Whitney Purvis is mourning the loss of her son, Weston, and defending her decision to speak out in the media following the tragic loss.
As The Ashley previously reported, Whitney— who starred on the very first season of MTV‘s 16 and Pregnant in 2009— announced on Monday that her 16-year-old son Weston Jr. had passed away in his sleep. At the time of his death, Weston Jr. was living with his dad, Weston Gosa Sr. and stepmom, Amy, who had raised him and his brother River. Whitney did not have custody of the boys at the time of Weston Jr.’s death— a fact that garnered her some online hate after she did an interview with People following her son’s death.
“I can’t distract myself,” she told the magazine. “It’s going through my mind constantly. I hate to even pick up my phone…you never think it’ll happen to you, and I just can’t even imagine a future now. I can’t imagine going on after this.”
After People posted a link to the story on its Facebook page, comments appeared stating that Whitney shouldn’t be giving interviews about her son, given that she did not have custody of him at the time of his death. One person wrote that it was a big ‘ick’ that “a person who lost custody of her kids” gave an interview “about the death of her eldest a mere few days after he passed away.”
Whitney chose to respond to the comment and provided more insight on the custody situation of her kids, including the reason she gave the interview to the magazine.
“The only reason I did an interview was so his father’s donation account might receive more attention and help with the funeral process,” Whitney wrote, referring to the fundraiser that was started after Weston Jr.’s death to pay for his final expenses.
(As The Ashley reported, Weston Jr.’s stepmom started the fundraiser, writing that, although the 16-year-old had health issues, his death was very unexpected and the family needs help paying for a funeral and headstone for their son. As of press time, the fundraiser has raised a little over $3,000 of its $12,000 goal.)
“I think it’s very sweet, the people who have donated, because we would really like to bury him instead of cremating, and get him a nice headstone, and so the donations mean so much,” she told People. “I’m very grateful for the support.”
Whitney— who was arrested last year for owing Weston Sr. over $20,000 in child support— explained that she allowed the kids’ father to raise them because it was better for them.
“I gave custody to their father when I was much younger and in a very bad place in life mentally, financially,” she wrote in the comment. “A good mother does what’s best for her children and their father could give them a better quality of life. I don’t have family to support me and didn’t come from money. I was going thru a very traumatic experience at that time that I didn’t know to respond to correctly being so young.
“I would have loved for things to have been different but I did what I had to do to make sure they didn’t have to struggle w/me during that time,” she added.
Whitney was one of only two girls from the original season of “16 and Pregnant” who wasn’t chosen to appear in the spinoff Teen Mom. (Her co-stars Maci Bookout, Catelynn Lowell, Farrah Abraham and Amber Portwood were picked, while Whitney and Ebony Jackson were not.)
Whitney– who gave birth to another son in 2023 who was not fathered by Weston Sr.— wrote in her comment that she has tried to improve her life in recent years.
“I graduated college since then and tried my best to grow into a better adult,” she wrote. “My kids had a wonderful father, stepmom and stepsiblings and it felt wrong to try to take them away from that once I was in a better place. I don’t care if you don’t understand or think I’m a horrible mother but I loved my children more than anything and they deserved the best even if that best wasn’t me at the time.”
In her interview with People, Whitney shared that, in addition to Type 1 diabetes and Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (a genetic disorder he was diagnosed with during Whitney’s “16 and Pregnant” journey), Weston Jr. also had Addison’s disease. (According to the Cleveland Clinic website, “Addison’s disease is a rare chronic condition in which your adrenal glands don’t produce enough of the hormones cortisol and aldosterone. It’s most often caused by an autoimmune attack.”)
Weston Jr.’s obituary— which was published on Thursday— called him “one of the most-polite and respectful 16-year-olds you could have ever met,” stating he was “mature beyond his years.”
