Amber Portwood and her 14-year-old daughter, Leah, had a breakthrough in their often rocky relationship during the Teen Mom: The Next Chapter reunion.
During the two-hour special, which aired on Wednesday, October 11, Leah sat next to all three of her parental figures — mom Amber, 33, dad Gary Shirley and stepmom Kristina Shirley — as she spoke candidly about how they have all helped her through the years.
“I really appreciate everybody. ’Cause, I mean, being a teenager … it’s stressful,” Leah told her parents. “I have people that have gone through everything that I’m going to go through, so it just makes it easier.”
“I have a lot of trust in all of you guys,” she added, looking at all three of her parents.
The moment caused Amber to burst into tears.
“That’s the first time I ever heard [Leah say that],” Amber told her daughter, wiping away tears. “Thank you, I love you.”
“I love you too,” Leah replied.
It was a monumental moment for the mother-daughter duo, whose estranged relationship has played out on MTV for years.
Amber — whose substance abuse struggles, mental health issues and legal woes have played a significant role in her and Leah’s estrangement — sobbed even harder when explaining what her daughter’s words meant to her.
“I f—king try so hard to be there for her. And I’m so happy that no matter what I did, she learned something,” Amber said. “That means so much.”
After apologizing to Leah for being “depressed sometimes,” the MTV personality emphasized how “important” her firstborn is to her. (Amber is also the mother of son James, 5, whom she shares with ex Andrew Glennon.)
“I just want you to be, your, like, healthy self for your mental health,” Leah told her mom, who responded through tears, “I try my best and I’m happy that you see that. I didn’t know that you saw that.”
Leah, for her part, emphasized just how important her mom is to her — no matter what they’ve gone through throughout the years. “You’ve made a big difference in my life,” Leah replied. “Like, you really helped.”
Amber, for her part, has been taking responsibility for her past actions — and absence — in her daughter’s life.
On a January 2022 episode of Teen Mom: Family Reunion, the 16 and Pregnant alum admitted that she would previously use her depression as “an excuse to not do anything” for Leah.
“There’s no excuse,” Amber reflected. “I was trying to keep Leah away from all of the bad s—t back in the day. I was trying to do this, trying to do that. And then I was like, ‘Well, I could have [gone] over there still though. Why didn’t I go over there?’ Like, ‘I could have still did this, I could have still picked her up.’”
