- 3 hours ago
Hollywood Demons (2025) Season 2 Episode 5
Category
đ„
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00Hi, I'm Carly.
00:00:02You probably know me from Sexy and Pregnant.
00:00:04I was on season four.
00:00:06Season three.
00:00:07I was on season five, episode seven.
00:00:10Being where I'm from, how cool is it to have somebody filming your life, I guess?
00:00:14This thing sounds cool. Sign me up.
00:00:17Oh my gosh.
00:00:18I'm gonna be on MTV.
00:00:20Like, I'm gonna be rich.
00:00:30Um, it was a lot of not what I expected it to be.
00:00:35Giving birth to a kid on TV at 16.
00:00:38What else is more vulnerable than that?
00:00:40You think you're gonna be on television and it's gonna be great.
00:00:44Um, that's not really how it works.
00:00:48The reality is, for many of these girls, the show did help them.
00:00:52It was a positive experience.
00:00:54It just was so unpredictable, the potential downsides.
00:00:58I mean, we all watched it.
00:01:00We all watched her kick Gary down the stairs.
00:01:05After the show, I overdosed in the backseat of her car.
00:01:08I remember flashbangs and smoke bombs.
00:01:11And it was like, we murdered him there.
00:01:13I've been homeless and have slept out of my truck with kids in 20-degree weather.
00:01:18And the producers are like, you know, you're telling your story.
00:01:21You're gonna help other people.
00:01:23I think all it did was hurt me.
00:01:34Producers promise it will be fresh.
00:01:36I was so scared.
00:01:37People telling me to kill myself.
00:01:50It all kicks off with a brand new show on Tuesday.
00:01:54Up until very recently, MTV was teenage HQ.
00:01:59It was where you went for all things pop culture that mattered to teenagers.
00:02:04This is TV, this is live, this is MTV.
00:02:07But then it was the birth of reality TV.
00:02:10So we had real world and road rules, true life.
00:02:16We started to see some of this more raw, observational programming that, at the end of the day, felt more
00:02:23real.
00:02:23Perhaps almost too real, honestly.
00:02:26Those shows were great and there's always been people watching that.
00:02:30But they were just slightly older.
00:02:33I have been known to watch A Shot at Love and I watch...
00:02:35I think they realized that we, as young viewers, like, we could go more.
00:02:42We could go raw and we could go younger.
00:02:46And so they did.
00:02:50In 2009, a producer at MTV read a People magazine article that was all about this epidemic of teen pregnancy.
00:03:01In America, we were seeing some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in our country's history.
00:03:07In 2008, over 750,000 women under the age of 20 were pregnant.
00:03:13And 13,500 of those pregnancies were 14 and under.
00:03:18And MTV decided, there's a show in this story.
00:03:24For most American teens, high school is about having fun.
00:03:27I remember the first time I saw the commercial and I was glued.
00:03:30I was so excited to watch it.
00:03:33And the commercial that they did, they started with Macy's big belly.
00:03:38We are introduced to a new pregnant teen each episode.
00:03:42So we really are seeing it through from the final stages of pregnancy to watching this teen mom welcome a
00:03:48child into her world.
00:03:50This is something that I can't watch anywhere else.
00:03:53There's nothing like this on TV.
00:03:55I love the styling.
00:03:57I love the way that they presented the material.
00:04:00It's very much styled like Juno was.
00:04:05Juno was this beloved film that came out two years earlier, which centers around a teen pregnancy story.
00:04:12It had that Hollywood movie veneer on it.
00:04:16And you can even see hints of that inspiration.
00:04:18There are those diary sketches that open up each episode.
00:04:23And that is really reminiscent of what we saw in Juno.
00:04:29I think in the beginning, the characters that they cast, it was like, no, no, no.
00:04:33Whatever you had thought about what girls get pregnant is wrong.
00:04:37This is everyone.
00:04:40Look at this girl.
00:04:41Look at Macy.
00:04:42Look at even Farrah.
00:04:44She had a two-parent home and she was a cheerleader.
00:04:46It is, your daughter could have this happen.
00:04:49It really kind of opened the conversation and scared a lot of people.
00:04:55And America needed to be shook up a little bit, I think.
00:05:02I've been doing media for over 30 years.
00:05:05In 2009, I was mostly known for Loveline, celebrity rehab.
00:05:10I was willing to put myself in environments that were uncomfortable because entertainment,
00:05:16funny music, that attracts the eyes.
00:05:18We used to have a philosophy we called the Gainsburger and the pill.
00:05:21If you want a dog to take a pill, you have to wrap it in something yummy.
00:05:25And so I'm the pill and the entertaining aspects are the yummy aspects.
00:05:29And if there is not entertainment, I don't get to deliver the pill.
00:05:33Well, welcome to your media.
00:05:35Prior to 16 and Pregnant, I had done a show a few years earlier for NBC where Hoda Hotbi
00:05:42and I hosted a primetime special where 16-year-old couples were given babies, live infants.
00:05:50These children were being sort of observed while they tried to manage an infant.
00:05:55But I knew it quite wasn't hitting the target yet.
00:05:58And in fact, during that episode, a distinguished professor of psychiatry from Yale stood up
00:06:07and said, this is terrible.
00:06:08We don't do experiments like this because we can't get these through human investigation
00:06:12committees because the amount of stress that babies are likely to be feeling in even very
00:06:17short periods of time.
00:06:18That caught me off guard a little bit.
00:06:21And I'll never forget, he mentioned, there is a pandemic of pregnancy among 16-year-olds
00:06:27in this country.
00:06:28You should just put cameras in the households of 16-year-old couples with infants, which
00:06:36stayed in my mind following that.
00:06:38So, when 16 and Pregnant came along, I both knew from my Loveland experience it would have
00:06:43a significant impact on teen pregnancy.
00:06:45And I remember that psychiatrist saying, this is the way to do this.
00:06:49It's a good idea.
00:06:50There were six episodes on season one following six different girls.
00:06:55And I thought, this is going to impact teen pregnancy for sure.
00:06:59I want to be a part of this.
00:07:01And I was called by the production team and the executives at MTV to host their reunion
00:07:08specials at the end of each season.
00:07:10The 16 and Pregnant finale special hosted by myself, Dr. True.
00:07:13What I appreciate is we are getting into these women's lives, and some of it is very touching
00:07:17and very intense.
00:07:19Sorry.
00:07:21You all right?
00:07:21Yeah, I'm fine.
00:07:23I had a huge emotional reaction to Caitlin and Tyler's story where they had given up
00:07:27their child for adoption.
00:07:28I told you, you guys, take my breath away, your strength and your courage.
00:07:31I mean, it's just incredibly difficult what you guys...
00:07:34Yeah, it's not easy.
00:07:35And in fact, when I got to the studio, asked to meet with them privately, and they thought
00:07:40they were in trouble.
00:07:41They thought I was going to serve.
00:07:43And I just wanted to tell them how deeply moved I was by their willingness to share their
00:07:47story.
00:07:48And they've always been the closest to me of all the subjects.
00:07:52Amber was on season one of 16 and Pregnant.
00:07:54She got pregnant by Gary.
00:07:56Why did you tell your mom about the PS3?
00:07:58You said you wouldn't.
00:07:58It makes me look like an ass.
00:08:00Because you weren't asked for doing it.
00:08:01Amber was different.
00:08:03She was not the girl next door.
00:08:05She was rough around the edges.
00:08:07And, you know, that sticks in people's heads.
00:08:10We're not perfect.
00:08:11I don't really think anybody is.
00:08:13You're going to remember the one that causes the most chaos.
00:08:16The show was wildly popular.
00:08:19That season reached an audience of over 31 million views and consistently took the number one spot
00:08:25in its time period among young females between the ages of 12 to 34.
00:08:32MTV also saw the potential for spinoffs here.
00:08:35Teen Mom, the spinoff, was this huge phenomenon where producers kept filming four of the girls
00:08:41from 16 and Pregnant, and we got to see really what their life was like after having the baby.
00:08:48And Amber Portwood was one of the girls who went on to Teen Mom.
00:08:52It just documented me.
00:08:54But I don't think anyone appreciated what we were going to get into with Amber.
00:08:57Okay, Gary, just come over here and pick me up.
00:08:59I'll see you in a minute.
00:09:00This is a moment from the first season of Teen Mom where tensions flare between Amber and Gary
00:09:05because it takes Gary too long to pick Amber up from her dad's place.
00:09:09Sorry.
00:09:10Well, you can f***ing leave, dude, because that's bulls**t.
00:09:12You're f***ing sourpuss.
00:09:13Who are you talking to?
00:09:14And Gary gets upset because Amber's dad inserts himself into the situation.
00:09:18You need to f***ing apologize to him.
00:09:20I'm out.
00:09:22Amber.
00:09:23She engages in physical abuse on Gary.
00:09:26You don't f***ing talk to my f***ing dad like that.
00:09:29You hear me?
