Former “16 and Pregnant” Star Markai Durham Announces She’s Pregnant Again

“‘Member me?”

Eight years after she starred in the most controversial episode of 16 and Pregnant ever, Markai Durham is having another baby.

The former 16 and Pregnant Season 2 star announced that she is currently pregnant with her second child.

After posting a photo of her daughter hugging her baby bump, she tweeted to a friend that she was surprised when she found out she was pregnant.

“It was a shocker to me I told the RN to check my blood again because me having another baby can’t be right,” Markai wrote. “Waited 8 years later and now I see why.”

“My body doesn’t belong to me anymore,” she tweeted earlier this month. The tweet was met with congrats from her friends on Twitter.

We first met Markai in 2010, when she and her baby-daddy, James, welcomed their daughter Za’Karia. She is best remembered, however, for appearing in a “Very Special Episode” of the show later that year, in which she revealed she had gotten pregnant again shortly after her “16 and Pregnant” episode aired and decided to have an abortion. (The “16 and Pregnant: No Easy Decision” special, which followed Markai through the abortion process, was deemed so controversial that MTV only aired it one time!)

In 2013, she confessed that she deeply regretted her decision to get an abortion. That same year, she hinted that she was pregnant with her second child. However, it doesn’t appear that she ever had another baby.

These days, Markai is 26 years old, lives in Florida and works as a dental assistant. She is no longer with James, but he remains part of his daughter’s life.

Watch this news clip that discusses Markai’s controversial “No Easy Decision” episode of “16 and Pregnant”:

(Photos: Facebook, Twitter)

67 Comments

  1. lol @ pathetic Shill O’Reilly. This is literally like the 2nd time television has EVER presented abortion as a legitimate option to unplanned pregnancy. In reality, 1 in 4 women will abort once in her life so television is far under-representing that section of society. And this guy has to freak out about it.

    Every other show glorifies keeping the baby or adopting it out after carrying the pregnancy to term & giving birth–both of which put an immense strain on the body and can be emotionally traumatic on the bio mother. Childbirth is the most difficult thing a woman’s body ever goes through, yet men like O’Reilly act like it’s a foregone conclusion and should be treated like a punishment for having sex. Easy to say when you’ll never be in that position yourself.

    Abortion is a solution to unwanted pregnancy & childbirth; adoption is a solution to unwanted parenthood. They are two different solutions to different problems. Stop acting like they’re interchangeable.


  2. Wonder why it was considered controversial when decades ago Tami had one in the 2nd season of the Real World?


  3. Em, I know we were having a little tiff but I actually semi-agree with you here. Even though I don’t agree with abortion, I don’t think Bill O’Reily should’ve been speaking about it if he didn’t watch the episode. I watched the episode and I have done my research about abortion and pregnancy so I feel like I have the right to speak about it but he sounds like he doesn’t really know nothing about it except that he disagrees with it (which he has the right to feel). But when it comes to debating, you have to have facts to back up your argument and he didn’t sound like he had those.


    1. Thanks Nicole, I’m glad we can agree that it’s important that everyone is fully informed before forming an opinion on issues like this!


  4. I will be honest and say that I always vote pro-choice. I feel like it is an issue between the parents and the government doesn’t have the right to make medical decisions for someone. I have a rare genetic disorder and as a result I have been a wheelchair user for several years. I became pregnant unexpectedly and everyone urged me to terminate because of the risk to my life. My husband and I decided that we would have the baby anyway because I couldn’t go through with an abortion. The crazy thing is that so many of my strictly pro-life “friends” called me selfish and evil for having her because there is a 50/50 chance of passing my illness on to her. It’s crazy, in my opinion, to vilify a scared young girl who has an abortion because she can’t care for the child, but say that a potentially disabled child is better off never being born.


    1. Thank you for your story- it helps show that no matter what the decision is, the best person to make the decision is a woman who has weighed the risk/benefits from her physician.


  5. The hate and judgement in this comment section is exactly why I’m glad that special aired. Abortion needs to be discussed and should not be so taboo. I don’t know why people get so triggered and up in arms about other people’s life decisions. THAT is what being pro choice is about – I respect people’s right to choose in their OWN LIVES, it’s not a support of one option over the other. Being pro choice is saying “since I don’t have to deal with the consequences of the choice that you end up making, I’m not going to force my opinion into a situation that has nothing to do with me”. Imagine having an abortion which is very traumatic for most women (yes, speaking from experience) and then having to go online and read shit like this.

