The fate of Teen Mom remains up in the air, but one person who seemingly wouldn’t mind if the cameras turned off for good is Nova Baltierra, the 11-year-old daughter of Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra.
During an appearance on her parents’ Cate & Ty Break It Down! podcast this week, Nova spoke about what it’s been like being on TV since birth, as well as how she felt about a camera crew constantly following her and her family around.
“I haven’t known any different,” Nova told her mom Catelynn. “But now without the [film] people here all the time, it’s kind of more freeing.”
Nova stated that, while she loved the people from the film crew, having to film could make her “annoyed a little bit.”
“Like when I went over to my grandma’s. Like, I could just [want to] spend time with my grandma [but I] saw cameras everywhere,” she said.
Nova went on to tell her mom that, while she does miss seeing the film crew, not filming for the show has helped her “spend more time with you guys instead of just focusing on the cameras and stuff.”
Catelynn and Tyler have been filmed for some sort of ‘Teen Mom’ show since they appeared on 16 and Pregnant 16 years ago. All of their major life milestones– including their wedding and the births of all of their children— have been on-camera.
(Nova is the second of Cate and Ty’s four daughters. The couple also shares seven-year-old Vaeda and four-year-old Rya. Their eldest daughter– 16-year-old Carly— was placed for adoption at birth and has been raised by Brandon and Teresa Davis. Currently, Catelynn and Tyler have no contact with Carly, due to Brandon and Teresa cutting them off in 2024.)
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“Do you think mom and dad made a good decision by signing up for television and allowing it to document our lives and our children?” Catelynn asked Nova. “Or do you think not?”
“It could be negative and positive at the same time,” Nova replied. “Because it really did bring a lot of good people into your life and our life… But in the negative way, I would probably say it kind of takes away from being free.”
Nova explained that, while she didn’t feel filming for the show took away from them “being a family,” she didn’t like that her parents weren’t always free to do things with her, due to them needing to film.
“It’s kind of like a feeling where I want to spend time with you. But then also you sometimes have to shoo me away because of like a certain scene that you have to do,” Nova said. (Catelyn clarified that when they’d have to “shoo” Nova away, it was often because they were filming a scene that included conversations not appropriate for kids.)
“Or we have to retake the scene like 10,000 times,” Nova added. “And it doesn’t really make sense because it’s supposed to be a reality show. And in my opinion, I feel like reality shows should be like what actually happens, not just like a return cycle.”
Despite her annoyance at the cameras, Nova said she would be willing to film again, should ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ get picked up for another season, mostly because she misses the film crew a lot. (Nova’s godmother is actually ‘Teen Mom’ producer Kiki Malone.)
“We don’t know if we’re going to get picked back up or not,” Cate told Nova of the show. “It’s kind of like up in the air right now. They haven’t told us that were canceled or anything, but a new company came in and bought MTV. And so there’s just a bunch of changes going on. So we’re not really sure yet.”
As The Ashley previously reported, ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ has been on hiatus since last year. Despite several cast members claiming that the show has been cancelled, the network has yet to officially cancel the show. The cast’s existing contracts expire in May, so the network will have to inform them by that time if the show will continue or not.
Click here to listen to the rest of Nova’s interview with Catelynn.
(Photos: Instagram; MTV)
6 Responses
Well rest assured Nova, that if it get picked up, they will be filming. Because Lord knows they’re not getting real jobs any time soon!
Gee I wonder what nova is relieved to be free of? All the Carly talk 😵💫
this is such a common theme with all the kids on the show and you would think the parents would take their feelings into consideration when it comes to the show smdh 🤦🏻♀️
as much as chelsea annoyed me, she’s the only one i see as the superior mom from the entire franchise because she chose to leave on her own for her daughter’s wellbeing!!
I was recently hospitalized and happened to catch Chelsea’s show. I can see why the HGtV format is better suited for her family. The kids are visible but not all the time and no one in their face asking emotionally taxing questions for the sake of content.
Nova doesn’t know any better, but sometimes parents just can’t make it to things. Even if they have real jobs
Yeah but they don’t get to have privacy or any life at all. Most jobs don’t requiere you to have people filming you at your own home. That’s awful for the kids.