00:09:30You a p***er.
00:09:30Amber commits domestic violence on camera in front of the crew.
00:09:35I mean, we all watched it.
00:09:36We all watched her, you know, hold him against the wall.
00:09:42Horrible.
00:09:43These shows were designed to really bring forward the struggles of pregnancy, relationships,
00:09:51family, and of course, raising a baby.
00:09:53But there certainly was tons of concern about what we do with this.
00:09:58Tons of it.
00:09:59I want to talk to you about one of the more disturbing scenes from the entire season.
00:10:03This is from the reunion episode that season.
00:10:07I'm trying to get them to get some help, ultimately.
00:10:13And what I'm aiming towards is that should this happen again, he's got to call the police.
00:10:18He's got to be willing to do that.
00:10:20It did turn the tables on what people thought domestic violence could look like.
00:10:26It can happen to men just because you're a big, strong dude doesn't mean you can't have this going on.
00:10:34We were also trying to emphasize the importance of awareness and domestic violence.
00:10:38So if you have been a victim of teen-on-teen dating violence, you can learn more about this at
00:10:43loveisrespect.org.
00:10:45It's one word, L-O-V-E is respect.org.
00:10:49It's an important issue.
00:10:50We want to encourage everyone to log on to get help, learn more about healthier ways to communicate with your
00:10:54partner.
00:10:55What I always told both the producers and MTV is they should take a bow.
00:10:59They went to great lengths to fund and place and get help when it was necessary.
00:11:05But an 18-year-old with a child is not necessarily interested in psychotherapy.
00:11:12With Amber, clearly their relationship was troubled, but we did not know the full extent of it at that point.
00:11:26Amber and Gary lived in the suburbs of Indianapolis.
00:11:29In Teen Mom, season two, there's an episode where Amber is laying in bed and Gary is leaving.
00:11:35All right, I'll see you later.
00:11:37Get off me.
00:11:38You need to shut your mouth.
00:11:40Okay, Amber.
00:11:40I'll bring your ass to court.
00:11:42I'm just going to do that.
00:11:45You want to me?
00:11:49Amber, quit.
00:11:51Huh?
00:11:52How is this on TV?
00:11:54Amber?
00:11:55No, I swear to God I wish I was bigger than you.
00:11:57I'd beat your ass.
00:11:58One more hit.
00:11:59One more hit, what?
00:11:59You're going to hit me?
00:12:00No.
00:12:01I am at the edge.
00:12:02Do you want to get punched in your face?
00:12:04You want to hit me then?
00:12:06I think everybody watched that scene when that episode aired the first time and they were
00:12:10saying, this shouldn't be on TV.
00:12:12You better watch your damn back.
00:12:16I mean, we all watched her kick Gary down the stairs.
00:12:36So there was an episode of the TV show Teen Mom that aired and we started to receive phone calls
00:12:43to the prosecutor's office, Anderson Police Department, Department of Child Services beginning the very next day.
00:12:52The viewers were the ones that ended up making the calls to the police and they got so many that
00:12:58they had to look at it and say, well, what is actually going on here?
00:13:03This is still a very unusual circumstance for something to air on national television that had occurred in Madison County.
00:13:09And that began an investigation from the Anderson Police Department.
00:13:16We obtained the raw footage.
00:13:26Investigators watched the footage and determined that there were three separate incidents of domestic violence that had occurred.
00:13:31She left you a message.
00:13:33In that scene, you see Amber first take the car seat from Gary.
00:13:38Let me tell you something.
00:13:39You don't talk to my dad like that.
00:13:41Any one of those instances where she makes contact with him in a rude or insolent manner is domestic battery.
00:13:49And it's now a felony in the state of Indiana because of the presence of the child.
00:13:54But this was not why people reached out to the Anderson Police Department.
00:13:58Are you done? Are you seriously done?
00:14:00This was actually the second incident where domestic violence had occurred on national television.
00:14:06She slapped him five times, punched him three times with a closed fist, and then kicked him as he was
00:14:12carrying a television down the stairs to their home.
00:14:14But there was a third incident of domestic violence that had not aired.
00:14:21It was in uncut footage.
00:14:24While the criminal investigation was underway, we addressed the domestic violence on the reunion show.
00:14:29Okay. It's hard to watch this stuff. It's very hard.
00:14:33Makes you want to change, doesn't it?
00:14:41There was a feeling that we didn't want participation in this show to cause her to go to prison, cause
00:14:46her to go to jail, or cause her, she had enough going on where the consequences would be potentially profound.
00:14:52On the other hand, if this were to continue, that has to happen.
00:14:58The very next day, Anderson Police Department conducted interviews of both Gary Shirley and Amber Portwood.
00:15:07Amber was defiant in terms of downplaying these incidents.
00:15:11She said, to a large degree, she didn't remember these instances because she had blacked out.
00:15:16But if they were on video, then she admitted that they must have occurred.
00:15:20She said she blacked out, which could be true.
00:15:24Blacking out, that sort of experience enrages, happens to dissociative people.
00:15:28Turns out Amber is highly dissociative.
00:15:31She stated repeatedly that these were not in any way staged or provoked by the television show.
00:15:39Amber Portwood agreed to accept that plea agreement, and she was sentenced to two years that would be suspended to
00:15:46formal probation.
00:15:48And also, once this became a criminal investigation, there were steps put in place by MTV and the producers of
00:15:56Teen Mom where a qualified security guard would have to be present whenever Gary and Amber were together or whenever
00:16:03Amber was in the presence of her child for a period of time.
00:16:07She went from being just another teenager, and then suddenly a national figure, and then when the domestic violence comes
00:16:15to light.
00:16:16This is a level of scrutiny that probably would never come to light for the average teenager dealing with pregnancy.
00:16:25And then, I'm not sure exactly how she gets strung out on opiates, but she does.
00:16:32Amber violates her probation for possession of a controlled substance.
00:16:42While in court, she went from the courtroom to the bathroom, said, Judge, I'll be right back, and started sucking
00:16:47out the contents of multiple fentanyl patches.
00:16:50Went back into the courtroom and said, Judge, you have to put me in jail because I'm going to kill
00:16:54myself if left to my own devices.
00:16:56And she was right.
00:16:58She spends two years in prison.
00:17:01Then she's invited back on the show.
00:17:04You're doing a documentary and not wanting to interfere with somebody's life.
00:17:09But, I mean, that's the question on every single difficult situation we're airing.
00:17:15Are we giving it sunshine and bringing it to light and showing people what this really looks like and understanding
00:17:21it and avoiding it?
00:17:23Or is it part of an entertaining story?
00:17:26Or both?
00:17:28Both shows, 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, were airing concurrently.
00:17:33So, MTV is moving very quickly to keep churning out this content that they know audiences like.
00:17:39At the same time, Amber commits multiple acts of domestic violence.
00:17:45This is when 16 and Pregnant was at its peak.
00:17:47When season two of 16 and Pregnant came out, it was the most watched cable show of the day, even
00:17:54topping the Winter Olympics with the women under 34 demographic.
00:18:00This debate started to emerge.
00:18:03Was this show glamorizing teen pregnancy?
00:18:06Or was it helping to prevent it?
00:18:11The media, people not understanding this about adolescence, looked at it and went, oh, it's going to glamorize pregnancy.
00:18:18It's going to cause people to get pregnant in order to be on the show.
00:18:20And, of course, the casting organizations went to great lengths to exclude those people.
00:18:27The unfortunate reality is, by the time Teen Mom comes around, there is such a thing as a reality star.
00:18:33And, therefore, they can command more salary.
00:18:36The cast of Teen Mom, towards the middle of the series, they started getting $25,000 per episode.
00:18:43And I remember then started hearing about managers and agents and publicists also.
00:18:49Later in the run of the Teen Mom series, the girls started getting $40,000 to $50,000 per episode.
00:18:56As the series rolled along, a young person who was pregnant might look at 16 and Pregnant and go, well,
00:19:02that is a way to make money.
00:19:03It's a way to get some sort of deal.
00:19:05Who knows what they're thinking and probably very magical kind of thinking.
00:19:08But it did look like a reasonable thing to do if you were pregnant.
00:19:18My name is Sabrina Rosario.
00:19:21So, growing up, I think when I started watching 16 and Pregnant almost every day, I think I did put
00:19:29the idea of having a baby in my head.
00:19:34Yeah, I just had that thought when you were on the show that fame could solve their problems if they
00:19:40market themselves correctly.
00:19:43But it was a lot of not what I expected it to be.
00:19:47Who was your producer?
00:19:48Um, I had Phish most of the time, Phish Stevens.
00:19:58My name is Phylicia Stevens.
00:20:01So when I first started working at MTV, I was in the heart of it, the thick of it.
00:20:05The TRL days, the Times Square craziness, streets blocked off because NSYNC is there.
00:20:12And as time wore on, I was a field producer on 16 and Pregnant.
00:20:18Producers do everything.
