often embarrassed by how Dawn acted around her friends.
“She would let us have friends over and she’d hang out with all of us,” Leah writes of her high school years. “I think because she never went to high school, or even got to be a normal teenager, there was a part of her that felt like she had missed out on something. She wasn’t even allowed to talk to boys before she met my dad and got pregnant with me, so she liked hanging out with our friends and being around that energy.”
Leah said Dawn’s marriage to Lee was not going well during this period.
“Around that time, she and Lee were going through a rough patch,” Leah states in her book. “She had started seeing a therapist who diagnosed her as bipolar (with depression and anxiety), but she wouldn’t take her meds so she was totally unpredictable. One second she’d be flying high and the next she’d spiral into a dark place. I think she also just didn’t know how to handle having teenage daughters, so she’d either be so strict it was embarrassing or she’d want to hang out and act like she was the young cool mom— which was& also embarrassing. There was no middle ground; it was always one extreme or the other.”
On the night the incident occurred, Dawn allowed Leah and her cousins and friends to invite some boys over so Leah invited a teen named Mike, whom she casually knew, to come over with his younger brother.
“We were all sitting around the living room, talking and hanging out, when my mom came into the room with an empty wine bottle and said we should play Spin the Bottle. At first, it was funny; we were all just laughing and not really taking the game seriously,” Leah writes. “Mike spun, and I was relieved when the bottle didn’t land on me. When I spun, it landed on his brother, so I gave him a peck on the cheek and we all laughed. When it was Mike’s turn to go again, the bottle landed in the empty space next to me. There was an awkward pause and he went to spin it again.”
It was then that Leah’s mom intervened and took control of the situation.
“Before he could, my mom leaned over and pushed the bottle so that it was pointing right at me. I shook my head and said, ‘No way,’ but she started wrestling with me and telling me I had to do it,” Leah wrote. “I was laughing, because I thought she was just teasing me, but then she started pushing both of us towards the bedroom I shared with [my sister] Victoria.
“The next thing I knew I was in the room with Mike and my mom was holding the door shut from the other side so I couldn’t get out. I remember feeling cornered, like a trapped animal,” Leah wrote.
“I didn’t want to kiss Mike, much less have sex with him, but that’s exactly what happened.”
Leah said that, while the sex was consensual, both she and Mike felt pressured by Dawn to do the deed.
“He didn’t force himself on me,” Leah wrote. “I think he was actually as nervous and uncomfortable as I was. At one point he even asked me, ‘Are you sure, Leah? Because this is weird.’ I wasn’t sure (and it was definitely weird), but I still hadn’t learned how to say no. So I just shrugged and said, ‘I guess.’ It was easier to just let it happen than to think about why my mom had pushed me into that room in the first place.
“We were in there for maybe 10 minutes and it was the grossest sex I’ve ever had. He was all sweaty and grunting… When it was over, I felt totally ashamed of myself, but I knew there was no way I could take back what I had just done. Coming out of that room was the most humiliating walk of shame.”
Leah says Dawn thought the whole incident was hysterical.
“I remember my mom laughing as we walked out. Then I think she just lost interest because she went to bed shortly after.”
During a 2019 episode of Leah’s now-defunct Life Reboot podcast, Dawn discussed how she felt about Leah writing a book, as well as some of the reasons she behaved the way she did at that time.
“You learn that behavior, that cycle, and then you find yourself doing that with your own children. And I still have a hard time,” Dawn said, later adding that she has since apologized to Leah and her siblings, as well as Lee, for the things she did to them back then.
“I had to apologize, this year, to each one of my children and my husband because I was wrong to them and my husband,” Dawn said. “I was acting out my cycle, and all the hurt I had been through…I have no objections against [Leah] writing the book. Everyone is going to have something to learn from it, and if it takes our lives for other people’s eyes to be open with their families then I’m all for it.”
Leah’s book, Hope, Grace & Faith, is set to be released by Post Hill Press on May 5. You can pre-order it using The Ashley’s Amazon affiliate link below.
UPDATE! After this story was published, Leah posted an Instagram photo of herself and her daughters with Dawn in Hawaii last year, along with the caption, “Mom. I love you, we love you and can not wait to go back!”
One of Leah’s followers wrote in the comment section of the post that she was, “surprised you still have a good relationship with your mom after the articles I’ve read with what you wrote in your book.”
“We have an even better relationship than I ever thought was possible,” Leah responded. “I am beyond grateful for my family!”
