Shawn Portwood Is Dead: ‘Teen Mom’ Amber Portwood Releases Statement Regarding Father’s Death

Shawn Portwood is dead, and Teen Mom star Amber is devastated.

As the Inquisitr reported on Wednesday, Shawn Portwood Sr. died on Tuesday evening as he awaited a liver transplant. Following his dead, Amber released a statement to fans on Twitter.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone for all your kind words,” Portwood wrote on Twitter early Thursday morning. “This is a heartbreaking time for my family your prayers help..love always.”

On Wednesday, Shawn Portwood Jr. released a statement to the UK’s Daily Mail revealing that Shawn Portwood is dead.

“My dad passed away last night. He was 50. He was put in an induced coma on Friday after liver surgery at Orlando Regional Medical Center. We are making burial arrangements now. My dad was the most important person in Amber’s and my life. He was a very strong-willed person and even though he was battling illness for a very long time, he never gave up. He didn’t give up on life. He didn’t give up on his family. He didn’t want to give up. I like to think that he was able to see my son, Eli, for the last time before he died. He lived through pain for many years but it didn’t prevent him from sticking it through all the way to the end.”

While Shawn Portwood is dead, Amber and her family will forever be grateful to him and the support he gave her throughout her struggles with drug addiction. As fans of Teen Mom will recall, Portwood served a 17-month prison term from 2012 to 2013 after acknowledging she was powerless against her addiction. Without her father’s support, who knows where Amber would be today.

“I know that he helped Amber because he gave her strength to get better. He is the reason she was able to turn her life around,” Shawn Jr. told the Daily Mail. “He set the precedent for what she needed to do to get better. What Amber was able to accomplish by getting her life back on track had a lot to do with our dad. I know for a fact that he was always proud of what we accomplished. Me and Amber. He was proud that she was able to get through those tough times.”

Although Shawn Portwood is dead, his memory lives on through his two children and two grandchildren, which include Amber’s 5-year-old daughter, Leah Shirley.

[Photo via Twitter]