“He loved school, especially math, and excelled at everything he was enrolled in,” the obituary reads. “He was currently taking 3 honors classes and was set to begin his junior year in the fall. Weston loved technology, taking after his father, and enjoyed gaming and chatting with his online friends. He liked playing basketball and UFC fighting with his brothers, was an incredibly talented artist, and loved watching anime. Weston enjoyed time at home the most, surrounded by the people he loved most.”
Weston Jr.’s death is still under investigation.
RELATED STORY: Weston Gosa Jr.— Born on First Season of “16 and Pregnant”— Has Died at Age of 16
(Photos: Facebook; Instagram)
13 Responses
No matter her reasons for it, she seems correct that he had a good life with his father. Hard to fault her for making the decisions that led to that life. Sometimes being a parent is not about you want, but what is best for the kid.
I think she had de good sense to prioritize her sons’ wellbeing over her own wishes and that’s what a mother should do. And she has every right to mourn her son.
People hating on a mother because she is talking about her child’s death is absolutely crazy. No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes because we are all human. I wish people would stop being so damn hateful about everything. The people trashing her should feel shame for it. If you’ve never experienced having to go through life completely by yourself, you have no room to judge.
If a man didn’t have custody of his child, nobody would go after him for mourning the loss of his child. Absolutely wild that anyone would do such a thing. Social media is the devils playground.
Just because she didn’t have custody of her son doesn’t mean she can’t be sad he has passed. Even Amber Portwood could be and should be sad if one of her kids died. If this woman had made no public showing of sadness, people would be going after her for not caring about her son. What a sick thing for people to be going after a grieving mother.
She gave custody so her kids could have a better life. I don’t agree with the fact that she hasn’t paid child support, but as a mother with my daughters dad being unstable and ill, I would love if he just chose to give me custody rather than fight me for no reason. It’s in the kids best interest.
My thoughts are mixed, while her choices as a custodial parent were bad, if she is being honest and gave custody to their father while she was struggling, then I agree, she made a selfless choice. When it comes to the article, I’m also mixed… If she is being honest, and choosing to take public criticism to help drum up support for the funeral cost then I hope they get every penny. He sounded like a sweet young man, that had a bright future. I can’t imagine how all this feels for them.
The only thing that gave me a little pause was her throwing in the part about how she was selfless for not taking them back once she got her life together. Not because I think she should have tried to (she’s right that they were better off in the stable home they’d grown up in), but because it was just kind of an audacious statement given the fact that she couldn’t even pay her child support and no decent judge would have given her the boys back even if she’d tried.
I don’t know what their relationship was at the time of his death, so I don’t want to make too many judgements because she could have very well been back in his life and being an involved non-custodial parent or she could have been a total deadbeat, I don’t know. I am glad that Weston seems to have lived his short life with a loving family either way.
She did start paying childsupport he had her blocked from being able to contact her kids she paid child support every wk or would b in jail so yes she did try seeing her kids and still was denied by him didn’t let kids talk to her he claims they didn’t want to which iddont belive that .if so why would weston jr. Ask about her when dad wasn’t standing there. Then hold his head dwn and not speak when he came bk to where we were talking
A good mother wouldn’t be arrested, nor would she? Owe the dad $20000 for child support that should be.She should be paying on a monthly basis
I don’t think anyone is or would defend that. Nobody should owe that tremendous amount of child support. I think it’s more about the fact that people can love their kids. Even while being a mess. I would guess that even a parent who placed a child in an adoptive home would be terribly upset if they found out the child died.
He seems to have been a wonderful young man. Whitney should not have to defend herself. He is still her son even if she did not have costody and she made a great choice for her boys to let them live in a stable place.
I do not want to live in a world where a mother has to defend herself for mourning the loss of her own baby. I know nothing about this woman or her child or their story but I don’t need to. That baby came out of her body. He was literally a piece of her. Females have all their eggs when they are born into this world. That boy was a part of her before she was even a part of this world. I can’t even stomach how large and in charge hatred is in our world.