Jenelle Evans Talks About Messing Up with Her MTV Money, Drinking Alcohol & How Her Son Jace Feels About ‘Teen Mom 2’

“I’ve got something to say…again!”

Jenelle Evans says she “poured her heart out” during a podcast interview last week, and while The Ashley previously covered some of what the former Teen Mom 2 star talked about during the now-deleted podcast interview, there was still a lot to cover.

In addition to talking about her firing from ‘Teen Mom 2,’ her MTV contract and other topics (which you can read about here), Jenelle talked about how she’s currently making money. She also went into detail about how she and other ‘Teen Mom’ stars messed up on their taxes; whether or not she feels she is (and was) a good mom to her kids; and her current drinking habits.

Since the podcast interview is no longer available for listening, allow The Ashley to break down all the juiciest morsels from Jenelle’s interview for ya!

On whether or not she currently uses drugs or drinks alcohol:

“Dude. I don’t drink. Much.”

Jenelle said on the podcast that her days of getting HIGH! HIGH! are basically over.

“That’s out of my life,” she said. “I think growing up I wanted to experiment a lot, like everybody does. I did it a little bit too much but I’m really happy that I overcame that…”

Later in the podcast, she was asked if she drinks, and if she’s afraid drinking will cause her to relapse on drugs. Jenelle says she can no longer drink hard liquor.

“I never really had a problem with alcohol. I have an esophagus problem, it’s esophageal dysmotility. I get spasms in my chest,” she said. “So certain things can trigger it and liquor is one of them.”

“I can’t take shots anymore. I’ll throw up and I won’t stop for hours. Now I just stick to beer,” Jenelle said.

She then made the claim of only slugging down a few Coronas a week.

“I might have one or two beers a week, or something. But that’s it. I can’t do it anymore; those days are over,” she said.

On whether she thinks she used to be a bad mom, and if she thinks she’s a bad mom now:

“OK maybe road raging and pulling a gun on a stranger with my kid in the car wasn’t a great parenting moment…”

‘Teen Mom 2’ viewers watched for years as Jenelle put almost everything— from drugs, to her boooooyfriends— in front of her kids. During the interview, Jenelle was asked how she feels watching early episodes of the show now, and if she thought she made bad parenting choices.

“I think when I look back I was very young and I was doing the best I could at that time,” Jenelle said. “I grew from it and I’m happy at the place I’m at now. Now I’m a great mom. I try not to let those comments [about me being a bad mom] affect me. I know I had some bad times, but I have overcome it.

“…But like I said, I wasn’t all great back then and I don’t agree with some of my decisions.”

On messing up with her money and with her taxes:

“I keep telling Uncle Sam to leave me ALOOOONE!”

As The Ashley has reported in the past, the stars of ‘Teen Mom’ were never given any sort of financial coaching when they began making big money on the show. Now, over a decade later, a large chunk of the shows’ stars have had tax issues, with Jenelle being one of them.

(In June, Jenelle and David were hit with a $46,000 tax lien for failing to pay some of their taxes for the year 2017, when they were both still working for MTV.) 

“I just kind of learned as I went. I feel like everyone else [on the show] was like that too,” Jenelle said in regard to handling her MTV money and taxes. “We didn’t know how to invest our money. We didn’t know how to file our taxes. And you can see, everyone has taxes to owe now.” (No, that’s not a typo; that’s really what she said.) 

“I feel like we should have had a financial advisor, definitely. I wish someone from MTV would have advised us and let us know because we were really young,” Jenelle said.

Jenelle also gave young reality TV stars some financial advice.

“I think you should definitely keep an eye on your finances. Hire a financial advisor and keep up with your taxes and definitely invest your money,” she said.

“Well…that and don’t waste all ya money buyin’ junk for all ya booooyfriends!”

“No one taught me how to invest my money and I could have flipped my money multiple different times and I had no idea up until a year ago.”

On how she’s making money now:

Jenelle stated that there are “millions of ways to make money out there,” and she talked about how she’s raking in the cash while staying on The Land.

“Meanwhile, I’m just rakin’ The Land…”

“Since leaving the show, I’ve been utilizing my Instagram and my followers,” Jenelle said. “I’ve been keeping them updated. I’ve been doing YouTube series. Last year I hired a photographer to film myself and I’m still uploading docu-series to my YouTube now. I’ve been making good money just being self-employed and staying at home.”

Jenelle—who has been known to hawk everything from period panties to weird weight loss belts—- says her new job selling crap on Instagram is going well.

“I was actually kind of scared when I first got let go [from the show] because you think your money’s going to go from here to there. But really, you have millions of different ways to make money out there, especially if you have a big following. I don’t think anyone realizes that,” Jenelle said.

On what her mom Barbara Evans & her kids got paid for being on ‘Teen Mom 2’:

“Thanks again, Juh-nelle for costin’ me hundreds of thousands of dollas a year!”

One of the podcast hosts asked Jenelle if MTV puts any money aside “for the kids they’re exploiting.” Here’s what Jenelle had to say about that.