(Photos: MTV, Facebook, Instagram, Post Hill Press)
63 Responses
I think something ya’ll might not realize is the differences in generations. Were in a generation now where we openly talk about anything and EVERYTHING. With our friends, Family, Children, anyone close. Back in Dawn’s time, you did the exact opposite. You buried your “trauma” You didn’t talk about the bad things in your life. You were made to feel what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. I write it that way, as now days, everything is referred to as “toxic” and “traumatic”. It’s actually just done a 180 where neither are healthy. A nice in between to seek help for real issues, but not blow things out of proportion would be nice. It’s how I try to live honestly. In Dawn’s case, I can give her credit for A. Admitting, B. Not being angry or spiteful towards Leah & allowing that part to be published, and finally C. for Apologizing. Whether it came too late or not, it came, that’s the point. No one wants to pick a scab, but since Leah did with the book, then Dawn did her part. Not sure if Leah ever came out to her Mother about how bad that was, and how much it effected her? I’m sure Dawn would of apologized right then. Nothing at all makes that okay, and it’s pretty fucked up. But I’m glad it was more of an uneducated, mentally effected, possibly intoxicated mistake rather than pedophilia, or a sick infatuation with Children. She was trying to “fit in” be “one of the gang” the “cool Mom”, I get it. I would still never fully trust someone like that ever again with my children, Parent or not. Not to make light of it either, although incredibly odd for a Mother to initiate that, Leah DID have the opportunity to say “No” Especially when the boy even asked consent himself. If she lacked the ability to say no, that was solely on her. We have all been victims of peer pressure, and a lot of it sexual, that ended in losing virginity. It’s just out of the norm for that to be due to your own Mother.
Also…it really took Dawn until LAST YEAR to apologize to them for THESE types of things?! And did she really sit down with each individually and fully apologize for specific incidences and then discuss all their feelings about what happened to them? Doubtful. I have to assume it was more like, “I’m sorry I ever did somethin’ to be a bad mama to y’all and did stuff that didn’t make no sense when you was kids.” And no one discussed anything. I’m glad Leah is getting it out in a book and I have to assume that Leah writing the book is what actually even led to Dawn apologizing in the first place. I wonder is Leah if now getting quality therapy and is truly coming to terms with things. I bet she was shocked at how shocked the first person she told this story to who isn’t a part of their circle must’ve been.
Grandma Sandy needs to comment now because it sure sounds like Dawn had a bizarre childhood too. I’m assuming Sandy’s mom is alive too, since they all had kids as teens….what did she do to Sandy? Now I understand Leah’s “generational toxicity” a therapist must’ve told her about.
This explains a lot and is so sad. We already knew her father wasn’t involved much and then came around during her drug period and dud drugs with her and we already knew “Mama Dawn” weren’t too briiiight but I had no idea Dawn was this messed up. Now I feel like Leah is owed more credit for “only” having the issues she does…she has been through some shit. I have to assume there are many more stories like this one involving Dawn, whether they’re all shared in the book or not. I really hope the Simms family already knew about the contents of this book ahead of time. I’d be quite “upset” if I were Cory, etc and Leah had been allowing her mother access to my children, especially alone, all this time without revealing this info. Especially if I learned in now through this excerpt or from the book. Wow. And I’m sure “the girlses” will feel great having this book out about their mom and grandma and other private things (not to mention the show) out there right as they are entering middle school age. Smh. It’s all awful.
Her so called Mother JUST apologized for all her messed up actions including holding the door closed to a room she just pushed her barely teenage daughter and a boy she barely knew into?! That so called Mother could have gotten her daughter raped and killed by doing that. Leah barely knew this boy and Leah’s just lucky he was a normal teenager not one looking to hurt women. I can’t believe Leah allowed her so called Mother to watch her daughters for even 5 minutes when she was in the bathroom if it took her so called Mother all these years to apologize for her completely insane behavior!!
This explains a lot about how she parents her own children. Letting them look through her messages with their dads, the grown up friendship she seems to have with them. It’s not her own personal immaturity but what she learned. At their age she didn’t have a mom she had whatever Dawn felt like being that day. Very sad. I might not always be Leahs biggest fan but with her childhood and dealing with her daughters unique medical condition I can’t imagine her internal dialogue (sorry my Dr Phil term lol)
Leah said she used to be embarrassed by her so called Mother when she joined Leah and her friends wouldn’t Leah think her own kids would feel the same way if Leah was hanging around with them and their friends? I agree with you about those kids reading and speaking to Leah about how she is dating like their friends and not mother and children! Not a shot in hell would anyone of my kids be going through my text messages, emails or anything else that is private to me!! If I caught them doing this their own phone would Never be private again!!
Oh man, what a f*cked up mother. And if she had her at 16, Leah needs to really make sure to break the pattern. I think writing this book made her realize all the sick things she grew up with and won’t allow her daughters to live them out.