00:20:20Everything that you see on camera, on film, we've touched every aspect of that.
00:20:29There was one girl that needed a producer.
00:20:34So when I first spoke with Sabrina, it felt like she was just a sweet girl.
00:20:38A young girl who had a dream.
00:20:42I was a cheerleader, and I wanted to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, and I had no other aspirations in
00:20:49my life.
00:20:50Her boyfriend was going to be a football player.
00:20:52I went to school with Iman.
00:20:54I liked that he was a football player.
00:20:55I was very vain in high school.
00:20:59She's the cheerleader.
00:21:00They're going to ride off in the sunset together with their new baby.
00:21:05I think that's what she wanted to believe was going to happen.
00:21:09But that was not going to happen.
00:21:13To be honest, I just think a lot of the girls that were on 16 and Pregnant already had troubled
00:21:22pasts.
00:21:24I remember saying, and crew members said this too, we could write a handbook on how to become 16 and
00:21:31Pregnant.
00:21:32We saw in some of the girls that their own mother was a teen mother, their parents had addiction issues,
00:21:44and or not present in the home.
00:21:47This is an issue that happens everywhere, right?
00:21:50Not just the girls on the show.
00:21:54So when I was younger, with my mom and my two siblings, up until I was about seven years old,
00:22:02we had different dads.
00:22:04My mom, I just knew she wasn't present.
00:22:07At four or five years old, I was raising my two siblings, and I just remember, like, playing outside in
00:22:14the backyard.
00:22:15I would feed them, like, the little canned sausages, Vienna sausages.
00:22:20Um, yeah, noodles.
00:22:24I would take myself to school, yeah.
00:22:26But then when I realized, like, nobody was going to be home, I would be with my siblings, I wouldn't
00:22:29go to school.
00:22:32A young child taking care of children is highly traumatic, but this is particularly traumatic, because I would be traumatized
00:22:39at my stage of life, being a week alone with a five-and-a-two-year-old and trying to
00:22:44manage it by myself.
00:22:45That's a lot.
00:22:46At age six, seven, it's just overwhelming, and yet she just did it.
00:22:52When I was about seven years old, I remember being in the car with my mom.
00:22:57Thank you, I'm clear.
00:23:02She was speeding, and she got pulled over, and when she got pulled over, I unbuckled my seatbelt, and I
00:23:09sat on her beer, her case of beer, in the back seat.
00:23:13So the cops took me away.
00:23:27After that, I started living with my dad, and I'd never met my dad really before.
00:23:32I think I met him, like, twice.
00:23:34I bet you have two other siblings.
00:23:37They ended up with their dad.
00:23:42I felt alone a lot of the times, and kind of self-crying my whole life.
00:23:54Try not to cry.
00:23:55Okay.
00:23:56I'm probably...
00:23:57I cry a lot, actually.
00:23:59I cry about everything now.
00:24:02I...
00:24:04I see teen pregnancy as a symptom of larger issues, but we didn't always get to highlight them on the
00:24:10show.
00:24:12I'm of the opinion that most teen pregnancy is already a symptom of something going on from a mental health
00:24:18standpoint.
00:24:19And that childhood trauma, of course, plays out through mental health issues.
00:24:24People trying to solve that trauma by doing things like having a baby.
00:24:31Ah.
00:24:36Tickle and A-B mark.
00:24:40My mom had me at 16 years old, so my mom was a teen mom.
00:24:45Her and my biological dad, they haven't been together since I was two.
00:24:51At about maybe 10.
00:24:54My stepdad, very abusive, physically, verbally, went to jail for punching me in the face.
00:25:04Like, he just wasn't a good man.
00:25:20We dealt with evictions.
00:25:24We dealt with our heat being turned off, our water.
00:25:27We used to have to go take big gallons to my step-grandparents and fill them up with water so
00:25:32we could flush our toilet because we didn't have water for so long.
00:25:35Yeah, turning on the stove so we'd have a little bit of heat so we'd have a little bit of
00:25:40heat.
00:25:40So, yeah, pour.
00:25:43I've blocked out a lot of my childhood.
00:25:47Like, when I, I don't know, like, I don't want to cry, but like, when I think back to, I
00:25:56just don't remember a lot of it.
00:25:57Like, I mean, appearing on a television show could be a huge opportunity for someone who doesn't come from a
00:26:06lot of prosperity.
00:26:07Someone who comes from a small town in a rough family background.
00:26:13When I was 16, I was dating Jamie for three months, and then I got pregnant.
00:26:19Mm-hmm.
00:26:22Like, even before I got pregnant, I watched 16 and Pregnant every week.
00:26:27Oh, yeah, my mom was also addicted to it.
00:26:30I mean, it was a huge show then.
00:26:32Pretty much anybody I knew watched it.
00:26:35I mean, look at them.
00:26:36They came from 16 and Pregnant.
00:26:37Now they're living in big, beautiful homes with money for days, and they're well off.
00:26:44We were not.
00:26:45I was a poor, 16 and Pregnant mom.
00:26:49I might get the fame of being on TV, and they end up making the big money.
00:26:56I'm from a small town in East Texas.
00:26:59My dad, he is my stepdad.
00:27:02He was really funny and very playful.
00:27:05But then he got sick.
00:27:09He had a brain tumor, so it really changed his personality in ways that weren't great.
00:27:17It was very chaotic.
00:27:21Me and Todd Wardame, he was two years older than me.
00:27:24He was very, like, comforting and funny, and he was there when I needed someone, and I got
00:27:31pregnant my junior year.
00:27:34I had watched 16 and Pregnant.
00:27:36We just thought we were going to do it and make a paycheck.
00:27:42One day, I was talking on the phone with, like, one of the producers.
00:27:45They were going back and forth, picking girls.
00:27:48They were trying to choose.
00:27:50I mean, they ask you a lot of, like, mental health questions.
00:27:53They're asking you stuff from your childhood, current, things like that.
00:27:57I honestly didn't think we'd even get picked.
00:27:59I didn't think we had enough, like, drama.
00:28:01And there was things that I knew I wasn't going to share on camera.
00:28:06I thought, automatically, I thought, well, that's it.
00:28:10They're not, you know, they're not going to want to do it.
00:28:17But then, I'm 17.
00:28:19We were going on vacation.
00:28:22First vacation I've ever been on in my entire life.
00:28:25I was, man, maybe, like, 12 weeks pregnant.
00:28:31Maybe a little farther along.
00:28:38We all went out on the water.
00:28:43My friend looked back at me and said, don't come any further.
00:28:47Or you're going to get caught in the riptide.
00:28:53But at that point, like, I was caught in it.
00:28:58I blacked out.
00:29:03And then I remember, like, the lifeguard coming and yelling.
00:29:12And I had, like, salt water in my lungs.
00:29:14They were trying to find a heartbeat for the baby.
00:29:19I was looking around, and Todd wasn't there.
00:29:26I remember they called, like, the Coast Guard to start looking.
00:29:30A few days later, we got the phone call.
00:29:32The cleanup crew had found him.
00:29:41When all that was happening, then you're just, like, focusing on being pregnant.
00:29:44And having this baby, and hoping nothing happens to the baby, because it's all you have left.
00:29:50I called the producer I had, and told them he had passed away.
00:29:56And I probably won't do it anymore now.
00:30:00So it was almost immediate that they were like,
00:30:13When you're casting a reality show, you want compelling stories.
00:30:19And sometimes that looks like casting someone who just lost their baby's father.
00:30:26You could imagine that to be somewhat of a Machiavellian move on part of producing.
00:30:35But her story had become interesting.
00:30:38They wanted to investigate it.
00:30:40The industry is pressure.
00:30:43It's entertainment.
00:30:44We're always about, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
00:30:47You know, how do I keep these eyes on this show?
00:30:51What will viewers want to keep watching?
00:30:57After a girl is cast on the show, they have to sign a contract or agreement to appear on the
00:31:02TV show.
00:31:03But remember, we're dealing with minors.
00:31:06So, how much can an adolescent pay attention to a contract, or negotiate payment,
00:31:11or understand what down the road may be a consequence from being on television?
00:31:15Essentially impossible.
00:31:16Do teenagers look at things like that at all?
00:31:19No. No, we don't care.
00:31:21I mean, I've never read a contract in my life.
00:31:23Usually it's just skipped a sign.
00:31:25It's usually big words, mumbo-jumbo.
00:31:28We don't know what any of it means anyway, at that age.
00:31:34Even an adult doesn't really have a clue as to what really happens to make a show like this.
00:31:43So, why would we think a 16-year-old would know?
00:31:47So, they're relying on somebody with a functioning frontal lobe, hopefully, the parents.
00:31:51But, of course, parents may have their own biases, their own mental health issues,
00:31:57their own reasons for consenting to something like this that may not be in the best interest of the child.
00:32:04So, when MTV first started talking immediately, they pulled out the contracts just to go over before even deciding to
00:32:10do it.
