Just when you thought things couldn’t get any darker, things have gone from bad to worse on Teen Mom 2. The Thursday, Aug. 20 episode really took the cake when it began with Jenelle Evans’ fiancé Nathan Griffith being arrested for assault on her and ended with Leah Messer looking into treatment facilities to help with her depression and suicidal thoughts.
Basically, things were no fun in Teen Mom land. But you know what they say: It’s always darkest when your three kids throw collective temper tantrums right after you’ve been served with divorce papers.
Here’s what happened this week:
Jenelle Evans
MTV wasted no time kicking off the episode with a spoonful of fresh Jenelle drama. One of Jenelle’s neighbors called the police when she heard the reality star screaming for her fiancé, Nathan Griffith, to get off her.
When the cops arrived, Jenelle signed papers saying Nathan had, in fact, attacked her. One officer examined the stoic-looking mother of two, only noticing a cut on her finger.
“Oh, I have a bruise on my thigh, but you guys can’t get to it,” she said.
Nathan was then escorted out of the house, screaming, “Jenelle, you know I didn’t do anything! Please, Jenelle can you tell them? I never laid a hand on her. I never laid anything on her, why am I being arrested? Because I’m a guy? Jenelle, please tell them. You know the truth.”
But a stone-faced Jenelle simply looked on without a trace of emotion on her face as the cops drove away with Nathan handcuffed in the backseat. Jenelle later learned that the state was pressing charges so even if she chose to drop the charges of criminal domestic violence, which is a misdemeanor, Nathan wouldn’t be allowed to walk free.
It turned out the fight began when Nathan confirmed that he had been talking to another girl and demanded to get his ring back. The former Marine forcibly removed the diamond from Jenelle’s finger, which she claimed happened while he was choking her.
“It was just an altercation that got blown out of proportion,” Nathan later told his friend. “I never intentionally hurt her. I wasn’t trying to hurt her. But somehow, somewhere the cops got called, and I was arrested. I was just trying to get the ring off of her finger. I’m pretty sure if I was beating the s—t out of her or wrestling around, that it would have been a lot worse than a scratch on her pinky.”
But Nathan seemed determined to patch things up with the mother of his son Kaiser.
“I couldn’t leave Jenelle,” he said. “I love her too much. I love our life too much. Our hearts are in sync. I just f—ked up.”
While Jenelle was out searching for a new apartment, her friend told her that Nathan wanted to reconcile. The conflicted Jenelle admitted she wasn’t ready to give up on her love yet.
“I want to work it out for our family. We have Kaiser together,” she told their mutual friend. “It’s confusing. I don’t know what to do.”
Kailyn Lowry
Baby on the way! Well, not the one you think. Kailyn’s ex Jo Rivera found out he was expecting a baby with his girlfriend, Vee. The pair was getting ready to move to Delaware to be closer to Kailyn and Jo’s son, Isaac, but this new pregnancy may present problems for the relocating couple.
“I’m going to be throwing mad mood swings at you, and you’re just going to have to catch them and run with them,” Vee joked to Jo. “It still makes me sad. I’m not going to have any of my family there with me. It’s not how I pictured being pregnant.”
When Jo broke the news to Isaac, the little boy didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about being a big brother again. He later told Kailyn about the pregnancy.
“They have their own issues, they have their own stuff going on, but I’ll probably send them a text saying ‘Congratulations,’” Kailyn told her husband, Javi Marroquin, apathetically.
As for Kailyn and Javi, the formerly feuding couple seemed to have cooled off this episode.
“Lately I really do see a change in him,” Kailyn told her friends while vacationing in Florida for her birthday. “Even if I’m trying to pick a fight over something, he’s like, ‘Okay, whatever.’”
Javi really stepped up his husband game on their trip, renting a limo for Kailyn and her guests and getting his family to babysit while they went out to a club. Jailyn is back!
Chelsea Houska
With her custody hearing against ex Adam Lind fast approaching, Chelsea was more on-edge than ever. He texted her a throwback photo of them right before their case, but the single mother wasn’t buying it.
“I haven’t had his number or spoken to him in eight months. He’s just trying to soften me up before court,” Chelsea told her lawyer.
Later while talking to her family, Chelsea expressed some of her main concerns about Adam getting partial custody.
“I’ve done everything. I’ve sacrificed so much,” she said of raising their daughter Aubree on her own. “He’s just about to get off probation. He won’t have an ankle monitor keeping him from drinking.”
Ultimately the judge ruled that Adam would not get split custody and his parents would still have to supervise their visits. But the judge also noted that they would have to be back in six months to reevaluate the custody situation. At the end of the trial Adam was arrested in the court room for being behind on his child support for his other daughter Paislee.
“I don’t think it was a fair ruling,” Adam later told his friend. “I think my lawyer’s going to dig in about that warrant. The judge wants six more months? Fine, easy.”
Though Chelsea was happy to get the positive ruling, she did lament her parenting situation with Adam.
“I just wish she had a good dad,” she said. “Someone there, someone who cares.” Amen, sister.
Leah Messer
Compared to Leah, the rest of the Teen Moms had it easy this week. As her ongoing saga with husband Jeremy Calvert waged on, Leah tried to hold it together while shuttling her three daughters to their various activities.
“I can’t ever get down because I have three kids that need me,” she told her friend. “[Jeremy and I] see each other for 12 hours every week — have sex, go to sleep, then he leaves.”
Days later Leah was finally served with divorce papers in a grocery store after months of Jeremy threatening to do so.
“I’m not the happy-go-lucky Leah I was,” Leah tearfully told her friend on the phone. “I‘m not myself. And I want to be that person again.”
Finally, Leah was able to admit that she was having suicidal thoughts.
“I feel like I’ve been pushed to an edge where I could care less whether I’m here or not,” she said through tears. “And that’s not okay. I don’t care about myself, and I’ve really been thinking about going away for a while to a facility where I could get some intense therapy. I would come back and be a brand new person. I’ve never taken time for myself before. I got pregnant at 16, had twins, one with a disability. Do I regret getting pregnant so young? Absolutely. But I would never take that back. I wouldn’t have done anything different with Jeremy. That’s where I wanted to be the rest of my life.”
Leah called Jeremy to tell him her plan, letting him know that their daughter Addie would be staying with her mom while she was at the facility. At first, Jeremy was very supportive, saying, ”You’ve just gotta focus on you. The kids we’ll take care of. Well I’m proud of you for making that step. I just want you to be healthy. No matter where we’re at as far as marriage.”
But after Leah insisted that she planned to come back a better person, Jeremy quickly confirmed that he would not be taking her back.
“Well, even if you get help, Leah. I’m not changing my mind about the divorce,” he told her over the phone.
“Why do you get like this? I do not understand. Jesus,” she cried, unable to hold back her emotions any longer.
Tell Us: What did you think of tonight’s episode of Teen Mom 2?
Teen Mom 2 airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on MTV.
