Teen Mom’s Amber Portwood confirmed that her relationship with her daughter, Leah Shirley, remains distant.
“I don’t see my daughter often, sadly,” Amber, 36, shared via Instagram on Friday, October 23. “My daughter will be 18 in November. I tried, tried, tried guys, really did — even off of everything — but praying to God all the time that one day, she will be able to understand and see her mother loves her.”
Teen Mom viewers watched Leah, 17, open up to her dad, Gary Shirley, about her desire to distance herself from her biological mom. She eventually expressed her wishes to have Gary’s wife, Kristina Shirley, adopt her. (Gary and Kristina, 39, have been married since September 2015.)
“I haven’t really talked to [Amber] or seen her in a while. It’s fine,” Leah said on a February 2025 episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter. “I don’t really care anymore. I kind of want [my dad’s wife] Kristina to adopt me. I’ve been wanting it for a while just because Kristina’s been there for me since I was, like, in kindergarten and before that.”
Although the last new episode of MTV’s reality show aired in May 2025, life without cameras hasn’t seemed to help repair Amber and Leah’s relationship.
“It’s hard. It’s really hard because I talk to my son — he’s in California — but she’s here so that’s what makes it that hard,” Amber, who shares son James, 8, with ex Andrew Glennon — said. “But I love her, and she is very intelligent. She literally acts like me with the way that she speaks and how she moves. She is not afraid of s***.”
The former 16 and Pregnant star continued, “So at least I presented to the world a very beautiful young woman.”
As Leah continues her high school journey, the 17-year-old tends to document major milestones on social media for followers. In September, she shared photos from her senior year homecoming dance.
In 2025, Leah opened up about her decision to enter therapy to better understand her complicated relationship with Amber.
“I just think I have a lot of, like, issues because of Amber in the experiences I’ve had,” Leah told her dad during an episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter. “I want to overcome that so I can be able to forgive her and just move on, and I think that it would help to have someone to guide me on how to forgive someone because it’s hard for me to do that.”
Gary expressed his support by telling his daughter, “I just want you to have somebody to talk to that’s a safe space. I want you to be happy. I love you.”