00:32:11It did say there was room for negotiation, but my mom was like, if you don't sign it, maybe they
00:32:17won't accept you or not want you on the show.
00:32:20Did your mom read the contract?
00:32:24I doubt it.
00:32:25I know I didn't read it.
00:32:27We were just poor people in Ohio.
00:32:31We were just like, cool, sign me up.
00:32:35So, I want to tell you, I was scared to ask.
00:32:38I was scared to talk about it.
00:32:41If it was in my contract, I definitely didn't read it, which is crazy to think about now.
00:32:45But at 17, you're not really thinking about it.
00:32:50So, I just signed it.
00:32:51I mean, I didn't think, and I didn't, I really didn't know how much I was going to get paid
00:32:54until I think I got, like, my first check.
00:32:58I think it's like $5,000, like a total $5,000.
00:33:03I was like, okay, well, at least after I could get a car, and I needed a car.
00:33:07And I used that $2,500, the first $2,500 for things for the baby.
00:33:13The last $2,500, I think I bought, like, a lot of beer for, like, house parties and stuff, but,
00:33:18um, which is horrible.
00:33:22It was interesting when I would tell people that I was working on the show.
00:33:27Some were, gave me a look like, oh, I don't, you know, you're glamorizing teen pregnancy.
00:33:34So, I would always reiterate that there's no glamour involved here.
00:33:39If you look at any episode of 16 and Pregnant, you'll see the belly reveal, doctor's appointments, the hospital.
00:33:48This is not fun.
00:33:49We're not talking housewives here.
00:33:51They're not in glam, okay, before they get to set.
00:33:54You know, they're wearing their T-shirts and shorts, and they're not going to Turks and Caicos.
00:34:00You know, this is real deal.
00:34:03We probably went out every couple of weeks.
00:34:07And then once any of the girls were about to deliver, then it was more of, like, being in touch
00:34:16with her, like, almost every day.
00:34:17Like, are you good?
00:34:19Are we on?
00:34:20I would say during, during filming, they were really good.
00:34:24It was during filming, they were really good.
00:34:28But the, the problem is, nobody had any ounce of boundaries, because you're a public figure.
00:34:40And I wasn't trained or anything to handle it.
00:34:47One day, I went to Walmart before the episode aired.
00:34:54I was not expecting to see a picture of me and Todd on the cover of the Star magazine.
00:35:04And it was just talking about the accident, and it was, like, implicating that we murdered him there.
00:35:24It was a pretty big shock, because my episode hadn't aired yet.
00:35:29But I remember thinking, like, nobody called and asked me anything.
00:35:32Like, this was being put out there, and then I was, like, I had no voice to it at all.
00:35:36I did not ever think that would happen.
00:35:39Truly.
00:35:42Maybe these women thought the show would be an escape, a chance for fame.
00:35:47But, in the meantime, they're being very public with their lives, but we couldn't have predicted audiences treating them as
00:35:54non-human entities and subject them to ridicule.
00:36:00I've talked to girls who have said, you know, they got called out in the street while they're pushing their
00:36:04baby in a stroller, and people are yelling at them for something that they did in their episode.
00:36:08They actually feel like, oh, God, is this girl going to hit me?
00:36:12You're no longer a private person.
00:36:17Where it can become stickier with this particular show is the girls signed on.
00:36:24Yes, absolutely, they knew what they were doing.
00:36:26They chose to be public figures.
00:36:29They've consented, but can you consent when you're a pregnant 15-year-old, and you're desperate for money, and you
00:36:36don't know what you're going to do, and you maybe don't have the best parents?
00:36:40I don't think a lot of these girls knew all of the negative aspects of fame.
00:36:50I was with Jamie for three months, and then I got pregnant.
00:36:54So I lived with Jamie, and Jamie's sad, in a whole other town.
00:37:03When we were filming for the show, however, any time MTV came in, maybe two times a month, I would
00:37:09go to my mom's house and spend the night there.
00:37:11So we actually made a bedroom there, because my mom didn't want the whole world to know that she let
00:37:19her 16-year-old daughter go live with her boyfriend.
00:37:22And there's even a part in the show where she cries about it.
00:37:25But now, when people look at me, they think that I'm this horrible person because I have a 16-year
00:37:34-old daughter who's pregnant, which I worked so hard to embed it in your head that this isn't something that
00:37:40you wanted.
00:37:41Well, I feel terrible for both of them, obviously.
00:37:44But the thing I heard was mom saying, how could I put my daughter back in the same environment?
00:37:50When I got pregnant, what did I expect?
00:37:51What's interesting to me, she's caught up in her own stuff, and she is not fully present for Jessica, maybe
00:37:57the way she should be.
00:38:01My mom probably thought that me being on TV and pregnant would help with finances, like things that are typically
00:38:10very difficult for, like, just your average teen mom.
00:38:16But I didn't want our dirty laundry out there, but we had a lot of it.
00:38:22When I gave birth, I just recently went back and watched it, and I cried.
00:38:29So I was like, that is really such a beautiful thing to have.
00:38:32Like, I've never filmed another Labor and Delivery.
00:38:35I only ever had that filmed.
00:38:38And, yeah, it's beautiful to be able to go back and look.
00:38:43The whole internet hated me just from seeing my show, because of the way I talked and looked.
00:38:50I was 130 pounds when I got pregnant with him.
00:38:53I was 223 when I gave birth.
00:38:56I gained 100 pounds with that kid.
00:38:59And I was 16 years old, so I ruined my body at such a young age.
00:39:05This was in 2011, when social media was really taking off.
00:39:10And these girls were facing extraordinary stress, not just from being on TV, but the pressure of social media.
00:39:20The day the show aired, I was dealing with hate comments, negativity.
00:39:25It was like hate from everywhere.
00:39:29You fat cow.
00:39:31You fat whale.
00:39:32Fat.
00:39:33Fat.
00:39:34Fat.
00:39:34Fat.
00:39:35Fat.
00:39:35Fat.
00:39:36Fat.
00:39:37Fat.
00:39:38Fat.
00:39:39Fat.
00:39:48When people watch this show, they think we're just a character.
00:39:51We're not a real human being.
00:39:53And everybody on TV deals with that.
00:39:56But we were children.
00:39:58And it's almost like people forgot that we were children.
00:40:01Audiences are drawn to instability and conflict and chaos in these reality shows
00:40:07because it's what we call hate-watching.
00:40:10There are fans who derive pleasure from criticizing what's on their screen.
00:40:14Young women in particular gather in moms and try to scapegoat.
00:40:19And what better scapegoat than a helpless teenage mom?
00:40:23One study concluded that hate is a strong driver for retaining viewers.
00:40:27For every 1% of hate response on social media, there's a boost to viewership for the following episode.
00:40:34That is more than double the boost if the person said they, quote, loved it.
00:40:43I was on season four.
00:40:46My mom was also a teen mom.
00:40:48She had me at 16.
00:40:50I think every teenager thinks it would be fun to be on MTV.
00:40:57I was 16, and I met Ben at a party.
00:41:02He was cute, but there wasn't really a relationship, and then we started sleeping together.
00:41:09Still no relationship.
00:41:11I got pregnant at 17.
00:41:14When my episode aired on TV, they were focusing on my weight.
00:41:22MTV did the cartoon of my cankles dancing.
00:41:27I was like, oh, gosh, this is so embarrassing.
00:41:32And there was one time they had my boyfriend go to the doctors with me,
00:41:37and I had stepped on the scale, and I had just broke 200 pounds.
00:41:43And so, one, for the whole world to see, and your new boyfriend that you don't even have a solid
00:41:53relationship yet,
00:41:55to see your weight, and I just started crying.
00:42:02And they'd be like, oh, we need to film this scene, going to the lake,
00:42:07and I did not want to be on camera in a swimsuit.
00:42:11They're like, well, let's just do it.
00:42:12It'll be fun.
00:42:15She clearly is thinking about it.
00:42:17Remember, we were thinking about, you know, discouraging teen pregnancy.
00:42:21What she was saying about her body is one of the realities of being a pregnant woman.
00:42:25And I'm sure they wanted to portray that.
00:42:30In preparation of doing this interview, I went back and looked at some of the old comments that I could
00:42:37find.
00:42:37Some of the comments would be like, ew, her makeup's so bad.
00:42:43Ew, she's bad.
00:42:45That I'm so boring, and I have no personality.
00:42:49I'm a bad mom.
00:42:53MTV did kind of sell me on it, like, oh, it's going to stop the stigma on being young and
00:42:59pregnant.
00:43:00It's going to help other people choose birth control.
00:43:04And I'm not sure if I even helped anyone.
00:43:07I don't know that my story made it easier for someone else.
00:43:12I think all it did was hurt me.
00:43:15Let's talk about giving birth on camera in general.
00:43:18So I went into, they, I got to choose the date that Tristan was born on because I was getting
00:43:27induced.