“They give a percentage to the kids every season. [My mom] basically got paid [the same] as the [original dads on the show]…my mom would get paid basically the same as what I got paid,” Jenelle said. 

On how her oldest son Jace feels when he sees Jenelle on the news, or in old ‘Teen Mom 2’ footage:

Jenelle said Jace is aware than she’s not well-liked on the Internet.

“I think it was about 6 months ago. Jace brought up, ‘Mommy, I saw someone make a YouTube video about you and they were talking about you when you were on ‘Teen Mom’ and they weren’t very nice,'” Jenelle said. “I said, ‘Jace, anybody that writes anything bad about me, or if you see articles, please don’t read it.’

“I said, ‘99.9 percent of the time it’s not true, and they just write these articles out of nowhere.’ I had to explain that all to him.”

“Outta nowhere, huh? Sure, Mom…sure…”

“I told him, ‘If anyone brings up that you’re the kid from ‘Teen Mom’ or if they start bullying you, you go straight to the teacher. You need to focus on school. Don’t worry about ‘Teen Mom.’ Don’t worry about cameras.’”

Jenelle claims that Jace— who was filmed from birth— wonders why there are no cameras following them now.

“He’s even asked, ‘Are they coming back? Where did they go?’ And I’m like, ‘They’re gone for now. You don’t have to worry about it. Worry about your life and what you’re doing now.’

Jenelle said she’s not worried about Jace finding out about her doing drugs and making bad decisions in her past. 

“If he ever does come to me [about the bad stuff I did], I hope he does ask me the effects of it and I want to explain to him how bad it is. I hope he can learn from my experience, rather than thinking, ‘Maybe I should try it’ with a group of friends that try to convince you. I just hope that he can learn from my story,” she added.

On how David feels now about shooting her dog Nugget last year:

Jenelle claims that David is now remorseful about killing her small dog Nugget in the spring of 2019, an act that contributed to her being fired from ‘Teen Mom 2.’ When the podcast hosts brought up the fact that many people who hurt animals end up hurting humans, Jenelle said David wouldn’t do that. 

“After we talked about it, David said ‘I’m so sorry. I should not have done that. I should’ve brought the dog to the shelter.’ He was crying his eyes out, saying, ‘I am so sad I did that. I should not have done that,'” Jenelle said. “And he really regrets what he did.”

Later in the podcast, Jenelle talked about the classes David took the help fix his anger problem.

“He regrets everything that he did basically that past three years,” Jenelle said. “He’s basically just trying to be a family man right now and focus on that…He did six sessions [of anger management] and then completed it so that’s as many as they offer.”

On why she feels CPS is now afraid of her:

“Dude. Don’t mess with me, CPS. I have a camera and I know how to use it!”

Jenelle battled to regain custody of her kids last year, after Child Protective Services (CPS) took them away. (She eventually regained custody in July 2019.) Jenelle talked about the entire CPS battle in a series of YouTube videos she called a docu-series.

During this interview, Jenelle said she believes her docu-series scared off CPS.

“Ever since I came out with my docu-series, CPS has completely leaved me alone,” Jenelle said. (And, no that’s not a typo. She said ‘leaved.’)

“I don’t know if they’ve gotten any more calls but I feel like it’s helped and explaining myself and the situation that occurred…I think they’re scared of me voicing my opinion. I hope they are.”

To read the transcript of Part 1 of Jenelle’s interview, click here!

(Photos: MTV) 

RELATED STORY: Former ‘Teen Mom 2’ Star Jenelle Evans Talks About the Networks Lined Up to Work With Her, How MTV Treated Her “Like a Puppet” & Her Thoughts On Chelsea Houska

37 Comments

  1. The delusion in this moron is strong. There’s a million ways to make money…. David is staying home being a family man….. He regrets everything he’s done in the past 3 years??!? She acts like business opportunities are being thrown at her left and right, but she had to hire someone to film her. Gawd! If only this idiot can bottle up and sell whatever she’s on to make her believe what she’s saying, she’d have a bank account that puts Jeff Bezos to shame.


  2. A truly Great mother,Does not Have to keep reminding the world they are a Great mother, or Claim to be. She is not perfect and should stop making outrageous statements….and FYI 99% of the things written about her are True.


  3. Why waste your time coming on a podcast and lying through your teeth?!? That’s all she’s doing. Lying through her teeth, hoping it’s somehow going to magically save her image or something!! Girl, your image was ruined in season 1 when you chose to go run the streets drinking and partying instead of staying home to take care of your newborn son!! Or when you came inches away from punching your poor mother in the face on national TV! The list goes on and on!! There has not been any redemption story for you! You had, what, 11 years to turn yourself around and get Jace back?! All you ever did was pick your new soulmate and drugs over him!! She wants everyone to feel bad for her but, the truth is, the only people I feel bad for are those poor kids and Babs!! Babs got screwed out of 100s of 1000s of dollars a year bc of her and her dumb ass choices!!!