    None of you are perfect. Unless you’re going to adopt all of the unwanted children in the world, stop judging. Having an abortion is a parental decision, just like giving up a child for adoption, just like choosing to parent a child you can’t take care of fully. No matter what, there is some hardship ahead for anyone who has an unwanted or unexpected pregnancy. Especially for someone who was a young parent already. Get off of your high horses before the wind blows you over?


    1. Right?! I said that as well. So many thumbs down, for us making a statement of what she has to mark on her medical forms. Third pregnancy, but it will be her second live birth.


  6. Let me ask everyone this…if abortion is perfectly ok then why do so many women regret doing it????? And why is it that any woman that did contemplate having an abortion but ended up not doing it NEVER regrets that decision????


    1. Exactly. And why is it that people that are pro-choice accept that a person is pronounced dead when the heart STOPS beating but a person isn’t alive when the heart STARTS beating (which is 16 days after conception)????


    2. I had an abortion. No regrets. I am also the daughter of parents who didn’t really want to have a kid but didn’t want to have an abortion. It’s not a good feeling trust me. I wouldn’t wish that on any kid. They never told me until I was in my 20s but as a kid I always felt it.


    3. Because of people like you who force their own beliefs and opinions on them and make them feel guilty…


  7. While I don’t agree with abortion I have never been in that situation. So I don’t know what that woman feels or thinks. It is sad that she got pregnant At a time she couldn’t figure things out and had to make that decision so early in her life.


    1. Taking away a human life should never be an option. A baby is not a “woman’s body.” A baby is it’s own separate body and separate life. It’s life should not be taken away just because the mother doesn’t want it. There are many other people out there that will take the baby and raise child as their own.


      1. 8 cells don’t make a baby, that’s why. If we outlawed abortion, do you have any idea of the socioeconomic repercussions? Use whatever you’re using to post on here, to look up over-population, the current foster care system, how hard it is to adopt in America, and the personality disorders that develop that causes children of the foster care system to grow up unable to form emotional attachments, lack empathy, and also experience neglect and abuse in the system. While you’re at it, think about the amount of people who will be living on welfare, WIC, food stamps, and requiring free childcare. How much do you want to pay in taxes for these services? Because I’d much rather someone be able to choose abortion that legitimately ruin our country with the aforementioned problems over time.


        1. Like, people aren’t just going to magically stop having sex or accidental pregnancies just because you owtlaw it.


  8. I remember thinking she was so brave for sharing her abortion story on TV. It’s sad that she’s regretting it, it seemed like the right decision for her at the time.


  9. “Don’t like abortions? Don’t have one!” is an incredibly ignorant statement. The objection people have to abortion is (mostly) that it is killing a child. They believe life begins at conception so telling them they just shouldn’t do it themselves makes no sense. I am pro-life but I can see how a girl like Markai believes it is her best option therefore I don’t judge her. The biggest tragedy here is that she deeply regrets her abortion. No matter your stance that is profoundly sad. I hope she had the support then and now to help her move past it. I do wonder if MTV promised her something in exchange for allowing them to film her abortion story. I wish her the best of luck with her pregnancy and birth!


    1. No, it’s not ignorant in the slightest. I was pregnant at 19. Abortion never crossed my mind. Even as an atheist it was something I personally never considered an option. I am still pro-choice. It is every woman’s deeply personal decision how to handle a pregnancy, unwanted or not, and no person should inflict their beliefs on them who has no relevance to their situation. Let me put it this way: I am walking down the street, I stop at the ice cream stand. I ask for chocolate and you approach me from the corner, “I don’t like chocolate, so you can’t buy it.” Is that logical? No? Would you most likely be told to kick rocks? Yes? Okay now switch ice cream stand with clinic, and chocolate with abortion. STILL NOT OKAY.


  10. Why is it that more of these girls turn to abortion & not adoption? Babies are always in high demand with adopted parents. Whether you can admit it or not you are taking a life with abortion. Call it what it is, murder.


    1. Not everyone agrees it’s murder because not everyone agrees that a 7 week embryo is the same as a fully formed person with complex brain function. Lots of women opt out of adoption because they don’t think their bodies need to be baby makers for other people who do want babies. Women should choose what is best for them and their families. No one else.


    2. You know what else is a ball of living cells dividing quickly in the human body? A cancerous tumour. Is it murder to kill that?
      Is it murder to kill bacteria in your kitchen with disinfectants? They’re alive too!
      Are you a vegetarian who protests against killing animals for meat? That’s murder too.