00:43:28And by the evening, they told me that my contractions were coming too hard and too fast.
00:43:35And that we needed to have a C-section.
00:43:41I remember the show being so excited that they were going to actually film my C-section.
00:43:47I'm like, this is the first time we're, like, getting the whole thing on camera.
00:43:53And I'm feeling all this pressure and I already have anxiety.
00:43:59They have a bucket of blood that's being, like, sucked up right by my head.
00:44:05And just these cameras all around me and all these noises, beeping.
00:44:14I just remember being so scared.
00:44:24Even if you get pregnant young, it doesn't mean your life is over.
00:44:29If anything, Tristan made my life better.
00:44:33I often wonder, what would my life been if I didn't get pregnant?
00:44:39But you're at a point where you have a baby and you have a family and you don't really care.
00:44:48Is that part nice to be able to look back at because it's on film?
00:44:53I would say yes and no.
00:44:56I don't go back and watch the show because it just brings up a lot of feelings.
00:45:00I don't care to relive again.
00:45:05So, I'm glad that they have the first moments for Tristan to see.
00:45:13For me, I don't know that I necessarily want to go back and look at it.
00:45:19Ben did not like the way he was portrayed.
00:45:25Do you think we're in a good place in our relationship?
00:45:28My relationship with Ben is good.
00:45:30But Ben made a comment that he would rather live in a tent than have a conversation about us moving
00:45:39in with his mom.
00:45:41And MTV went, wait, can we film you setting up a tent?
00:45:46And Ben's like, I will only do this if I never have to film anything ever again.
00:45:54So, they have him sitting in an empty tent.
00:45:57I feel like having your relationship on a microscope for everyone to see causes more issues.
00:46:06So, I feel like whenever we stopped filming, it made our relationship better and just made us both happy overall.
00:46:24What did you want?
00:46:25What did you hope to get from being on TV?
00:46:30I'm not going to lie and say, like, the attention.
00:46:32I obviously wanted some kind of, like, attention.
00:46:35But outside of that, I think I was thinking that, like, yeah, we can do this.
00:46:39Like, we've got this.
00:46:40We're going to show them that this is, we've got this.
00:46:42That was my expectation.
00:46:45And I, I, I do still watch it.
00:46:47I'm like, yeah, you did get that.
00:46:48Just not in the way that you anticipated.
00:46:57My story is different than other girls.
00:47:01I grew up very Mormon and religious.
00:47:04And I bring that up because I do think it shaped a lot of how my childhood went.
00:47:09I didn't talk about sex in my household.
00:47:11Yeah, we didn't talk about sex at all.
00:47:14Because in Utah, it is very abstinence-based.
00:47:17I don't remember learning about condoms, birth control, or anything in high school.
00:47:22And at home, especially, we were not having that conversation because you don't have sex until you're married.
00:47:26So why, why would we talk about it?
00:47:30I met my daughter's dad, Tony, when I was 15.
00:47:36I was in science class.
00:47:39And he kept looking at me.
00:47:40Then we started hanging out.
00:47:42I think I liked, I liked the attention.
00:47:45You know, I think, I don't think it really mattered who he was as a person.
00:47:53Or, you know, I think I just liked that this boy was giving me attention.
00:48:01Very quickly, he wanted to, like, hold my hand and he wanted to kiss.
00:48:06We were in a bedroom alone together, you know?
00:48:08I'm like, oh, you want to do what?
00:48:10And so it was scary.
00:48:12But we did.
00:48:16So I was 17 when I found out I was pregnant.
00:48:20And then we go to the ultrasound with my doctor and we find out we might be having twins.
00:48:27My mom cried.
00:48:28My mom cried for, like, a week straight.
00:48:31She was just heartbroken.
00:48:33As I imagined I would be, too, if my daughters got pregnant at that age.
00:48:36My parents were very supportive, though.
00:48:39Now her and her boyfriend decide to get married so that they can officially raise these kids as a family
00:48:46unit.
00:48:49I remember thinking, I wonder if MTV's casting.
00:48:52Tony was like, let's do it.
00:48:54He's like, we're going to be famous.
00:48:55This is going to be awesome.
00:48:57We're going to look so good.
00:49:00When I've interviewed some people who talked about, like, this idea of fame and how it would fix their problems,
00:49:08do you feel like that was something you thought about at all?
00:49:13Maybe.
00:49:14Maybe in the beginning.
00:49:15Absolutely.
00:49:16I was like, oh, my God, my life is about to change.
00:49:19And then I had babies and everything changed.
00:49:23With twins, I think I was just in survival mode, just, like, doing what needs to be done.
00:49:29I think I was thinking about my daughters.
00:49:34I think I was thinking about everything except for how I was feeling and what I needed or what I
00:49:39wanted.
00:49:43And then we were actually filming, and that was such a stressful time.
00:49:50And it wasn't stressful because of anything the show provided.
00:49:53It was stressful because who I was filming with and, yeah.
00:49:58I grew up with this expectation, right?
00:50:01The man goes to work, and then he comes home, and he provides.
00:50:08But, and I knew this was a stressful time for my parents.
00:50:11You know, they had to pick up extra financial support.
00:50:14They had to start support.
00:50:15You know, they were doing so much for me.
00:50:18And this is one of those memories that it's not great, so I don't have a lot of details surrounding
00:50:23it.
00:50:23But we were still living at my mom's house, and something could happen between Tony and I that we got
00:50:29into a really, really, really bad argument.
00:50:32And, um, the cameras weren't there.
00:50:40But at that point, my relationship with Tony already wasn't great.
00:50:45And my producer called me.
00:50:46They called me, and they're like, hey, Tony, let us know what happened.
00:50:49We're coming down an emergency trip.
00:50:52I'm thinking, you know, we don't, I don't want to, this is not something I want to talk about.
00:50:58And this is when everything comes crashing down.
00:51:09There are gray areas that we, you know, worry that we do the right thing.
00:51:15That's inevitable in situations like this when you're going into very stressful environments and showing people's lives on television.
00:51:24Okay, I remember this.
00:51:26This is Carly's episode from season five.
00:51:30You know what, Tony?
00:51:31Pardon me.
00:51:31I would like you guys to move out.
00:51:32The tension really comes out in the dynamic between Tony, the husband, and Carly's mom.
00:51:39Because her mom is very adamant about the two of them staying there so that she can help them raise
00:51:46these twins.
00:51:47I don't feel like you really know how much we really...
00:51:51Oh, you can see how uncomfortable Carly is.
00:51:53She is wanting...
00:51:55Her camera's gone so bad.
00:51:56You can see it all over her face.
00:51:58Well, if it's a big deal, then...
00:51:59No, it's not a big deal.
00:52:00It's just a little bit of grat...
00:52:02A little bit of gratefulness.
00:52:03Do I not show appreciation?
00:52:05No, last night you didn't.
00:52:06Work my ass off every day.
00:52:08Oh, my gosh.
00:52:09You can see his anger building, and it looks like the women know exactly what's about to happen.
00:52:18Oh, man.
00:52:18Your mom's crazy.
00:52:20I'm leaving.
00:52:21Tony, I work every...
00:52:23Shut up, Cindy.
00:52:24You're crazy.
00:52:26Tony, don't sit there and talk to her like that.
00:52:28It's fine.
00:52:28The fact that he can talk to the grandparents like that is astonishing.
00:52:33I go to work every day.
00:52:35I work my ass off.
00:52:37I think I was scared and didn't know what to do.
00:52:39And then I come home and get told I don't know what's coming towards me.
00:52:41I didn't say it like that.
00:52:43Shut the up.
00:52:44Get out.
00:52:44You're not going to talk to her like that.
00:52:46Oh, seriously.
00:52:48I hate this, Tony.
00:52:50I hate this.
00:52:51I hate this.
00:52:52I don't want to do it anymore.
00:52:57Oh, my gosh.
00:52:58I got to imagine that she's probably really embarrassed that this is what people are going
00:53:03to see of her family.
00:53:05My mom was not happy.
00:53:07I think that's probably one of the hardest things I struggle with with my episode is how
00:53:12people perceive her, and I don't like the way people demonize her for it.
00:53:26My mom said yes, and she had to participate, but I think about it sometimes.
00:53:31I put her in this insane situation that she was uncomfortable in and didn't want to be
00:53:36in, and she did a really good job.
00:53:38You know, she was, and she did it for me, and that broke me and ruined me for years,
00:53:44so.
00:53:48So Tony and I, after the show, it didn't turn around for the better.
00:53:53It only got worse from there.
00:53:57We stayed together, I want to say, until they were two.
00:54:02I really wanted the chance to talk to the dads, because I was so disappointed.
00:54:07None of them stuck around, and these were about the most important relationships in anyone's
00:54:13life, and very few of the relationships seen on 16 and Pregnant last, but keep in mind how
00:54:18many teen couples just in general stay together, and how many teen moms stay with the baby's
00:54:24father.
