MTV recently revealed that Teen Mom 2 dad Bar Smith spent some time in a rehab center this year, and that viewers will get to see how his treatment plays out during the currently airing season of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter. The network did not go into detail about what landed Bar in rehab; however, his mom Shen Williams recently spilled the details during a podcast interview.
While being interviewed for the Hot Tea Happy Hour podcast, Shen revealed some details about Bar’s drug use prior to going to rehab, and discussed his marriage to Ashley Jones. She also stated that she went to the show’s executive producer, Larry Musnik, and demanded he help get Bar into treatment, since Larry had helped get many of the other ‘Teen Mom’ stars help for their addictions in the past.
“This [rehab] program part, that was my idea. I went to the producers and said, ‘My son needs help.’ I was tired of getting phone calls of [Ashley and Bar] drunk and fighting and police coming. It was constant. And I knew my son had a problem… I just didn’t know how bad it was.”
Shen stated that Bar had become addicted to Xanax.
“My son– he was taking so many Xanax pills that he was having seizures,” she said. “He had one in my backseat…it was a full-blown seizure. It stopped and then it happened a second time. I couldn’t get him to go to the hospital. That’s when I finally went [to see him] in Las Vegas, and my daughter finally got him to go [to rehab]. He had a seizure in front of my oldest daughter.”
Shen stated that when she got to the hospital, the doctors informed her that Bar’s seizures were “drug-induced” and that, otherwise, there was “nothing wrong” with Bar’s health.
Shen continued, adding that she went to producers to try to get her son help.
“I told Larry, ‘You’ve helped all these people [get addiction treatment] on this show, Larry, but you’ve done nothing but cause turmoil between me and mine!” Shen said. “‘Now I’m asking you to f**king help mine, before I bury him or he gets 20 years to life.’ And that’s why the filmed him [going to rehab].”
Shen confirmed that Bar’s rehab stay did not last long, though.
“He went to the program and left; he checked himself out, because he wasn’t ready,” she said. “But then he ended up going back but I wasn’t a part of it…I come up with these ideas but I’m not a part of them [on the show]. I’m the bad guy, I’m the fall guy.”
As for Bar and Ashley’s relationship, Shen said she believes “they’re in a better place” now than where they were in the past.
“They’re married, so I stay out of it now because it’s a marriage,” she said. “It’s a different ballgame. I’m going to have a certain level of respect for her because now, that’s his wife. But it took a long time for them to get off those pills and stop the partying. And the drinking continued, so I called the [show] producers. I was tired of mediating the fights…I root for them. I want them to be together and in a good place but it doesn’t always work out that way.”
Shen did not hold back, though, when it came to calling out Ashley for enabling Bar.
“[Ashley] drinks with him and knows he’s an alcoholic…with drinking Bar blacks out and he does crazy s**t,” Shen said.
Despite this, Shen reaffirmed that she is “rooting for” Bar and Ashley to stay together.
“If they’re in a healthy place, they are better together than away [from each other]. And there are a lot of things that Ashley has done that made me respect her– the way she rocks with my son and really did want better for him.
“But in the same token, don’t drink with him if you know he’s a black-out alcoholic.”
Click here to listen to Shen’s full podcast interview.
(Photos: MTV; Instagram)
9 Responses
Easy to become addicted to drugs when MTV shoves money into the pockets of these talentless, jobless morons
I agree that they have zero talent but the drug addictions have zero to do with money. If being well off is what caused drug addiction, we would have way more addicts in this world. People have to be accountable for their own actions.
I believe it’s Bariki.
Is his birth given name really barr?
I used to think it was short for Bartholomew but I read that it is short for Bariki. Never heard of Bariki before.
@Ayiticheri– it is short for Bariki! -The Ashley
I believe everything Shen is saying. That woman doesn’t know how to hold back.
Remember the party they threw and guns went off? I think there has been a helluva lot going on that Ole Ashley tried to hide.
It kind of sounds like Shen is alluding to Ashley having a benzo problem too? Isn’t she trying to work in the medical field? This doesn’t bode well ?
Just bc your name is Bar dont mean you need to get addicted to them.
He looks better than he did.
I guess Ashley another one gonna go down with the sinking ship. Anything for these dudes.