‘Teen Mom OG’ Amber Portwood Opens Up About Traumatic Childhood Experience

On the most recent season of Teen Mom OG, fans watched as Amber Portwood began a new chapter in her life. The reality show star became a mother for the first time when she was a teenager and, since then, cameras have followed her for a large part of her journey including her release from prison in 2013. Now, though, she is in a happy relationship and recently gave birth to her son.

The Teen Mom OG: Unseen Moments special aired on MTV on New Year’s Day. On the special, Amber got candid about a traumatic experience from her childhood that impacts the way she parents her baby boy. When Amber was only 5-years-old, her baby sister died from SIDS.

“It was hard. I remember watching them bringing her out on a stretcher. … It’s one of the worst things that I’ve ever really seen in my life,” Amber said according to People.

In May of 2018, Amber gave birth to her second child, a son, that she named James Andrew with her boyfriend Andrew Glennon. The Teen Mom OG star also has a 10-year-old daughter with her ex-boyfriend, Gary Shirley.

In the unseen clip, Amber opened up about wanting to be with her son all the times no matter what. Despite being tired, Amber didn’t want to have to depend on anyone else to watch her son due to her childhood experience.

She went on to say, “She was an infant just like him. And it’s really scary for us. And I just feel like I want to be the one watching him.”

Amber and her mother, Tanya, opened up about the experience briefly before in 2012. At the time, they spoke with Dr. Drew at the Teen Mom Season 3 reunion. They revealed that the baby was about 2-weeks-old and her name was Candace.

Amber’s mother Tanya, “I had came home from work, and we didn’t have a phone at the house because of course we couldn’t afford a phone. I was going to check on her, and picked her up and just realized that she wasn’t breathing. She hemorrhaged from the nose. Immediately, I just checked out,” according to Wetpaint.

On the Teen Mom OG reunion special that aired in December, the 28-year-old opened up about her postpartum depression. She admitted that she had not experienced that after giving birth to Leah. She also opened up about the suicidal thoughts that accompanied her depression. She explained that she has since sought help and is doing much better.

Although the season of Teen Mom OG is over, fans can still keep up with Amber on her social media accounts.