        1. Yes… You do know that cancer cells are also human cells and therefore human life? Early in pregnancy, a blastocyst is just a ball of cells, nothing more. Please educate yourself.


          1. What are you talking about? Cancer cells aren’t a human. They are cells within a human that cause death. I can’t believe you are comparing a child to cancerous cells that kill you. Cancer doesn’t make up a human at conception.


          2. What are YOU talking about? Cancer cells are human. That’s why it’s so difficult to treat, its literally your own human cells.
            And guess what, in certain circumstances, a pregnancy can be a death sentence for the woman (Just like cancer!). One example is an ectopic pregnancy, which will eventually rupture the fallopian tube- often fatal for the woman and the embryo would never survive anyway. Thoughts on that? You wouldn’t get rid of something that was sure to kill you both, because it’s ‘murder’?


          3. So a tumor is a human lol. Ok, got it. I guess if I ever get cancer, I’ll have a conversation with it and ask it if it can walk lol.

            Cancer cells are apart of a human but they are cells that develop are not supposed to be there.


          4. Wow, guess you can’t have a reasonable conversation with someone who doesn’t have the mental capacity for it.
            Or one who ignores good questions when the only real answer would be inconvenient…


          5. Em, how am I not being reasonable? I’m sorry you don’t like my responses but maybe you shouldn’t debate with someone if you can’t handle it. You said cancer cells are humans. Those were you exact words. I’m sorry but that was a silly statement and I was just making a joke. Cancer cells do not make up a human. Those are red blood cells, white blood cells, dendritic cells, microglial cells, etc. Those are the cells that give us life and the ones we need to live. Cancer cells are cells that aren’t supposed to be there because they do the opposite job. They take life away. So killing cancer cells is completely different than killing the all other cells.


          6. Nope, I never said they were ‘humans’, I was very careful to say ‘human cells’. Human is their species, that is a 100% proven fact and not up for debate. I can send you some genetic profiles if you like, I’ve spent the last 3 1/2 years analysing the genetics of bowel cancer cells for my PhD. (Pls, I’m trying so hard to procrastinate from thesis writing haha)

            My major point is that cancer is made up of human cells and will be fatal if left untreated. Some women have an ectopic pregnancy which will most likely kill them if left to develop when the fallopian tube is inevitably ruptured. I hope you never go through this, but imagine you discovered you were pregnant and it was ectopic. The foetus was never going to survive whatever happens but the advancing pregnancy is most likely to kill you as well. Do you have an abortion and kill the ball of human cells before it kills you? Or is abortion still murder when the pregnancy is murdering you?


          7. On your second reply to me, you said “What are YOU talking about? Cancer cells are human.” You didn’t say “human cells,” you said “human.”

            Also, I wasn’t talking about ectopic pregnancies, I was talking about a normal, healthy pregnancy. Obviously if the pregnancy is life threatening to the mother, that is the only time when abortion is necessary (in my opinion).

            But whatever, we can go back and forth for days, but we obviously aren’t going to change each other’s minds. I just don’t think because cancer is cells in a human body that it can be compared to killing a baby. Cancer kills humans, babies don’t. But you feel differently and that’s fine. Agree to disagree.


    3. Basically, women are more than just incubators, we are living, breathing human beings with actual rights. Why should an 8 cell organism have more rights than we do to our own bodies?


    4. I agree. But ignorant people think that the baby is the woman’s body and she should have the right to decide to kill it or not. It’s insane. And a lot of these people are people that fight for animal rights and disagree with hunting. It’s like they fight for animal life but are perfectly ok with killing human life just because it’s still in the mother’s womb. It makes no sense.


  11. Why is it that with nearly every topic in America the sentiment is to “mind your own business”. But for some strange reason when it comes to the uterus of complete strangers, everyone gets a say? Don’t agree with abortions? Don’t have one! But abortion has been around for centuries and it’s never going away. Trying to force women to carry, deliver, and raise babies because of YOUR morals is ludicrous. Just another way to shame women for their sexuality and “punish” them. Congratulations to her, she’s an adult now and deserves to make choices for her family without being looked at like she’s still 16.