00:54:24Statistically, that's very few.
00:54:27This is the reality of the ripple effect of teen pregnancy.
00:54:34I consider the show a triumph, because it accomplished what we set out to do.
00:54:42After the episode aired, I still have questions.
00:54:49I want to know more about what their life is like, why people have succeeded and been resilient
00:54:57where they have, and why people have had struggle where things didn't go so well.
00:55:04My name is Aaliyah LeBeau.
00:55:05I was on season five.
00:55:11It's just been me and my mom our whole lives, and I loved my mom.
00:55:16I adored her.
00:55:18A lot of times when we were struggling, or our electric was off, or no running water,
00:55:21you know, I'd always tell her, like, you're a good mom anyways, mom.
00:55:24I love you.
00:55:25And then she met my stepdad, and if I locked my keys in my car, that's who I called.
00:55:30If I was broke down, that's who I called.
00:55:31That was my dad.
00:55:35But my mom struggled throughout my whole childhood, and started doing drugs whenever I was pretty
00:55:41young.
00:55:42When I fell into teenagehood, I wanted to drink with my friends, and I wanted to hang out
00:55:48and smoke weed, do illicit drugs, and that's when I ended up in juvenile the first time.
00:55:56I was in juvenile for a total of three years, and that's when I met Sean.
00:56:01I was 16.
00:56:02One of the unfortunate aspects of being in criminal detention is sometimes people find
00:56:08each other there, and that's a bad sign.
00:56:11It does not go well.
00:56:15As soon as we both got out of juvenile detention, I want to say whenever I turned 17, I moved
00:56:20out of my parents' house.
00:56:21We got our first apartment maybe two, three months later, and then I find out I'm pregnant.
00:56:29So Aaliyah has type 1 diabetes.
00:56:32She was already insulin dependent, and she's pregnant, and the metabolism of pregnancy is
00:56:35highly unpredictable for diabetes, and it makes the pregnancy high risk of various complications.
00:56:42My actual birth birth was not filmed because my doctors were not comfortable with filming
00:56:49a high risk pregnancy.
00:56:51But whenever I started filming, they wanted as many details as possible.
00:56:57voice the issues that we were having, and talk about the possible birth defects.
00:57:03It was just a consistent anxiety for me.
00:57:10But yeah, I believe it was an accurate portrayal of my actual fears and anxieties at that time.
00:57:16We had Peyton, and she was healthy and beautiful, and just honestly, the easiest, best baby ever.
00:57:25She hardly ever cried.
00:57:27She made parenthood easy.
00:57:29It was all the other stuff that made parenthood hard.
00:57:36At that point when the show ended, life hadn't hit me hard yet.
00:57:40Life didn't hit me hard until a year later.
00:57:44So, Aaliyah was very close to her step-pong.
00:57:46Unfortunately, he is killed in a tragic accident.
00:57:52And then, uh, my mom, who was on crack when I was younger, got her life together.
00:57:58And then, uh, you know, to get a call from a co-worker of hers, and he said,
00:58:03Are you sitting down somewhere?
00:58:06And I said, Ray, don't say it.
00:58:08I was like, don't say it, Ray.
00:58:09You can't, you can't.
00:58:12Ray, don't say it.
00:58:14And he said, I am so sorry.
00:58:15And I just threw my phone at the wall, and it shattered.
00:58:20They found her keeled over dead in a shitty, shitty crack hotel.
00:58:26Cause of death was cocaine and fentanyl overdose.
00:58:29And then I, I said, you selfish bitch.
00:58:34You selfish bitch.
00:58:36You f***.
00:58:38You left me here.
00:58:40And then I just fell on the floor, and I just started crying.
00:58:43And I mean, I was in the fetal position.
00:58:47I started grieving hard and spiraling.
00:58:50Going out and drinking a lot with my friends.
00:58:52Not really being able to go to work.
00:58:55And at this time, Aaliyah had four kids with three different fathers.
00:59:00Since my parents thought I'd been homeless and have slept out of my truck with the kids.
00:59:05And now I see certain places when I drive past, and I think,
00:59:11if me and the kids had to sleep in a tent, that'd be a good place to go.
00:59:18I know that it's easier to steal butcher ground beef than it is to steal the rolls.
00:59:30I know that hospital parking lots are the best place to go and sleep at at night.
00:59:36Cause they cover the wind and the cold, and
00:59:40typically people park there overnight, nobody notices.
00:59:43Cause they have security cops don't go in there.
00:59:46And then I wouldn't get the kids taken away.
00:59:53And worrying about that kind of stuff, it changes you a little bit, you know?
01:00:00I was on 16 and Pregnant, season three.
01:00:06We first meet Jessica as a 16-year-old girl with her boyfriend, Jamie.
01:00:11It seems like she had a really unstable upbringing, and dealing with all this hate and backlash online.
01:00:20After the show, you wonder what happened to this person after they gave birth.
01:00:26Being on that show is like the weirdest bubble.
01:00:29I mean, cause you gotta think, you go from being just a regular person, you wake up, you do whatever,
01:00:36you go to bed.
01:00:37But now you wake up, and you can't even get on social media without seeing the worst of worse.
01:00:49I just started partying, and then all of a sudden, pills started going into the parties.
01:00:58And we were doing Xanax, and then it was Percocet, and I was 17, and had somebody shoot me up
01:01:05with heroin.
01:01:10Online negativity certainly isn't what causes addiction, per se, but it might have motivated her seeking relief with a substance,
01:01:17certainly.
01:01:19And heroin addicts do not attend to their kids.
01:01:25To the outside world, I was a functioning addict.
01:01:29To the inside world, I was dying.
01:01:33I always knew it wasn't okay, but in my head, I kept a house, job, car.
01:01:41I thought, I'm fine, I'm still being an okay mom.
01:01:45It's not like he wasn't getting fed or clothed, but emotionally, I just wasn't there, like I should have been.
01:01:55I don't think I was like, oh, because of this show, I'm gonna go do drugs.
01:01:59But I think naturally, yeah, it was the only thing that I could numb everything with was drugs.
01:02:08She has plenty of reasons to be upset with the negativity she had to suffer through,
01:02:13and how she perceives it as having contributed to her progression of addiction.
01:02:18The first steps of sobriety are about dealing with resentments.
01:02:21And if she is not doing that, resentments become a reason to continue to use.
01:02:29A year after the show,
01:02:33my grandma and I get into a heated, heated yelling match, and I'm sure it was my fault.
01:02:40She tried to push open my bedroom door, and then I pushed the door back,
01:02:45and then she fell back onto the ground.
01:02:48And the neighbors heard us screaming at each other.
01:02:53And they call the cops, cops show up, they find out that I had pushed her,
01:02:58and so they arrest me, and I go to jail.
01:03:07Also in 2012, I got a bag of heroin.
01:03:11I was in the back seat of my best friend at the time's car.
01:03:16We go to a McDonald's, it's like 2 in the morning.
01:03:20I overdose in the back seat of her car.
01:03:23Back then, Narcan wasn't a thing like it is today,
01:03:27where you can just Narcan send you on your way.
01:03:30So I'm, like, choking on my tongue.
01:03:33She doesn't want to call the cops,
01:03:35so she drives me all the way to the hospital.
01:03:39By the time I got to the hospital, I was black and blue,
01:03:42and they're saying I was going to be brain dead.
01:03:48So when I woke up from the coma after I overdosed,
01:03:52my boyfriend, Jamie, was there.
01:03:54My grandma, all my family was surrounding me.
01:03:57And me and Jamie, we found out we were going to have another kid.
01:04:02I was pregnant.
01:04:04Yep.
01:04:06Very early, four weeks pregnant with my daughter.
01:04:11Now we're having another kid.
01:04:14And I just overdosed with one kid.
01:04:17Yeah.
01:04:19Yeah.
01:04:21So that's a rough one.
01:04:23And luckily, she is the most beautiful girl.
01:04:31And I never touched it again.
01:04:33So she's my miracle baby.
01:04:42Teen pregnancy is a marker for mental illness,
01:04:46and sometimes addiction.
01:04:48And addiction by itself has a worse prognosis,
01:04:53particularly opiate addiction,
01:04:54than the majority of cancers.
01:04:56And people just can't seem to understand
01:04:59why addicts die young.
01:05:01They rarely see 50.
01:05:04Valerie, from season two,
01:05:06she was a foster kid.
01:05:08She was adopted.
01:05:09Passed away from an overdose in 2016.
01:05:12And then you had Autumn,
01:05:14who passed away from an overdose.
01:05:17And then another girl from season five.
01:05:19There was a lot of stuff going on.
01:05:21And then you hear she died.
01:05:25And it's all been addiction related.
01:05:34Would they have been in addiction without the show?
01:05:39Probably, based on what their lives were like
01:05:41before they were found by MTV.
01:05:44That's my opinion.
01:05:47You have to ask yourself,
01:05:48why do people watch dramas, right?
