Amber Portwood is here to keep it real.
Like, so real that the veteran Teen Mom star is opening up about her history of mental health problems and drug addiction and how her everyday life has been impacted by these traits, disorders and character flaws.
She did so as a guest on the Dopey Podcast, with bills itself as specializing in “The Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction.”
More deeply than ever before.
Brief Background on Portwood: Amber first appeared on MTV during season 1 of 16 and Pregnant, way back in 2009. She has since appeared on all seven seasons of Teen Mom, which was later renamed Teen Mom OG and whose eighth season begins on October 1.
She Has Two Kids A nine-year old daughter named Leah and a son named James who was born in May of 2018.
Her Dating History: (WEtv) Ex-boyfriend Gary Shirley is the father of Leah, while Portwood was engaged to Matt Baier in 2017, prior to the pair calling off their wedding. She is now seriously involved with Andrew Glennon, the father of her second child.
By the Way … Fun fact about her relationship with Andrew: she met him while filming Marriage Boot Camp with Matt, and less than two months later, she was pregnant. So, you know, there’s some solid decision-making skills.
Another Thing … In addition to her seriously questionable taste in men, she’s known for her anger issues. Because they are very, very serious.
Oh, Gary … (Getty) Early episodes of Teen Mom show her being abusive to Gary, both mentally and physically. Once she was shown kicking his back as he was walking down a flight of stairs — she honestly could have severely injured him then.
Mother of the Year? Her anger wasn’t reserved for Gary, either. When Leah was a baby, Amber was often overwhelmed by caring for her. We saw her scream at Leah to quit crying more than once, and there were many times she left her crying in her crib while she laid in bed.
Her Drug History: (WEtv) Okay, deep breath, here Amber goes in her podcast interview… “I have really horrible anger problems because I’m bipolar and borderline, which is not an excuse, but at the time I didn’t know it, so I wasn’t really taking care of myself or really understanding why I was feeling certain emotions,” Portwood said to give listeners some understanding of her past struggles.
How Bad Did It Get? Admits Amber: “I’d go party every other day. I’d be a Wednesday, I’m at the f-cking bar and whopping ass and sh-t, just like getting kicked out of bars or I got kicked out of our Walmart.” (She got kicked out of Walmart?!?)
And It Wasn’t Just Walmart… “There’s like pictures of me beating up a girl in iHop,” she continued. “It was just crazy. I don’t know where the hell I was. I was gone. You can blame the drugs for the most part for kind of being impulsive, but it was kind of just me as a person.”
At Least She’s Honest, Right? (Getty) Amber really wasn’t the greatest person back then, and as you can see, she’s not afraid to admit it. She’s even said in the past that in those early seasons of Teen Mom, she was under the influence of something in every single segment.
More Money, More Problems? “When you’re making a lot of money, there’s more drugs,” Portwood explained of how her Teen Mom salary played a role in all this. “Every time a drug dealer had a new stash, of whatever, they called me first because they knew I’d buy the whole [stash], because I had the money to do it. It’s never helps.”
What Did Amber Typically Take/Use? “I was a horrible opiate addict. I would probably do 10 to 20 hydros – if they didn’t have hydros it would be oxycontin or oxycodone … any kind of opiate that they had, I would try to take.”
When Did She Start Using? (Getty) “I’ve been partying since I was about 11 years old, that’s the first time I did pills,” she says. “In Anderson, [Indiana], there’s not much to do. A lot of kids at school, they always brought sh-t from their house. We didn’t know what much of it was.”
But Things Got REALLY Bad at the Age of 15 Says Portwood: “It wasn’t [until] I got pregnant with my daughter Leah that I stopped doing drugs all together ’cause I was so scared of something happening to her. A lot of people don’t even believe me when I tell them that, but it’s the truth.’
But Then She Spiraled “Six to seven months after Leah was born, I started taking opiates again, medication for my back for my scoliosis and I got addicted from there,” Portwood told the hosts.
What Drove Her to This Place? “I was probably depressed and sh-t,” she said very simply, very openly and very honestly.
Lots and Lots of Sadness It makes sense that she was depressed as a teen — growing up, she had a very hard life.
Tragedy When she was a child, she had a baby sister who passed away from SIDS, and she’s said she remembers everything that happened that night, which had to have been traumatizing.
No Structure (MTV) She’s also said that her mother “abandoned” her to be with boyfriends when she was growing up, so that at a young age, she was left by herself often to do as she pleased.
She’s Had Many Run-Ins with the Law (Getty) In of November 2010, Portwood was charged with three counts of domestic violence after MTV cameras recorded her abuse against Shirley.
What Consequences Did She Face? A handful of legal ones, that’s for sure. For example: Portwood was arrested in December of 2011 for violating probation after pleading guilty to two counts of domestic battery.
What Else? (MTV) In June of 2012, the MTV personality quit her court-ordered rehab program and opted to serve a five-year prison sentence instead. (She was released in November of 2013 after 17 months.)
Why Did She Choose to Go to Prison?!? Portwood said she simply hit rock bottom at her grandmother’s house, elaborating: “Nothing else was working. I had overdosed at my grandma’s house on fentanyl in the bathroom. It was daylight when I was awake … I woke up on the floor, like, just drooling out of my mouth. It was nighttime, I had no clue how long I had been in there.”
RIP Valerie She’s lucky she survived, because 16 and Pregnant’s Valerie Fairman also overdosed on fentanyl in a bathroom, and unfortunately we all know what happened with her.
Does She Consider Herself an Alcoholic? Not to the point where she has given up drinking entirely at least. “Now I can have a glass of wine every now and again,” she says. “It’s not every day. It’s not every month.”
Uh … It’s a little alarming that she has this viewpoint, since the general consensus is that if you’re addicted to one thing, you should probably steer clear of other addictive substances.
For the Moment, At Least Still, it is undeniable that she’s doing loads better these days, so hopefully she has everything under control.
Wanna Hear More from Amber? You can pick up her memoir, “Never Too Late,” which also chronicles her troubled history.
What Does the Future Hold for Her? Hopefully no drug use and lots of cuddle time with those two precious kids. We really do wish Portwood the best.
Oh, and Also Teen Mom OG Season 8? With Bristol Palin as a cast member! We can’t wait for it to start!