But seriously, which mom forces her daughter to have sex with basically a total stranger? Doesn’t matter they were both teenagers, it’s just…WHY would you do that?! You aren’t a “fun” mom just because you made her do that…you aren’t even acting as a parent! It makes sense now why she can’t let go of Jeremy…her mom taught her it is alright to sleep around!
That, along with Cory and Miranda’s influence, is why I think her daughters will hopefully be okay. The one I worry the most for (aside from Ali’s medical issues) is Addie. She doesn’t have a father (and another mother figure in Miranda) around consistently and very involved like the twins do.
There are so many things going through my mind that I can’t even manage to get them to come together to make a comment.
What the actual fuck.
The only thing I’m 100% certain of, is that Mama Dawn needs to be kept way the fuck away from her grandkids, or at least she shouldn’t be allowed to be alone with them.
Leah actually let’s her so called Mother keep those kids for weekends or longer when she goes on vacation or trips that their fathers aren’t able to take them for due to work. I wouldn’t let her watch 2 stuffed animals because by the time I got back one or both of the stuffed animals would be knocked up because Dawn made them play Spin the bottle!! When I played Spin the bottle all we did was kiss not have one of our mother’s lock us in a room to have sex!!
“Everyone is going to have something to learn from it, and if it takes our lives for other people’s eyes to be open with their families then I’m all for it.”
Sorry, Dawn. But the only thing I’ve learned from this so far is extreme sadness. The sadness that a parent was so allegedly “out of it” at the time, that she forced her daughter into a room to have UNPROTECTED sex with a randam boy while holding the door shut. Clearly, I’ve known some people who even 100% stoned off their ASSES would never do anything like this.
So for me, similar comments here ring so indeed true.
W.T.F.
??
It always seemed like Cory’s family knew more than they were saying. You could kind of see it in their eyes, that they thought Leah’s family tree did not have a lot of branches
Momma dawn = mommy dearest.
Dawn is a POS shit mother. First of all, pressuring her kids to have sex when they are still CHILDREN is gross. Second of all, she only apologized because Leah was writing a book. She should of apologized for her nasty behaviour the next day, not 10+ years later.
Wtf …….
Oh thats just plain sick …
I always got such a bad feeling from leahs mother. Gross. She “apologized “ to her daughters. Oh, well, it’s ok then”
She only apologized because she knew there would now be public backlash for what she did. She probably hadn’t thought about that incident in years til it came up in Leah’s book. Straight up child abuse. Leah’s not perfect by any stretch, but this does shed a lot of light on why she is the way she is. Sad all around. Especially for the ‘girlses’ who will be subjected to all their family bullshit.
Maybe this Mike guy will come forward and speak out.
I hope not. This sounded pretty traumatic, I feel like having him say his piece would be like opening an old wound.
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Maybe this Mike guy will come forward and speak out.
Anything to sell a book…. SMDH! If people buy it, they’re dumb AF!
Jesus God Dawn!
Forgive my dumb question, but I don’t want to google…how old was Dawn when she had Leah??
16
Thanks! I knew it was something like that, but wasn’t sure.
Really? Dawn has always looked rough for her age.
I think Leah is using her Mom as a scapegoat for her nasty behavior. It was just a matter of time before her hillbilly ass got knocked up. Dawn sounds like a partyer and not a good Mom but she didn’t force Mike’s penis into Leah’s vagina. Leah was willing had sex with a guy who was obviously able to get aroused. If Leah didn’t want to do it no one from outside the room can force the act of sex. I wonder would have happened if she said no to her Mom? Dawn sounds like a real POS person and parent.
We often judge the girls, but we easily forget that kids just dont turn out like that on their own and that the social context they grow up in shapes them for life. It is hard to break free from that and you often parent the way your parents patented whithout even thinking about it. It just goes on and on for generations. Leah has come a looong way and should be proud of herself. Lets pray for the next generation.
What the fuck
Dawn is a gross cow. Leah should keep her girls far away from her.
Oh my…wow. Just wow. This is Farrah level horrible child abuse. This is abuse. Dawn should be arrested. This is a crime.
I think Momma Dawn isn’t a good mom and I never thought she was. Am I missing something though? How did Dawn who granted was acting like a teenager but seemed to be jokingly (still ridiculously wrong of her) pushing Leah in a room with Mike turn into Leah feeling like she needed to have sex? I mean, let’s be honest, she could have sat there for 10 minutes and done absolutely nothing with the dude.
What was Farrah’s child abuse? Did I miss something??!!