01:05:51Normal, healthy people are not interesting.
01:05:54So if you're going to create something
01:05:56where you show people's lives
01:05:58that people want to watch,
01:06:00there's going to be drama.
01:06:01And if there's drama,
01:06:03there's going to be
01:06:05some mental health issues going on.
01:06:09And I'm of the opinion that they should be brought to light
01:06:12and addressed.
01:06:14And that's how people learn.
01:06:21Are you having fun?
01:06:23Zoe, look at the camera.
01:06:25Say cheese.
01:06:26Zoe is my rainbow baby.
01:06:28She's been waiting for this for her whole life.
01:06:32Don't boo me.
01:06:33Don't boo me.
01:06:35Don't?
01:06:35Don't boo her.
01:06:36That's what she said.
01:06:37Oh, don't boo you.
01:06:38We're definitely not booing.
01:06:39We're cheering.
01:06:40Yay, Zoe.
01:06:41Yay, Zoe.
01:06:44We already played it and everything.
01:06:46So by the time we get to season five,
01:06:48we meet Savannah.
01:06:51The little girl Zoe is actually her youngest kid.
01:06:53She gave birth to her first child, Rowan,
01:06:56in the season finale.
01:06:57Rowan coming along was probably
01:07:00the most difficult thing for us,
01:07:01but the best thing that ever happened.
01:07:04Watching my episode of 16 and Pregnant
01:07:06for the early moments with Rowan,
01:07:08it's bittersweet.
01:07:10And that's my firstborn.
01:07:11And it's nice to have those moments captured,
01:07:14but I was incredibly depressed and incredibly sad.
01:07:19Savannah had a very chaotic childhood.
01:07:23It was just my mom and I.
01:07:26I grew up in public housing.
01:07:28My mom has been on food stamps
01:07:30since as long as I can remember.
01:07:33I grew up with my alcoholic mother
01:07:35and lots of screaming, lots of doors slamming.
01:07:39It was obvious on the show.
01:07:41Stop slamming doors.
01:07:42No.
01:07:45And then I turned to teenager.
01:07:48I had a group of friends
01:07:49that I spent a lot of time with.
01:07:50And, um, we were wild teenagers.
01:07:54Very wild.
01:07:56My first alcoholic drink was at 14.
01:08:03Zoe, come here.
01:08:06Is it okay if I...
01:08:08Okay.
01:08:11I know you don't understand a whole lot of this,
01:08:14but Mommy's got to do something
01:08:15in that you have to be a good girl, okay?
01:08:18You've got to be quiet.
01:08:19All right, Mommy's going to go back downstairs
01:08:20and do this, okay?
01:08:22I love you big as this guy.
01:08:24Okay?
01:08:29My God, she's so cute.
01:08:30She's got such good energy.
01:08:31I hope she never loses that.
01:08:38I was 13 when I met Stone,
01:08:40and he was 14.
01:08:42He was funny.
01:08:43He made me laugh.
01:08:44And, um,
01:08:45he brought a sense of comfort
01:08:47to my life,
01:08:48which is what I felt like
01:08:50I had been missing.
01:08:52When I was 16 years old,
01:08:54my friend had the notion
01:08:55that she was pregnant,
01:08:56and she wanted me
01:08:58to take one with her
01:08:59to ease her mind,
01:09:00and, um,
01:09:02her mind was put at ease
01:09:04when hers came up negative
01:09:05and mine came up positive.
01:09:08My mom found out I was pregnant
01:09:10because I left
01:09:12the pregnancy test
01:09:14in the bathroom.
01:09:15She just told me
01:09:15she wasn't raising
01:09:16another child.
01:09:19Applying for 16 and pregnant
01:09:21was not my idea.
01:09:22My friend was like,
01:09:24hey, you should sign up
01:09:25for 16 and pregnant,
01:09:26and I was like,
01:09:27those kinds of things
01:09:28don't happen to people like me.
01:09:30So she sent in an email for me,
01:09:33and three months later,
01:09:34I got a phone call.
01:09:37Being where I'm from,
01:09:38how cool is it
01:09:38to have somebody,
01:09:40you know,
01:09:41filming your life, I guess?
01:09:43I guess I kind of thought
01:09:45the girls of 16 and pregnant
01:09:46were having fun,
01:09:48and they were having a good time.
01:09:51But going into 16 and pregnant,
01:09:53I had two concerns.
01:09:56One was that it would split
01:09:58Stone and I completely,
01:09:59and to a point, it did.
01:10:01And my second fear was my mom
01:10:03being my mom
01:10:04and doing what she does,
01:10:06drinking,
01:10:06and she's a very vile person
01:10:08when she's drunk.
01:10:09And I feared that she was just
01:10:12going to be so hateful
01:10:13to everybody,
01:10:13but, I mean,
01:10:14my fear came true.
01:10:16Stop slamming doors!
01:10:18Stop!
01:10:19This is when the mom
01:10:20comes home intoxicated
01:10:22and scares the brother,
01:10:23whose name is Ben.
01:10:24And this is while
01:10:25Savannah's baby is sleeping.
01:10:26Take responsibility
01:10:27for your own actions.
01:10:29Oh my God.
01:10:29You know,
01:10:29we ain't taking Ben anywhere.
01:10:31I'll get the pops over here
01:10:32to do it.
01:10:32Do it!
01:10:34And Savannah ends up
01:10:35calling the police.
01:10:37Yes, sir.
01:10:38I have a belligerently
01:10:39drunk mother,
01:10:39and as far as my little brother,
01:10:41I don't feel comfortable
01:10:42leaving him here tonight.
01:10:43You can say what you want
01:10:44about 16 and Pregnant,
01:10:46but this is about as raw
01:10:47as you can get for TV.
01:10:49The girl looks absolutely mortified.
01:10:51On top of everything,
01:10:52this is what your life is
01:10:54and everybody sees it.
01:10:55I feel really bad for her
01:10:57and I feel bad
01:10:58for the little brother, too.
01:10:59Oh my gosh.
01:11:01But I can't force her
01:11:02to give you her kids.
01:11:05But she's not fit
01:11:06to take care of him.
01:11:07I remember all the vans,
01:11:08the cameras.
01:11:10I've seen a lot of that fighting
01:11:11and a lot of her drinking,
01:11:12so, like,
01:11:13it's just past me now.
01:11:15It's like,
01:11:16she's gonna keep doing it
01:11:17while I even care anymore.
01:11:19I'm guessing you're
01:11:20certain you're independent
01:11:21or something.
01:11:22After tonight, baby,
01:11:24you gotta go search
01:11:25somewhere else.
01:11:26That's fine.
01:11:27Savannah did exactly
01:11:28the right thing.
01:11:28I sort of admire
01:11:29how Savannah behaved here.
01:11:30That's exactly right.
01:11:32They're looking for you.
01:11:33Go up there and stop.
01:11:34You need to leave.
01:11:35I'm going to.
01:11:36We're gonna document
01:11:37life,
01:11:38with an alcoholic.
01:11:39You're gonna see
01:11:40stuff like this.
01:11:41And we feel
01:11:43as though we're
01:11:44doing something wrong
01:11:45when we look at it,
01:11:46but I would argue
01:11:46that this kind of,
01:11:48these circumstances
01:11:49need sunlight.
01:11:50It might motivate
01:11:51Savannah to get out of there
01:11:52and build her own life
01:11:53away from Mom.
01:11:55Stone and I
01:11:56were not on good terms
01:11:57at all.
01:11:58We argued
01:11:59the entire time
01:12:00we were filming.
01:12:01I was miserable.
01:12:03After the show,
01:12:04we broke up.
01:12:06I wanted to be
01:12:06a mom to Rowan.
01:12:07I just didn't know how.
01:12:12And I feel like
01:12:12I failed my son
01:12:13because he's growing up
01:12:14in a broken home.
01:12:21At the end of the show,
01:12:23when you're giving
01:12:24your diary to the camera,
01:12:26you said,
01:12:27sometimes I wish
01:12:27I could just rewind time
01:12:29and figure out
01:12:30where everything
01:12:30went wrong
01:12:32and fix it.
01:12:34Sometimes I wish
01:12:34I could rewind my life
01:12:35and figure out
01:12:36where everything went wrong.
01:12:40My life got really
01:12:42complicated after that.
01:12:47After my episode
01:12:48came out,
01:12:49I had to turn
01:12:50my phone off
01:12:51from the notifications
01:12:52that were coming in.
01:12:53There was a fair share
01:12:54of negative comments
01:12:55because of
01:12:56how dare the black girl
01:12:58make it on TV.
01:13:00There was one girl
01:13:01that posted something
01:13:02like,
01:13:03imagine being famous
01:13:04for opening your legs.
01:13:07I was incredibly depressed
01:13:08and incredibly sad.
01:13:11Rowan went to live
01:13:13with Stone's mom.
01:13:15And then,
01:13:16I think I was 19, 20.
