Amber Portwood’s relationship with daughter Leah appears to be more distant than ever before.
On the Thursday, February 27, episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, Leah, 16, opened up to Cheyenne Floyd about the possibility of being adopted by Kristina Shirley.
“I haven’t really talked to [Amber] or seen her in awhile. It’s fine,” Leah said. “I don’t really care anymore. I kind of want Kristina to adopt me. I’ve been wanting it for awhile just because Kristina’s been there for me since I was, like, in kindergarten and before that.”
Amber, 34, welcomed Leah in 2009 with ex Gary Shirley and documented her pregnancy journey on 16 and Pregnant. After the pair broke up, both Amber and Gary, 38, continued to allow MTV to document their lives as part of the Teen Mom franchise.
Gary and Kristina, 37, got married in November 2015 and welcomed a daughter named Emilee that same year. Over the years, Leah began to spend more and more time with her dad and stepmom.
In recent episodes, Amber admitted that her relationship with Leah wasn’t as tight as she hoped it would be. At the same time, she acknowledged her mental health struggles — including a bipolar disorder diagnosis — have prevented her from being the best possible mom.
“With my daughter, she doesn’t want to be around me,” Amber said on the February 6 episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter. “I’ve never been a mom that didn’t care. Just a f—ed up mom.”
When Gary previously discussed the idea of Kristina adopting Leah, a source told Us Weekly Amber would not be onboard. “Having Kristina adopt Leah would never happen on Amber’s watch,” an insider shared in July 2024. “She wants to be in Leah’s life. She is not looking to hand off parental responsibility to somebody else.”
In her candid talk with Cheyenne, 32, Leah described the rare occasions when she hangs out with her mom.
“When I do see her, she acts like everything is perfectly fine, and I haven’t seen you in months. Why are you talking to me like this?” Leah asked. “Obviously she has a lot of things going on, lots of difficulties, but I feel like I can’t handle it. I wish I could but I can’t.”
While Leah admitted that “it would be good” to one day meet up and have a sit down with Amber, she doesn’t know when would be a good time.
After listening to Leah’s experience, Cheyenne called the whole situation “unfortunate and sad.”
“There’s nobody that could keep me from showing up for [my daughter] Ryder,” she said in a confessional interview. “It’s really hard to understand. I would be at their house damn near every day trying to fight for my relationship with my child.”
After speaking with Cheyenne, Leah reiterated her hopes that she could one day be adopted by Kristina. While her dad agreed to speak with an attorney to get information on what steps he would need to take, he warned his oldest daughter about the possible heartache it would cause.
“As a father, I want you to make sure you know if it’s 100 percent what you want,” Gary said. “Once that happens, for Amber, it would be a big heartbreak for her, which I know you’re not trying to do, but it’s just part of the process.”
Leah added, “It is, but she didn’t raise me.”
Teen Mom: The Next Chapter airs on MTV Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
