‘Teen Mom’ Stars Leah Messer, Tyler & Catelynn Baltierra Talk Breakups, Feuds and OnlyFans
Q&A
Viewers have not only watched cast members from Teen Mom: The Next Chapter grow up over the years but now their children, too. The MTV reality TV franchise spinoff sees cast members Catelynn Baltierra, Leah Messer, Amber Portwood, Ashley Jones, Briana DeJesus, Cheyenne Floyd, Jade Cline, and Maci Bookout McKinney continue to open up their lives.
Since the show returned for the back half of the season, Catelynn and her longtime husband Tyler have settled in their new home with the kids. The Teen Mom OG couple sat down with their daughter and little cheerleader Novalee about body safety and insecurities. Catelynn is also facing a family feud with her brother Nick at the center.
Leah is looking to put the pieces together after breaking off the engagement to ex-Jaylan Mobley. Things didn’t end well as evidenced by revoking his invitation to her twin daughters Aliannah and Alleeah’s 13th birthday party. She said Jaylan lied and faked her name on the deed to their house. Professionally, Leah is looking into publishing projects for herself and Ali, who has inspired her as she pushes through the challenges of muscular dystrophy.
Here Leah, Catelynn, and Tyler open up about their respective stories.
Leah, Ali continues to touch many with her journey.
Leah Messer: I think it’s amazing to look and see all of it. I think each of my daughters is defying the odds. Growing up, it was about instilling a solid education and confidence, and many morals and values. Ali has overcome a lot when it comes to body positivity and finding clothes she loves.
Catelynn, we see Nova face a lot of those similar insecurities. We see this season how you and Tyler work through some difficult conversations with her. How was it being able to show your approach to other parents watching?
Catelynn Baltierra: Nova is at the stage where she may ask, “Is my body supposed to look like this?,” or, “Do I want it to look different?” It took us talking to her saying you are beautiful as you are. That all our bodies are different. That women come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Really instilling that into her. Also, I feel with the platform we all have, it’s important to put it out there. We talk to our daughter about body safety, safe touch, and not safe touch. It’s important to put all this out there because it might help other parents talk to their kids about it too. I think it’s important conversations we would naturally have anyway. Ours just happen to be documented.
MTV
Mental health is an overarching theme. You help show it’s a normal thing to seek help through therapy.
Tyler Baltierra: I think one thing that was surprising to me was having to deal with the good touch, bad touch with my kids. It triggered my own mental health, which is a good thing and also a scary thing. It’s necessary. With my daughters, I just feel very responsible to make sure they understand body positivity, body safety, and all that kind of stuff. It has been more challenging than I expected it to be, but I also feel it’s important for me to be vulnerable with my kids. That dad needs help too. Mom needs help too. We’re still evolving. We’re not just some magical parent that is a hundred percent perfect and knows what we are doing. My big thing is to show my kids I’m constantly evolving and trying to be better.
Catelynn: I think it’s important for children to know about mental health too. Nova knows I have therapy sessions. She may ask, ‘Mom, why do you need therapy for?” I’m honest with her because I want my kids to know that is part of how we can end the stigma of mental health. I want to talk to others, especially the younger generation. It’s important to have honest and open communication about that kind of stuff.
Leah: I agree with that. I think it’s important to be vulnerable and have those honest and open conversations. Aleeah too has been in therapy. She had a really difficult time trying to understand why Ali had muscular dystrophy. Equine therapy has brought all of them together and has just really been great for them mentally.
Leah, we’ve followed you as you come out of your breakup. How would you describe that experience and also what we might see from the relationship with your dad?
Leah: The breakup was a heartbreak. It was definitely devastating. I think I navigated it the best way I knew how. We kept moving. As far as my family dynamic, I don’t think I’ll have much of a relationship with my dad, and I’m totally okay with that. The rest of my family I have built stronger connections with and continue to do that. You’ll see more from that through.
Catelynn, you’ve continued to address your family saying disparaging things about you. Namely, your brother, which you recently talked about on social media. How is it handling all that?
Catelynn: You’ll see me trying to figure out what kind of boundaries I need to set in place to protect myself and my kids and navigating through that. The whole social media stuff, honestly, the only reason why I posted a response on social media is that when you have someone who is being this person who loves someone or says they want to protect you but at the same time says these mean and hurtful things to you. It’s like basically him trying to gain a following from him being my brother. I wanted people to know how he treats me. The way he portrays me is not how he acts toward me. That goes for him and my mother. It’s hard. I’m done posting about it on social media. I just wanted people to know the truth. It’s what I said on Twitter (X). I’ve always been honest and open and raw with my followers. I have never hidden or lied about anything. Take it as you want, but I’m just moving forward.
Tyler, you recently started an OnlyFans run by your wife. How has business been?
Tyler: This is a smart businesswoman over here.
Catelynn: I told him to start an OnlyFans. I told him for months and months. One day he came home from the gym, and I said let me see your ID.
Tyler: I was like, “What are you doing, dude?”
Caitlyn: Now we are in the top two percent of the site. So we must be doing something right.
Leah, this season we see looking into publishing another book. However, your daughter expresses interest in telling her story. How was that to see?
Leah: With Ali, I think it came from the equine therapy. It allows her to grow stronger not only physically but mentally. The older she gets, the more she is aware of muscular dystrophy. She is really owning her identity. She came to me and said, “I want to write my book now.” She loves art. She loves writing. I was like, “Okay, let’s do this.” I was waiting for her to come and tell me she was ready to write her own story. She is a masterpiece within itself. I’ve been able to tell her story from my eyes but Ali being able to tell her story holds so much more power. I think it will be so inspiring for a lot of people.
What can you tease about the rest of the season and if there is a season 2?
Catelynn: You’ll see Tyler break through some of this internal trauma. He works through ketamine therapy. Then also if we do get picked up for another season, you’ll see me I think come into my own as a person.
Leah: You’ll see me navigating through the breakup and me building up my self-confidence again. Breakups can take a hit on you. That’s why I want no distractions right now. You’ll see me navigating and holding my own boundaries with my family, which has allowed me to see what was good in my life and what wasn’t. You’ll see a lot about Ali’s book and the process of how that went. And just more mom life. It’s always mom life. A different day, a different challenge.
Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, Wednesdays, 8/7c, MTV
