Bar Smith is adjusting to life outside of jail, after spending nearly eight months locked up. For the first time since his release from the clink earlier this month, the Teen Mom: The Next Chapter dad spoke out on social media about the incident in July 2024 with his estranged wife Ashley Jones that resulted in him being arrested and charged with four felonies— including kidnapping and residential burglary– and a misdemeanor.

Bar— who shares daughter Holly with Ashley— also revealed where his current relationship with Ashley stands, and how happy he is to be home in California’s Bay Area and far away from the three-hots-and-a-cot life he had been living in the Las Vegas jail.

“They really just tried to give me 46 years,” Bar wrote on Instagram Stories this weekend. “[I] beat a indictment and hella s**t. Life hit a lil different. I can’t believe I’m really home.”

Bar also applauded himself for keeping his cool during his court drama.

“Got testified on and some more s**t. Took that s**t on the chin kept my head up and chest out! Don’t ask why I’m cold now,” he wrote.

As The Ashley previously reported, Bar was arrested on July 7 after he traveled to Las Vegas from California– where he had been living since he and Ashley split– and went to Ashley’s apartment unannounced. According to the police incident report first obtained by The Ashley, Ashley claimed that Bar was angry after she posted a photo of herself on a date with her new boyfriend. Ashley and her mom Tea Chapple told police that Bar had called Ashley and informed her that he was coming to Vegas, and he actually made good on his promise.

Ashley told police that she was shocked to see Bar inside her home and that he “immediately physically took her phone, all her electronics (phone, watch, and two tablets) out of her hands, and keys away from her.” He then allegedly demanded Ashley drive him to her new boyfriend’s house so that Bar could confront her new boo. When Ashley refused, she claimed Bar got mad and they began to argue, before Bar finally allegedly told Ashley “Say something again and I will break your f**king jaw.’

Ashley told cops that Bar barricaded both of them in her upstairs apartment and told her that if she wouldn’t leave with him, she won’t leave period. According to Ashley, when the cops knocked on the front door, Bar told her that she “better not open the door.” 

Ashley’s parents frantically called 911, and Bar was arrested and eventually charged with second-degree kidnapping, residential burglary (for taking Ashley’s property), and aggravated stalking. Bar was also charged with “Coercion Domestic Violence with Threat of or Use Of Physical Force” because he allegedly threatened to break Ashley’s jaw, and took all devices she could have used to call for help. He also received a misdemeanor charge for Battery.

The scary incident eventually played out on ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.’ However, Ashley later confirmed on social media that what viewers saw on MTV was a recreation of what happened on the day Bar showed up to her home.

As The Ashley previously reported, Bar accepted a plea deal in late February, pleading “nolo contendere” to the misdemeanor battery charge. (The rest of his charges were dismissed.)

In his first Instagram comments after his release from jail, Bar stated that things didn’t go down the way the cops and media claimed they did.

“[I] never kidnapped anybody, even Ashley said it herself,” Bar wrote in the comment section of a post about his release from the @TeenMomShadeRoom Instagram account. “[I] walked away with a misdemeanor and that’s only because I didn’t feel like sitting and going through trial.

“I was facing 46 years [in prison] and the DA and Judge wasn’t playing fair at all,” Bar continued. “Clark County [Nevada] is hella corrupt.”

According to Bar, Ashley is not scared of him, given that they are in regular communication. In fact, he also hinted that they’re not just talking about their daughter Holly in their talk sessions.

“For all the mfs that feel like I’m a threat to [Ashley], we speak daily and have been for months!” Bar wrote. “And it ain’t just related to Holly.”

As of press time, Bar and Ashley’s divorce is still an open case, despite the fact that the case was vacated in November after Ashley failed to show up to court. Earlier this month, though, there was some movement in the divorce case, with it being reassigned from ‘vacant’ status to a specific Clark County judge. 

Hours after writing in the comment section of @TeenMomShadeRoom‘s post, Bar returned to the comment section to clarify a bit more.

“To be clear I ain’t say this to start no s**t or call nobody a liar or nothing, but the false info and lack of info got me threw off heavy,” he wrote. “Y’all can’t twist my words that hard. Have a bless day, life is good.” 

While Bar is a free man, he still must follow the strict terms of his probation, unless he wants to go back to jail. In order to stay on the right side of the law, Starcasm reports that Bar must not receive any more domestic violence charges for the next seven years. (Should he become entangled in another domestic violence situation, he faces fines and up to six years in prison.) In addition, Bar must take parenting classes, complete substance abuse evaluations (and treatment, should it be deemed necessary following the evaluations). He is also forbidden from having any “negative” contact with Ashley. 

In more comments on Instagram, though, Bar disputed some of these probation terms. He also stated that there isn’t a “no contact order” in place between him and Ashley currently, and that the “classes are optional IF I even qualify and there is no order.” 

Ashley has yet to publicly respond to Bar’s claims. 

RELATED STORY: Bar’s Unlocked! ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ Star Bar Smith Released from Jail After Spending Over Seven Months Incarcerated