What. The. Fuck… Leah really never had a chance…
Leah needs to take a step back and see how her mother’s fault of playing too much of the friend role is rolling off her ( Leah) like butter. Leah plays way more friend than parent and it shows in the girls lack of respect. Just an example, grabbing their mothers cell phone and going through all her messages. I’m not saying kids should be scared to death of their parents , but they should know that their parents are above anything, their authority with their best at heart and also a friend.
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This totally creeped me out! Wtf acts like that with her child, and finds it funny that young teens are having sex ?
What happened to Leah’s brother? Is he in jail or on drugs?
I was just asking a question. I’d be interested to know if he broke the family cycles or if he’s got some issues
If I recall Leah’s brother had a baby girl with his girlfriend a few of years back but that’s all some of know. There was an article about it a few years ago on this site if I’m correct, plus Leah was holding the baby during one episode when she was dozing off on TV in front him around the time she was going to rehab.
This breaks my heart for Leah. And people wonder why she is promiscuous?!? She never had a chance. I’m so glad to see her working to try and be a better mother to her girls then Dawn was to her.
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Wow what a hot mess. This really opens my eyes on Leah’s issues. Your Mom is supposed to show a good example not trying to act cool in front of Leah’s friends!! She really didn’t stand a chance in her marriages if thats the type of role model she had to look up to. So sad ?
And 3 months later Leah went for her first abortion
So what? Her body, her choice.
Was it though?
Has she had more than one? Cause only one I’ve heard about is the Jeremy one.
Just when I think I’m a worldly well traveled man, I can’t believe I never played spin the bottle with my mom and she certainly never lined me up for sex while in the next room. WTF kind of childhood did I have.
stay lit
The REAL question is if you would play with momma dawn sir nibs. Lit, or not lit?
Wow…Delta Dawn isint getting a very good edit in this book!
Jesus God, Leah! Parenting ain’t so good in the holler. This answers alot about the Messy Messers.
Truly horrible. The more Leah gets away from Dawn, the better a person she becomes. I’m rooting for her
That “Mother” is a disgusting pig! I wonder if charges can be brought against her for abuse? Or maybe the statute of limitations has run out?
“….I have no objections against [Leah] writing the book. Everyone is going to have something to learn from it, and if it takes our lives for other people’s eyes to be open with their families then I’m all for it.”
So what, now she thinks she’s some f’n martyr?!
Oh this pissed me off so bad!
I’m not sure if it counts as a sex crime but most sex crimes have a statute of limitations that’s either five years from the crime or five years from the time you remember the crime in the case of blacked out childhood memories or PTSD related memory loss. I’m a foster mom so unfortunately I have to deal with these issues often. Leah would have been immediately removed from her mother’s care if that incident was reported to CPS. And to those who think Leah could have just sat in the room and done nothing with that boy… that shows you lack understanding and empathy. A teenager does not have the emotional intelligence to know how to get out of that situation when that is all she has ever seen or been taught. Leah was conditioned by her mother to think what she was doing was normal and she would have felt she was the one being abnormal by being weirded out by it.
Thank you for your work as a foster Mom. That has to be so hard yet is so incredibly needed.
Jesus, that’s horrible. What an awful, humiliating experience. And to have it come from your MOM?! It’s nice that Dawn has owned up to it, but still. How traumatic. Considering her circumstances, and I know she’s made her own fair share of mistakes along the way, Leah came out the other side.
Does anybody else know that documentary that Dawn is in? I think it’s about her cousin that kept doing incestual molestation?
I remember on one reunion right he after Leah and split, Corey said that Dawn had no sense. I’ve said all along there is a reason Leah has had all the issues she’s had. All of her earlier behaviors are indicative of a child that’s been exposed to WAY too much, WAY too early. It’s why I’ve always had a soft spot for her.
Even still after reading this I’m not sure how we went from spin the bottle to “welp me mom locked us in here may as well have sex real quick” but I do now understand why she did drugs. Girl had no chance.
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Yea I wonder why she felt that’s what her mom was implying, like if she left something out of the book or what, seems extreme to assume that’s what she wanted them to do, either way it sounds traumatic
So basically at one point in Leah’s life her mom was her pimp and then at another point in Leah’s life her father was her drug dealer. Wow. This girl was damaged goods from the jump and her own parents are to blame. How absolutely sad.
Jesus God Momma Dawn… Now I understand Leah more. Just one question… If she was so out of control why was she allowed to be alone with her kids? No-one else thought okay, you need help?
there’s no reason to buy this book, all the interesting pets are being told in advance.
I wouldn’t have bought it anyway but, I’ve never felt the need to purchase any of these no longer “teen moms” books. I feel like I’d be giving them more money on top of the too much money they get from MTV.