Teen Mom 2 alums Jenelle and Barbara Evans are at odds following Jace’s disappearance and safe return.
Barbara, Jenelle’s mom, claimed to TMZ on Thursday, August 17, that the former MTV personality took Jace off of his ADHD medication after gaining custody of the 14-year-old earlier this year. (Us Weekly broke the news in March that Jenelle, 31, was granted custody of her eldest son after he had been in Barbara’s care since he was a baby.) The outlet reported that Barbara thought Jace may have run away due to being off the meds.
Jenelle, for her part, hit back at her mom’s claims in a statement to TMZ, alleging Barbara was not in the loop on how she parents Jace at her house.
“Barbara has not been in contact with Jace since Monday. I have cut off contact with her as of 3 weeks ago,” Jenelle told TMZ on Thursday. “Barbara doesn’t have any idea what is going on inside my home. Jace had a therapist appointment today on
Zoom at 10:30 a.m. … she hasn’t even attempted to speak to Jace directly.”
While MTV viewers watched Jenelle and Barbara battle it out for years, their tumultuous relationship made headlines on Tuesday, August 15, when Jace — whom Jenelle shares with ex-boyfriend Andrew Lewis — was reported missing.
An incident report obtained by The Sun on Wednesday, August 16, stated that Jace left school after a fight with a school staff member on Tuesday and disappeared into the woods. Hours later, Jenelle’s manager, August Keen, told Us: “Jace has been found, and is safely at home with Jenelle and his family, thank you to the Brunswick Co. Sheriff’s Department and to everyone else for their concerns.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Jenelle explained in a statement via her manager that “Jace got in trouble at school, we decided to take his phone away and that’s when he decided to run off,” she told Us at the time. “Jace is a good kid and we’re not dealing with anything that most families don’t deal with while raising children, this has absolutely nothing to do with my situation with [my husband] David [Eason], we do not argue in front of our children or fight in front of our kids. This is a teenage boy being a teenager, mad that we decided to take his phone away.”
Barbara, for her part, told TMZ at the time that she last spoke to Jace on Monday. Though she attempted to get in touch with Jenelle, the 16 and Pregnant alum allegedly told her mom to leave her alone.
In addition to Jace, Jenelle is also mother of son Kaiser, 9, whom she shares with ex Nathan Griffith, as well as daughter Ensley, 6, whom she shares with Eason.
