Gary Shirley‘s wife hinted that she’s not so keen on Gary wanting to spend even more time with his ex and baby mama, Amber Portwood.
On Tuesday’s episode of Teen Mom OG, Gary’s wife Kristina— who has helped raise Gary and Amber’s daughter Leah—finally spoke up on-camera about feeling like Gary is spending too much time with (and worrying about) Amber, and not enough time with her.
As ‘Teen Mom OG’ fans know, Kristina has been staunchly loyal in her support of Gary having a good co-parenting relationship with Amber. She has also been incredibly kind to Amber, despite the ‘Teen Mom OG’ star verbally attacking her on Instagram on multiple occasions. However, when Gary told her he was planning to go to therapy with Amber, Kristina expressed her unhappiness about the situation.
Gary told Kristina that Amber had requested he go see her therapist with her, and that he planned to go.
“Once again I get put on the back burner!” Kristina said, quickly changing her tone to make it sound like she was joking.
Gary seemed oblivious to the fact that his wife was feeling slighted by him wanting to devote even more of his attention to Amber.
“How are you getting—you wanna go?” he asked her.
Kristina stated that she had no interest in attending Amber’s therapy session.
“You think I should go?” Gary asked her.
Kristina didn’t answer at first, but then muttered, “If it’s gonna help,” obviously referring to the mess of a relationship going on between Amber and Leah.
Gary asked Kristina again if he should go, telling her, “If you don’t want me to go, then I won’t go.”
“I’m not going to stop you!” Kristina answered.
She did, however, want to know if the therapy session would be about the co-parenting of Leah, to which Gary replied that the session would probably be more about Amber and understanding her mental health issues.
“That way, maybe I don’t hold anything against her,” he added.
Gary reveals that he and Amber went to a counselor years ago, back when they were still together and Amber was still beating on him. Gary says that the counselor told Amber to stop getting physical with Gary or it could make Leah more likely to seek out a violent partner later in life. He also told her that her violence could have legal ramifications.
(As ‘Teen Mom OG’ fans know, Amber ended up going to prison for 17 months, with some of her being domestic battery and intimidation against Gary.)
Gary tells Kristina that, despite her obvious unhappiness about him devoting more time to Amber, he’s doing it for Leah’s benefit.
“I know you understand that,” he tells his wife. “And I know you’re positive in that.”
Kristina agrees to support Gary going to counseling with Amber, which Gary appreciates.
“Unfortunately, I have a life to share with Amber [because of] my baby, my baby Leah,” he says. “And even though [Leah] might not understand how important it is, it’s always important to have family.”
The Ashley will be recapping Tuesday’s full episode of ‘Teen Mom OG’ soon, but until then, you can feast on her recaps of previous episodes by clicking here!
(Photos: MTV)
27 Responses
Amber is clearly marketing herself as the poster child for mental health success. The payoff for her literally is $, custody resolution of James, book sales, now merchandise.
It’s a full blown campaign.
The only missing link to complete success is full reconciliation with Leah.
Unfortunately it’s all fake. Amber is no more mentally healthy.
But it does show how manipulative she is.
Gary needs to see a therapist solo to figure out why he can’t detach from Amber. This co-parenting is a mask for his unresolved issues and has nothing to do with Leah. But it makes him look so reasonable.
If someone doesn’t start respecting Leah that kid is going to blow.
Kristina needs to call Gary out & stop being so nice.
BTW Amber’s producer is one hell of an enabler or a manipulator.
it’s most likely a producer driven storyline. otherwise, they would never get screentime.
Has Gary ever attempted to lose weight? I’m not a doctor but I think being that obese may be just as dangerous to ones health as doing drugs.
Amber should be banned from their property unless Leah REQUESTS a visit. Kristina and Gary should be in counseling together and separately; they both need to learn to make and enforce appropriate boundaries and he needs to choose her firmly over Amber’s nonsense. And Leah needs therapy full stop.
They should not even be giving a shit at this point what Amber says and does outside of interactions with Leah if and when she requests them. Gary is being an ass. Love him, but don’t screw Kristina over for Amber’s sake, that would fuck up everything so much more. Leah needs Kristina, not Amber.
Can’t understand why Kristina stayed with Gary this long. Better yet, why she even married him in the first place.
Longtime viewers will remember when Amber first got out of jail, Gary was still promising that there was a chance for them to get back together. So he would text Amber whenever Kristina was out and ask her to come over. Amber never did, but this only shows how Gary tried to play BOTH of them back then. It’s all right there “on tape” in the old TM episodes from years back.
There’s absolutely no question that he’s a great dad to his kids. But I’m just surprised that Kristina is still putting up with Gary’s occasional bullsh*t gaslighting games.
Jeez.
It’s becoming ridiculous and embarrassing to Kristina. Let Amber sink Gary! It’s not your responsibility!
Many people have successful co-parenting relationships without being this involved. Why does Gary need to understand anything?
Amber needs one on one therapy, not couples counseling.
This is ridiculous and so disrepectful to Kristina, who has bent over backward to make sure Amber and Leah have a relationship, I can’t imagine Kristina enjoys babysitting Amber while she’s with Leah. Or having to sacrifice her day for Amber.
