Shen Williams— mother of Teen Mom star Bar Smith— had a lot to say about the most-recent episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.
In a series of comments left on the official ‘Teen Mom’ Instagram page, Shen blasted MTV for “exploiting” the kids on the show. The ‘Teen Mom’ grandma’s comments came after she watched a clip from Thursday’s episode, in which 16-year-old Leah Shirley is having a conversation with Catelynn Lowell and Maci Bookout regarding the strained relationship Leah has with her mother, Amber Portwood. Catelynn asks Leah when she last saw Amber, and continues to question the teen about her feelings toward her mom.
Shen— who has been known to spew some word-salad thoughts to social media in the past— seemed to actually have many fans agreeing with her that producers putting a camera in Leah’s face to have that conversation was inappropriate.
“Smh sheesh she grilling her like that,” Shen wrote of Catelynn.
When someone agreed that Leah appeared to be uncomfortable having the conversation with Catelynn on-camera, Shen stated that she would not allow her daughter to be questioned in that way.
“I am pushing up if you grilling mine like this,” Shen wrote. “Absolutely [Catelynn needs to] mind her business.”
“MTV exploits these children,” Shen went on to state. “They ruin their life.”
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Shen has been outspoken about her dislike for the show and its producers, stating that she no longer watches or will appear on ‘Teen Mom’ due to the way she says she’s been treated in the past. In her Instagram comments, Shen noted that she had only watched the clip and not the full episode.
“And I don’t watch it but [Catelynn] is so outta pocket [for] this sorry,” she wrote. “Yes, [Leah’s] like ‘that’s her [mom’s] friend. I would feel some type away. The way she’s grilling that baby. I hate the way they do the children. People don’t think about what they go through.
“They ruin the families and they don’t even show truth,” Shen alleged in her comments.
This is certainly not the first time MTV, as well as the cast and producers of ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ have been criticized for exploiting the kids from the show, particularly as they have become teenagers. In 2021, Maci caught a lot of flak for using her son Bentley’s private therapy sessions about his then-estranged father Ryan Edwards as her storyline. After Maci filmed phone conversations with the then-12-year-old’s therapist and revealed private things Bentley had mentioned in therapy, fans took to social media to slam her.
That same year, Teen Mom 2 star Chelsea Houska announced she was leaving the show, primarily because her eldest daughter Aubree was now a teenager and Chelsea was not happy that MTV was centering her storylines around Aubree’s personal life and family issues, rather than Chelsea’s.
While Shen’s posts on social media are often met with laughing emojis (due to their often “Farrah Speak” nature), many fans seem to agree with what she wrote about Leah and Catelynn’s on-camera conversation.
“I did think it was a bit intrusive like dang,” someone wrote.
“It’s disgusting. This is a very sensitive topic and they should NOT be discussing it with her at ALL,” another person commented.
“I agree 100% 16-year-old brains aren’t equipped to realize that this will be on TV forever,” someone else wrote. “The adults shouldn’t have put her in this situation.”
“This conversation is very inappropriate for Amber’s friends to be talking to her daughter on camera like this,” one person wrote. “I understand Amber is dead wrong but the conversation for the camera is inappropriate in my opinion.”
(Photos: MTV)
16 Responses
People hate on Chelsea, but at least she left instead of allowing MTV to exploit Aubree’s situation with her deadbeat sperm donor. They would’ve been pushing these ridiculous situations on Aubree, too.
Chelsea left to do her own tv show.. her excuse about Aubree is nonsense
Shen’s definitely not wrong here. It was awkward and frankly sad that Leah was forced to have that conversation with Catelynn or really anyone about Amber.
And why is Gary okay with producers forcing Leah to have these conversations? That’s why I give Chelsea alot of credit in walking away when she did to avoid Aubree being forced to be having these conversations about Adam or whatever as she got older. Yet Leah, Maci, Gary, Amber, etc. have their kids hold THE most personal conversations on camera.
These “kids” (Bentley, Leah, etc) are 15-16 years old…pretty sure it’s a choice now and not something that’s forced upon them.
No Shen isn’t wrong but these older kids can get out now but they CHOOSE to stay
Hardly. These kids know their parents rely heavily on this money. That’s not exactly a neutral situation where they feel they have the option to say they don’t want to do this. They’re old enough to realize that by saying “no,” they are costing their parents money.
Gary could care less and you know it though
And quite honestly I think Leah (Gracie and Ali’s) mom could care less too
At this point, it’s clear that Maci, Gary, and Leah don’t care at all about exploiting their kids. They all seem perfectly fine with their kids’ private issues being the main storylines on this train wreck of a show.
Gary and Kristina have obviously done something right since Leah seems to be a great kid. But, this is exploitation and it’s not right. She deserves privacy and normalcy. All of those kids do.
i do believe their parents give them a choice, HOWEVER this is the only life they do know i wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years after the show is done they come forward about how uncomfortable a lot of these scenes were
No longer will appear… doesn’t that just say it all. As I recall, she had no reservations mugging it up for the cameras until her son’s bad choices led to his unfortunate incarceration.
Mtv. Will continue to flog this dead horse until one of the ‘kids’ gets pregnant.
I reckon Jace will be the first to be a parent.
Even a broken clock is right eventually. Shen is a mother of two violent sons but she isn’t wrong here. I suspect that MTV wants this show to run until the kids reach 18yrs old. Or until one of the original moms becomes a grandma. Bently and Leah deserved their brand new cars on their 16th birthday. Heck, the kids are providing for their parents now.
Ma’am look in the mirror.
Leah is on track to have a fabulous life. Instead of yapping about her, do some work on you and your own family.
And as for Catelynn, look how she talks to Leah compared how you talk to ANYBODY.
Good grief.
Bring back keeping your lips zipped if your own life is a dumpster fire.
The fact that Amber’s a ship parent has nothing to do with the production company or MTV. And neither does bars, arrest and his assholeness.
She clearly just wants some spotlight on her, but what she’s saying is completely untrue and absolute bullshit. Whether or not Amber is on a TV show. She’s gonna be a shit parent, because she’s a shitty parent and a shitty person just like bar
shen’s not wrong at all that’s why i’d be ok if the shirley family weren’t on tv anymore so leah can have privacy and not always have to talk about her mom on tv HOWEVER shen is not the most respected person to be so vocal about this since all her kids are in and out of jail and shen enables it
True. They probably are under contract too.