  4. “I have an esophagus problem, it’s esophageal dysmotility.”

    I’d give her a esophageal problem she won’t soon forget.

    stay lit


  5. “I said, ‘99.9 percent of the time it’s not true, and they just write these articles out of nowhere…”

    Kids everywhere, and especially kids like Jace who has seen so much with his OWN eyes are not dumb, Jenelle.

    Just you.

    Jeez.


    1. She seems to think that kids don’t see what their parents do. Jace is EXTREMELY aware of the whole situation. Poor kid. 🙁


  6. The only valid point she made is that MTV should be offering a financial advisor for these 16year olds. As *cough cough 30ish** year old woman still watching this, I need help navigating my taxes and I dont make the type of money she does.


    1. For real – a broken clock is right twice a day and money management can get complex quickly, even for those of us with less money to manage and at least some semblance of intelligence (which most of these knuckleheads lack). Farrah, Chelsea and Maci seem to have come from middle to upper-middle class backgrounds. I’d think their parents probably had them work with an advisor and/or accountant, but I believe Maci got in trouble for taxes at one point. The ones with less financially savvy parents almost certainly all screwed up and will be broke sooner rather than later (Kail, Leah, Cate&Ty, etc.). Farrah’s businesses failed and even though she’s found other sources (yachting) for income, but she’ll probably still wind up broke too since she seems to spend like a drunken sailor. Wonder how she reports the yachting income?


      1. Sorry, by why is it MTV’s responsibility to provide a financial advisor? Perhaps in the name of being a good person, someone from MTV should have mentioned to the girls that they should hire a financial advisor but I don’t feel that MTV had an responsibility to hold the girls hands and coddle them through life. Jenelle had no problem finding multiple attorneys over the years—it wouldn’t have been that hard for her to find a money manager. Ask one of the lawyers for a suggestion!!!

        I also don’t buy the whole “I’m getting paid to be an instagram influencer”. Are there really people willing to purchase the garbage she is slinging?

        Can we please take bets as to how long it will take until Barb is paying all of Jenelle’s bills?


        1. It might not necessarily be MTV’s responsibility, but this is a pretty ignorant group of youngsters. A quick google search popped up the stat that 78% of NFL players are broke within two years of retirement. Probably for the same reason – financial ignorance, pissing money away on the fast life (cars, vacations), multiple kids from multiple partners, mooching family and friends.

          If the stats for the TM characters are anything like the NFL, then maybe one or two won’t be broke within a few years. My guess is Chelsea won’t be (and I’m not one of her fan girls). Not sure if anyone else won’t be broke. The better dads like Gary, Cory and Jo were smart to figure out how to make their own way without dependence on MTV (cough, Tyler, cough).

          And agreed, peddling utter crap as “influencer” won’t last long.


        2. I mean MTV has and continues to financially benefit from the exploitation of these women and their children since they were children themselves. Are they legally obligated/responsible to take better care of them? Of course not. But like… they are capable of at least referring them to some financial advisors. They probably should have simply because it was the right thing to do. Sometimes the right thing to do isn’t something that you are required to do.


          1. I don’t disagree that sometimes we do things for the simple reason that its the right thing to do. I also don’t disagree that MTV has profited significantly from these young women and their children.

            How do we know that no one from MTV advised the girls to hire a financial advisor? For all we know, MTV made the suggestion to the girls and the advice was ignored. We know these girls don’t make great life choice while ignoring the wisdom offered by family, friends and teachers. If they did make good life choices, we wouldn’t have spent the past 10 years watching poor choice after poor choice play out on tv.


  7. Reality stars are really weird. The poor kids who never asked for any of this… They’re all bratty and weird, yes, with the exception of a few.(Isaac, Leah,Bentley)


    1. Yeap, I totally agree. I said the same thing when I read that statement. What a bunch of crap Jelly. There’s no way David cried about this. Now if he lost a favorite gun and is upset… that I would believe.


  8. Damn this girl is so delusional!! She is trying so hard to remain in the spot light. I would have chosen my income before my dead beat husband. Especially since he doesnt want to work because of his vitaligo. My husband has the same thing yet he works 5 sometimes 6 days a week and hes not as young as Lurch. And no the cps isnt scared of you Janelle they are probably tired of dealing with you and your husbands BS. Everyone else is.


  9. If David’s taken 6 anger management classes and is truly remorseful about his past actions (killing Nugget and threatening people), why not issue a sincere apology instead of killing your pet goat and eating it on Instagram?


    1. Omg, those poor children. Im all for living of the land and supporting yourself. I have no issue with raising animals and eating them – I prefer to go to the shops than do that myself. But to raise an animal as a pet and then eat it, is going to be sooo trumatic for the children. I’m worried how they will be as adults having lost all their sense of love for others.


      1. Exactly. I’m not a vegan, I was raised in a rural state and helped butcher chickens and cows at family members farms. None of the animals were pets.

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