Amber is going to try to break Gary and Kristina up.
True Dat
What’s more useless, a screen door on a submarine, or Gary attending counseling with Amber?
Kristina needs her own therapist so she can develop some self esteem and say no to Gary’s obsession with amber.
Good point – Gary isn’t being fair to Kristina and he should realize that he’s beyond lucky to have her. She’s a kind person who is Leah’s rill mother and is going to school to train for a solid career. Kristina is a much, much better person than Amber in pretty much every way possible. The Ashley probably says more nice things about her than any other person mentioned in her write-ups – that’s saying something. It’s impossible to snark on Kristina.
More likely that Leah will be the one to put the kibosh on Gary’s weird attempt to have a peaceful relationship with Amber. The kid is already trying her best to keep Amber out of her life and home. Respect Leah’s preferences – she’s not a young child and knows who and what Amber is.
Yep. I used to think his “thing” with Amber was for a storyline, but I think it’s an obsession. Which sucks for Kristina, because she loves Gary. And she’s so sweet and kind, and could do better. I never trusted Gary’s intentions, but I do applaud his parenting.
Why is a grown woman seeing a child psychologist??? Especially a person as F-d up as Amber. Ugh!!! See a real therapist and then we will talk!
Because he validates everything she says, and enables her to continue her behavior without consequences. Why else would a grown ass woman be going to a child psychiatrist?.She surrounds herself with yes people, and avoids anyone who points out her faults. Lets hope that the parents of his patients see this, and reconsider who they are entrusting there children to.
I think Gary is trying to protect Leah.
He wants to do everything he can to make sure Amber doesn’t blow her top and Leah bears the brunt of it. Because he can see it coming. We all can.
When Amber is done blaming Kristina, she will move onto blaming Leah.
The only one who needs therapy first, is Amber. Proper therapy. Where she is shown a mirror to her behaviour. None of this ass kissing for the camera BS sessions she has now.
You can’t force feelings Amber. Leave Leah alone. Let her have some space to process her feelings of neglect and rejection. And stop acting like a wanker on the internet in the meantime. And THEN Leah might start to develop a shred of respect for your lazy ass.
Poor kristina, Garry needs to support her and the children, not some nut job Ex.
I’d be pissed off too, if I were Kristina.
How insulting.
Amber causes nothing but trouble in the Shirley home – I guess Gary is afraid of Amber otherwise he would put an end to it. Leah wants nothing to do with Amber so don’t bother with her anymore. Kristina and Leah will be happier with Amber out of the picture. Kristina should legally adopt Leah so Kristina can raise her should anything happen to Gary, but Gary probably doesn’t have the balls to move forward with that.
Gary and Kristina can’t do that. The only way that could happen is if Amber agreed to terminate her parental rights forever. Which will never happen. So it doesn’t matter what Gary and Kristina “have the balls for” OR want OR think is best. It’s never happening.
So basically an extra hour for Gary to listen to Amber complain about how life and how no one understands her and nothing is her fault. Sounds awesome.
Gary probably forgot what their therapist said about his emotional abusive behavior and how that affected Leah.
How Gary has treated both Amber as Kristina is not a good role model for Leah.
I feel like information is missing, he owes Amber something for some reason, he wants to be in her life and have control or he is interested in Amber in some way or the other.
Maybe it’s MTV, maybe he wants to stay in her storyline and cash those cheques.
Meanwhile, what Leah needs isn’t that important.
Fuck Amber and her issues.
YEP !! Ambers biggest issue is Amber. Someday life will bite her fat a$$
Why is it everyone else’s job to “fix” Amber?
Don’t save her. She dont want to be saved.
I actually feel bad for Kristina. She has been more than supportive of Amber and Amber has treated her horribly. Gary is either tone deaf or trying to get a MTV storyline by going to Amber’s therapist. It isn’t even about Leah, it’s about Amber playing the victim and wanting everyone to understand her and how she feels. Who gives a shit how Amber feels? Leah is the child and how she feels is the only thing that should be addressed. For some reason, when Gary bends over backwards for Amber, it just feels icky to me.
Gary is a POS to Kristina. And she lets him walk all over her. And both,Gary and Amber are using Leah for storyline.Does anyone really believe Amber would still reach out to Leah if the camera‘s were gone?My god, how much clearer can Leah make it, that she wants nothing to do with A? They are just as bad as Maci and Taylor. Hats of to Chelsea and Cole doing the right thing for Aubree, even if it meant waiving goodbye to hundreds of thousand dollars. Cole also never quit his real job. God i miss Farrah. Remember when Maci quit the show bc of Farrah coming back? Because…porn.?? But thank god she got over it quickly. As she said..she still does the show tO hElp oThEr pEoPle and bc she did not want to let her fans down ?????
I do too bc Amber has proven time and time again that she can’t be trusted and hasn’t changed!!!! Amber only cares about herself and always will!!! Amber blames everyone including her OWN DAUGHTER for HER PROBLEMS!!!! If I was Kristina I would definitely be PUTTING MY FOOT DOWN and TELLING GARY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!! Amber needs to grow up and go get some professional help along terminating her parental rights to both of her children!!!