It seems that we are all fascinated with teen mothers. There are multiple shows on TV that are depicting the life and the struggles of being a teen mom. The aim is to bring awareness on how hard it can be to be a mom when moms is still a kid herself. However, many people think that the shows glorify being a teen mom and can attract more teens to choose this lifestyle.

The obsession with teen mom programs started with MTV’s show, 16 and Pregnant in 2009. We met a lot of teen mothers on that show and one of them was Amber Portwood. Amber is from Indiana, and first appeared on the show as a young woman who was expecting a child. After the show ended, Amber went on to star in Teen Mom and stayed on that program for the full 4 years it was on TV. In 2015, Amber returned to MTV and stars in Teen Mom OG.

When we are first introduced to people on reality TV shows, it almost becomes an obsession. We engage in a lot of gossip about them and we are dying to find out all the latest news about them. We start to think that there is nothing about them we don’t know anymore.

Everyone has secrets, and everyone tries to hide them as hard as they can, however we may have uncovered 15 things about Amber that are not as well-known. From men to more babies, we have found a lot of interesting information on the teen mom we love to hate.

15 Twitter Meet-Up

Amber has had her fair share of romantic partners. Her first partner was Gary Shirley and he was the father of her first child, Leah. The couple became engaged but ultimately ended their relationship and Shirley was granted full custody of their daughter. She is currently dating Andrew Glennon who she met while filming Marriage Bootcamp. The pair are expecting a child this year.

However, there was a partner in between the two men named Matt Baier. At the time they met, Matt was an unemployed former radio DJ. The pair met on Twitter of all places.

Matt started tweeting on the cast’s posts and the pair quickly started a relationship.

The pair were engaged and after postponing their wedding multiple times, the pair eventually called it quits. Their situation gave a lot of people hope that stars do date their fans on occasion. I am still waiting for Justin Timberlake to notice me.

14 From Rage To Mellow

Those who have religiously watched the Teen Mom series may have noticed a drastic change in Amber’s behaviour. She went from having blowouts and a crazy short fused temper to a more mellow yellow. The reason for the change is nothing short of anger management classes.

Amber spent some time attending anger management classes and she credits that with learning to control her temper and have lesser blow outs.

It may not make for entertaining TV, but it was the healthy thing to do.

Not only did Amber attend the classes, she also taught them during her time in prison (we will get to that later). She decided to take the lessons she had learned and put them towards helping others. This is truly an example of an idol and gives a lot of people inspiration to help people if you have the experience, knowledge and skills to do so.

13 Never Sober On Camera!

Amber was not only on The Maury Show, but she also made an appearance on Dr. Phil to talk about her time spent in jail. While on the show she made a shocking revelation.

She stated that there was never really a time when she was on camera completely sober.

This included all the episodes of 16 & Pregnant as well as Teen Mom. She has stated that since her release from prison, she has been sober and has filmed every episode completely clean.

She told Dr. Phil that this was her first time being on air sober, and that she was high in every episode of the two seasons. Everyone is glad that Amber is now sober and appears to be doing well, but some wonder why the network would allow her to be on air while under the influence. Some thinking that it was just a ploy to get ‘good TV’ and that this could have contributed to her erratic behaviour.

12 Defensive About Her Man

When you love someone, you want to do everything you can to protect them. You are hurt and angry when someone says something ugly towards them or treats them badly. Amber is no different, and her defensive actions are for more than just her children. When she was in a relationship with Matt Baler she was consistently defensive of him and was not afraid to stand up on his behalf.

Matt received his fair share of criticism on Twitter, and Amber was always quick to defend him. This was also seen on a reunion episode of Teen Mom OG when Farrah and her partner were being interviewed.

The conversation went quickly to a comment that was made about Matt looking like a creep. Amber very quickly took the stage (with Matt right behind her) and an all-out war broke out.

It was definitely cringe-worthy.

11 Movie Deal?

No, Amber was not offered a role in a Hollywood movie, but she was still offered a movie role worth a lot of money. Vivid Entertainment, which is an adult entertainment company made Amber an offer that could be seen as hard to refuse.

They offered her half a million dollars to star in a rated R film for adult eyes only.

This is the same company that made the same offer to fellow teen mom, Farrah. Farrah accepted the offer and is still having a hard time living with her decision.

Amber could not be persuaded to take the offer and turned them down. It was a brave decision because half a million is a lot of money for anyone, let alone a teen mom. It is easy to see why someone who is struggling may have accepted this offer. However, when you accept an offer like this one must think about the consequences that it will hold for the rest of their life.

10 Behind Bars Vs. Rehab?

Amber was given the choice between going to rehab for her addictions or going straight to jail. Most people would prefer to go to rehab where they have at least a sense of freedom and obtain the proper mental health check-ups they need. Amber made the opposite decision, she decided to go to jail. She emerged from jail sober, so it looks like it did work for her.

Amber was sentenced to 5 years in prison in March 2012 but ended up only serving 17 months of that sentence.

Amber has opened up about her experience on the shows and credits going to jail with being the reason she was able to get sober. She stated that she did it for her daughter in hopes of retaining custody. Her time spent in jail did have an impact on her relationship with her daughter because she was only able to see Leah 3 times.

9 Responsible Mom

Part of being a responsible mom is making sure that your child is not only provided for today, but that they have resources set up to help them in their future. Amber has made sure to put money away for Leah into a college fund. When Amber was arrested, part of her testimony was stating how much she earns by being on the show.