  12. Heather, although you have a right to your own opinion, claiming that abortion is ‘murder’ on a public forum is disrespectful to those who have made the CHOICE that was best for them! I dont think abortion should be used as a form of birth control but i do believe each woman should have the right to decide whether or not abortion is the option for them regardless of their religious beliefs, culture or circumstances. Abortion is an option just like adoption and those who have had one should not be persecuted or judged. Would it be smarter to use more readily available birth control or *gasp* abstain..definately. But mistakes do happen especially when you are young and complacent and before you accuse me of having had one myself – i haven’t. I fell pregnant at 19 and could not do it but atleast i was lucky enough to have it available to me if i decided otherwise.


  13. I watched part of the no easy decision show and they were just not in a place to have another child, although i wish they would have taken precautions before becoming pregnant. They didn’t have that Teen Mom cash rolling in, or I’m sure they would have kept that baby.
    At least it seems like she has a real job/career that actually required some training, so good for her. Ironically it seems she may have ended up in a better place than the lazy and entitled girls choosen for Teen Mom.


  14. HOW CAN A PREGNANCY STILL BE A SHOCK TO THESE GIRLS?! I really can’t anymore with anyone from 16&pregnant cast, they are all obv way too dumb. Isn’t she single or she was recently? Another friends with benefits/hookup baby?


    1. What does it really matter if she is in a relationship or not? She isn’t 16 anymore. She is 26 with a stable job. I am sure she can afford another baby. Do people just forget that these girls grow up and get older? Are people that have a child at 16 never allowed to get pregnant again without it bring frowned upon?


      1. I actually bet she can’t afford another baby. She is a dental assistant. They do not make hardly any money. I have a friend that has been a dental assistant for 10 years. She makes $13 and hour; starting out she only made $9. She has three children. She is on medicaid, food stamps, section 8, free daycare (program through the government), and the only thing she does not get is an actual welfare check. I love her to death, but she is the stereotype. I have been to the grocery store with her. She buys steaks, name brand everything, the expensive appetizer items in the freezer section, crab, etc. Ironically, the father of two of her children is very wealthy. He owns his own business. They have a side agreement for support so they have never gone to court. The courts should make him pay enough so she is not on all those welfare programs. He can afford it and still have everything he ever dreamed of. I would bet that this woman is already on some welfare programs and now, with a second child, she will be on more.


  15. I am personally against abortion. I believe it is murder. But regardless of what I believe, I think that MTV airing that episode and trying to manipulate a young audience into thinking abortion is a good decision really pissed me off.


    1. I am pro choice and walked away with a different impression!

      I was glad they showed it to let young men and women get a glimpse of what having an abortion really means. It was sad, and I thought they were irresponsible.

      I do believe it’s a decision best made by a woman, her partner and doctor and we should mind our own uterus(es) but I also believe it’s a decision that shouldn’t be made lightly.

      I’m not replying to start an argument because I doubt either of us will change our minds, I just wanted to show that not everyone got the same impression from the special.


    2. Abortion is a good decision if you don’t want to have baby. I wish more people(not just teenagers, people of all ages) would take that option instead of having these kids they aren’t ready for.


    3. I respect your personal decision to not have an abortion and honestly I do not know if I could personally have one either. But I would like that option in the event I was raped and firmly believe my sisters in this country should also have the freedom of choice as well. The big issue in the case of abortion is the lack of medically accurate health education in schools.


    4. While I respect your right to your own opinion, I’m going to ask you the same thing I ask everyone who is against abortion. Will you be adopting the unwanted children? Personally, I don’t know that I could ever get an abortion, and I agree that men and women should be taking the necessary precautions to prevent pregnancy so that they are not forced to make these hard decisions. HOWEVER. No birth control sans abstinence is 100% effective. There will always be a small margin of error either human, or with the birth control method itself. Nobody finds out they’re pregnant and thinks “Oh Goody, I get to have an abortion!”. But abortion is what my father always called a “necessary evil”. Without it, there would be mass amounts of children starving to death, living in the already over-crowded foster care system, and growing up with mental disorders that will prevent them from becoming productive members of society. It would also cripple the parents who were not ready for children, and hold them back in life as well. The amount of people that would be receiving welfare, food stamps, WIC and free child care would be through the roof. And guess who actually pays for it? That’s right. All tax payers would be paying through the teeth for the services needed to semi-care for these children. You can always use the “well they shouldn’t have had sex if they weren’t ready for the consequences” excuse, but who would you be kidding? Do you only have sex when you want a baby?


      1. Anyone that has sex should know there is always a chance of getting pregnant no matter what precautions you take. If you choose to do something out of your own free will, then you need to accept that there will be consequences. If you do not want the child, there are many families out there that would be happy to take the burden off your hands. Abortion should never be an option. That is a human life. Period.