01:13:19I was in a very
01:13:20abusive relationship
01:13:21off again,
01:13:22on again.
01:13:23And then after that,
01:13:24I lost myself completely.
01:13:31Eight years later,
01:13:32after the show,
01:13:33I was pregnant with Zoe.
01:13:36Zoe's father is
01:13:37Jonathan O'Dell.
01:13:38He was put together.
01:13:40And we had been
01:13:41living together.
01:13:42Look,
01:13:43you told me no
01:13:43about putting up
01:13:44the Christmas tree early
01:13:45and it's literally
01:13:46two days,
01:13:47three days after Thanksgiving
01:13:48and you're already
01:13:49ready to go.
01:13:49Hey,
01:13:50because you wanted to come.
01:13:51He had manners.
01:13:55Someone that didn't yell.
01:13:57Someone that didn't
01:13:57put their hands on me.
01:13:59Someone that never
01:14:00left me wondering
01:14:01where I stood with them.
01:14:08just peace.
01:14:12October 7th,
01:14:13I woke up
01:14:16and he had a friend
01:14:18that was living with us.
01:14:19I am not his biggest fan.
01:14:22I went to wake him up.
01:14:23We had this big bay window
01:14:25and I was being nosy
01:14:29and I can see military personnel.
01:14:31There's two choppers in the air.
01:14:34Every agency you could possibly imagine
01:14:36was there.
01:14:37The next thing I remember
01:14:41is flashbangs and smoke bombs
01:14:44everywhere.
01:14:47Jonathan laid on top of me
01:14:49in the hallway
01:14:49and his friend comes out
01:14:50dressed in bulletproof vests
01:14:53of all the works
01:14:55and his friend
01:14:57shot 11 shots
01:14:58out of the window
01:15:00at the FBI
01:15:01and cracked their
01:15:02Bearcat window
01:15:04and
01:15:06we just kind of
01:15:07accepted the fact
01:15:08that I was going to die
01:15:09that morning.
01:15:10So
01:15:12we both
01:15:13kind of set a
01:15:14prayer and goodbye
01:15:18and
01:15:21finally
01:15:21like everything
01:15:22stopped for
01:15:23like a second.
01:15:25I got up
01:15:26and I ran out the door
01:15:27with my hands up
01:15:29and I said
01:15:30please don't shoot
01:15:31I'm 24 weeks pregnant.
01:15:39And they snatched me up
01:15:40and cuffed me
01:15:40and threw me
01:15:41in the back of the Bearcat
01:15:42and I sat out in the cold
01:15:43for two and a half hours
01:15:45when they finally
01:15:47uncuffed me
01:15:47and told me
01:15:48that I wasn't
01:15:48under arrest
01:15:49at this time.
01:15:52I thought for sure
01:15:54that they had
01:15:55the wrong house
01:15:57the wrong people.
01:16:02Um
01:16:05that wasn't the case.
01:16:11I found out then
01:16:13Jonathan and his friend
01:16:14were part of
01:16:16a self-named group
01:16:17called the
01:16:18Second Amendment Militia
01:16:21and we're going to go
01:16:22to the border
01:16:23and shoot immigrants.
01:16:26Was there any sign?
01:16:28If there was
01:16:29I missed it.
01:16:44Hey.
01:16:45Hey.
01:16:46Look at me.
01:16:48You're beautiful.
01:16:49Can I have a kiss?
01:16:52Green ones later.
01:16:53I had Zoe.
01:16:56I spent
01:16:59the next year and a half
01:17:00bouncing from place to place
01:17:02with my daughter
01:17:04because I couldn't work.
01:17:10I was going to raise my daughter
01:17:11in a two-parent household
01:17:13that wasn't chaotic
01:17:14and was full of love.
01:17:15Okay, I'm sick.
01:17:19I was going to have
01:17:20what I deemed
01:17:21as my happily ever after
01:17:23and it abruptly
01:17:24got taken from me.
01:17:29Zoe's never met her father.
01:17:32She only knows him
01:17:32through video chat.
01:17:36I don't know
01:17:37what I'm going to do
01:17:38when she asks me one day
01:17:39why he can't come home
01:17:40with her.
01:17:48I don't blame the show.
01:17:50It's not show-related
01:17:52that I was with him.
01:17:55I was looking
01:17:56to fill a void
01:17:57and it didn't.
01:17:59The older I get
01:18:00the more I see
01:18:02that no amount
01:18:03of love from people
01:18:05on the internet
01:18:05no amount of love
01:18:06from people
01:18:07who watch you on TV
01:18:09will do that.
01:18:13I made the decision
01:18:15to sober up
01:18:18because I don't want
01:18:19to walk in my mom's footsteps.
01:18:23And Rowan is back
01:18:24in my life.
01:18:29Sixteen Printed
01:18:30was a high-wire act.
01:18:31It was very challenging.
01:18:32It was scary.
01:18:33And after season five,
01:18:35MTV ceased production.
01:18:37I was glad to see it go,
01:18:39frankly,
01:18:40because dealing
01:18:41with adolescence
01:18:42with pregnancy,
01:18:43it's just very challenging.
01:18:51I think that my life
01:18:53would have been
01:18:53a struggle regardless.
01:18:55Do I feel like
01:18:56it added fuel
01:18:59to my already
01:19:01roaring fire
01:19:02of self-doubt?
01:19:04Absolutely.
01:19:05I don't think
01:19:06that was their intention.
01:19:07I think their intention
01:19:08was just to be realistic
01:19:09and to show the struggles.
01:19:13The one thing
01:19:14we have not talked about
01:19:15is bad circumstances
01:19:17do not have to mean
01:19:18bad outcome.
01:19:20I got pregnant at 17
01:19:21and had Tristan at 18.
01:19:25He is going to be 15
01:19:27this year.
01:19:29Has made the honor roll
01:19:30every year in school.
01:19:33I think it's pretty cool.
01:19:35Like, not a lot of people
01:19:36get to say
01:19:37that they were born on TV
01:19:38or just even on TV.
01:19:40So, it's something
01:19:41that makes me different,
01:19:43more unique from people.
01:19:51Hi, I'm Amaya.
01:19:53I'm one of Carly's daughters.
01:19:56Wonderful woman
01:19:57that gave birth
01:19:58at 16.
01:19:59This was me
01:20:00when I was a baby.
01:20:01I'm right here.
01:20:02I know that
01:20:03I don't want
01:20:04a child at 16.
01:20:05I won't be prepared.
01:20:07I don't want to do
01:20:08that stuff
01:20:09to have a child.
01:20:10And if I do,
01:20:11let me use protection.
01:20:17My daughter, Audrey,
01:20:20she's turning 15.
01:20:22She was a competitive
01:20:23cheerleader for five years.
01:20:25Yeah, I'm just proud of her.
01:20:31My son's name is Jamie.
01:20:34He's an honor roll student.
01:20:36I'm, like, in awe of him.
01:20:44My son, Lucas, is,
01:20:46he's 14 now.
01:20:47We tell him about Todd.
01:20:50We take him to his grave.
01:20:57It's, like, I think that he
01:20:59would be very proud of him
01:21:05and the life
01:21:06that we've created for him.
01:21:08Like, I know that
01:21:09he wants to be here for him,
01:21:10but I think that
01:21:11when he, you know,
01:21:13looks down,
01:21:15as they say,
01:21:15like, I think that
01:21:16he's very proud of him.
01:21:19At the present time,
01:21:20there have been
01:21:20six seasons
01:21:21of 16 and Pregnant,
01:21:23eight iterations
01:21:24of Teen Mom,
01:21:25and 69 episodes
01:21:26of 16 and Pregnant.
01:21:41The ratings are trash.
01:21:43Why would they pick it up again
01:21:45over trash ratings?
01:21:47And it was supposed to be,
01:21:48like, a positive light
01:21:49on, like, teen pregnancy
01:21:51or just preventative light,
01:21:52and it's turned into
01:21:53this honestly, like,
01:21:55trash reality TV.
01:22:00When I quit months ago,
01:22:02honey, it was gone.
01:22:04We know this.
01:22:05I personally loved
01:22:06watching Teen Mom
01:22:07for many, many years,
01:22:08and parts of me still do.
01:22:09Do I think it should end now, though?
01:22:10Yes.
01:22:19I think 16 and Pregnant
01:22:22was a pivotal program
01:22:24in television history,
01:22:26and I don't say that lightly.
01:22:28For so many years
01:22:30in our society,
01:22:31teen pregnancy
01:22:32was brushed off
01:22:33to the side.
01:22:34You hid that.
01:22:35To be able
01:22:36to have a show
01:22:37that put a huge spotlight
01:22:40on this issue,
01:22:42it made America
01:22:45deal with it.
01:22:46It made America
01:22:48and I think it was an issue
01:22:50I don't know
01:22:51in this.
01:22:51I think it's
01:22:51and I hope
01:22:56I think it's
01:23:00to be able
Comments