This was in 2012, so the number has more than likely gone up, but at the time she was earning $140, 000 for every 6-month period of her working with MTV.

In everyday life, this seems like a lot of money, but in Hollywood this is not a lot.

Amber admits that she was not so great with her money at first but has since started putting away money for Leah’s college education. She states that Leah has more than she will need already to attend college and get a great education.

8 Friendships All Around

The Teen Mom shows have all been about the drama. People love to watch things that are dramatic, or that induce a lot of gossip. We love it so much it must be something biologically engrained inside of you. Teen Mom has had its fair share of drama between the moms but behind the scenes is a completely different story.

Amber has stated many times that she is close with her teen mom co-stars and that they all do have a special bond and friendship.

She states that they spend a lot of time together when they are not filming episodes or reunion specials. Even when the show is not being filmed they are all chatting on the phone and hanging out. She has also come to the defense of a lot of her fellow moms when doing live tweets during episodes.

7 Want To Look Like Amber?

Media works in a funny way, we are more inclined to purchase a product or service if it is endorsed by a celebrity, even if it is just a reality star. Amber is usually seen in full make-up and she looks quite beautiful. If you want to steal her look, you will have to shell out a pretty penny. Amber has stated many times that she only uses Smashbox make-up.

She is routinely asked about her routine in how she gets ready and she openly admits her Smashbox addiction and that is the only product she uses. As far as anyone knows she is not being sponsored by this company, so her opinions and love for the product can be taken seriously. Excuse me, I think I need to go out and by some make-up. If only someone could teach me how to actually do my make-up.

6 Take Out Menus Are Kept Handy

The world has come a long way where people don’t really view a woman as someone who should be at home, caring for the children and cooking all the meals. There are still some out there who view the world this way, and Amber is just another woman who is going to prove them wrong. Amber can not cook. Amber has admitted that she is not a great cook and probably never will be.

This is apparent in a picture of her attempt at flipping eggs, something that is generally considered at level one of cooking expertise.

She has a lot of take out menus handy because we all have to eat somehow. A lot of us are not great chefs. We can’t all be Gordon Ramsay or Bobby Flay, but a lot of us can at least scrap up some scrambled eggs for breakfast with a side of toast.

5 Retweets The Love

Everyone has haters and people who support them. Sure, a lot of us don’t have the following celebrities do, but we still have enemies. Amber has a lot of people who absolutely adore her and a lot of people who think she is a horrible person. This is bound to happen in Hollywood, but Amber chooses to focus on the positive and not the negative.

If you are a supporter of Amber and get a chance to tweet out something nice to say about her, chances are she will retweet your tweet.

Amber has always retweeted comments from fans that are supportive and loving.

This just shows it is always better to spread the love, and that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. If you take a look at her newsfeed, you will see that it is full of supportive comments from fans.

4 Hard Past

We are all human and we all have a past that helps define and shape who we are. Amber is no different and she has a tragic back story that is almost to sad to talk about.

It started out very young, and when Amber was just five years old, her younger sister, Candace, passed away tragically due to SIDS.

This is hard for anyone to come to terms with, let alone a child so young. A child who is old enough to understand death, but not how it happens.

Amber states that she does remember the events of her sisters passing, and her account of the event is just awful. Tragedy came again for Amber in 2014, when her father, Shawn Portwood Sr, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 50. Amber has stated that he passed away after having an operation on his liver. These two life events must have had a huge impact on Amber’s life.

3 Battle With Depression

A lot of people in the world are living with mental health issues right now, and they will continue to do so. Therefore, it is so important to end the stigma when it comes to how we treat people with mental health concerns. When stars like Amber open up about their own struggles it can help a lot of people realize that they are not alone.

Depression fueled a lot of Amber’s life, leading her to addiction to numb the pain. It didn’t end there. Amber has opened up about trying to end her life more than once due to the pain she was in because of the depression. In June 2011, Amber attempted to hang herself. She had called her ex, Gary and informed him of her plan. He called police who found Amber unconscious but alive. She had tried once more with medication. A lot of people are very happy Amber was never successful and she appears to be in a much better place now.

2 Inked Up!

A lot of people across the world have tattoos, it doesn’t matter what colour they are, age or what career they hold. Tattoos can be very meaningful to a person if they are used to signify a person or a moment in time that means something special. They can also just be an expression of creativity for the individual. Amber is among those who has some ink that means a lot to her.

Amber and Matt got matching tattoos of each others’ names on themselves.

Due to Amber always being covered up a lot of people forget that she has other tattoos as well. Amber has a large tattoo of her daughter Leah’s face on her stomach. Amber is constantly in shirts that cover her stomach, so people tend to forget about that one. We are just here to remind you!

1 Not A Justin Bieber Fan

When we become enthralled with a person on a TV show or in real life, we want to know everything about them. This includes what music they listen too and who they idolize. Amber has stated multiple times that she does not like or respect Justin Bieber.

Amber appeared on The Maury Show in 2014 and she stated that she was not a fan of the young stars behaviour. She stated that all he wanted was attention and money.

She may not be wrong about that, but there are a lot of people who believe her view was a bit hypocritical. Stating that she displays a lot of the same behaviour as the young Canadian superstar, and that her views could be out of jealousy and actually not have anything to do with the star himself. Either way, she is human too and can like or dislike whoever she wishes and for whichever reasons.

References: thestir.cafemom.comfame10.com