        1. It is not a human life. It is a lump of cells. The rights of the living breathing woman, and the over all standard of living for an entire population, are far more relevant and important. Read my above comment AGAIN, and give me one non-religious reason that abortion shouldn’t be legal. I have no idea where people like you get off thinking that just because you believe in one thing, that you have to force it on others. I think religion is a damn joke, but do I try forcing that on people? No. Because it is your right to believe in whatever you want. Bottom line is, it’s NOT your body, so you have NO right to make choices for it. Someone else in the country having an abortion does not effect you. You need to accept that.


        2. Facts should be forced on others especially when it’s murder. Women are not at fault for getting abortions because they are all brainwashed like you. They don’t think a baby is a human until it is born which is completely untrue. It’s the doctors performing the abortions that are at fault because they actually are the ones that know that is a human in the womb. I’m sorry but a baby is not “a woman’s body.” Yes, it’s INSIDE the women’s body for 9 months but it is it’s own separate life.

          Well, technically we are all a “lump of cells.” Humans are made up of a “lump of cells.” The “lump of cells” is what gives us life. It all has to do with whether you think a fetus is a living human and it been proven that it is. The “lump of cells” is life. The heart even starts beating just 16 days after conception. Most women don’t even find out their pregnant until after that period so most abortions are performed when that baby’s heart is beating. Some are even performed in the third trimester when they baby is fully developed. It has arms, legs, a brain, everything.

          And btw, I never brought up religion for my reasoning. I’m not even religious, I’m spiritual. My parents are both agnostics and they don’t believe in abortion either.


          1. Listen, Heather, you literally have absolutely no right to force your person beliefs and opinions on others. No matter what they are. You don’t like abortion? Then never get one. It’s that simple. When it’s your life, you get a say, but when someone else makes that choice, you have zero right to put in your two cents, because someone else having an abortion, doesn’t effect you in the slightest.. Not your body, not your choice. Are you going to personally elect to pay more in taxes because you want all of these children to be born to unfit parents or abandoned? Are you going to do anything to help with them, because they will surely become societies problem? Abortion is necessary. Again, read my initial comment about the socioeconomic repercussions about the abortion-free world you want. It would literally destroy society. Grow up, and accept that most of the world doesn’t agree with your opinion, and that you have no right to tell others what they should do with their lives.


          2. Excuse me, I live in a country that has free speech and I have a right to speak just as much as you do. And why do people say “forcing your opinion?” It’s not forcing an opinion. It’s stating facts. A fetus is a human life. That is a fact. If people want to ignore that fact and convince themselves that a fetus is “just a bundle of cells” because having a baby is inconvenient for them then that’s their problem.


    5. I don’t think I could ever get an abortion but that doesn’t give me the right to judge women who have made this decision. I believe that there are some situations where an abortion is the right choice and women who have to go through this need support and understanding.
      I do believe though that parents need to be more open and talk to their kids about sex, birth control, etc to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Maybe the parents of teenager are the ones that should be watching “16 and pregnant” and “Teen Mom”.


      1. My grandmother used to watch 16&P/Teen Mom with me. We’d have actual conversations about the episodes and struggles. I think 16&P was a good way to get a dialogue going between parents and their teenage kids, so yes, I definitely agree, I think parents should watch it with their kids and talk about it after. The parents just need to make an effort to do so.


      2. It’s not about judging women. It’s about what’s right and wrong. Life beings at the moment of conception. It is not a woman’s right to take the life away just because it is in her body temperately. Abortions should never be an option. If you don’t want the baby, there are others out there that do.


        1. Right and wrong according to who?
          If you think that anyone who doesn’t agree with you is wrong, then you ARE judging them.


          1. Amen. You can’t force your beliefs on others period. I believe that there’s no god, does that give me the right to tell anyone of faith that I think they’re an idiot, and force them to think the way I do? No. It doesn’t. Same rules apply to anything that doesn’t personally effect you. No your body, not your choice.


  16. So I have never seen or heard of this Bill O’Reilly guy before but oh my goodness, what a terrible person. I have never seen someone come across so badly on television before, talking about something he knows absolutely nothing about… he didn’t watch the episode and kept shouting his opinions over the two women who actually watched it. I realise this was aired 7 years ago but his mansplaining of women’s issues weren’t okay even then and I really hope he is no longer on television.

Leave a Reply to HeartSoulAndCommonSense Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.