Teen Mom’s Amber Portwood’s Daughter Leah Begins Therapy to Address ‘Abandonment Issues’

Amber Portwood and Gary Shirley’s daughter, Leah Shirley, revealed she’s all for going to therapy due to “abandonment issues” that she wants to put behind her once and for all.

“I just think I have a lot of, like, issues because of Amber in the experiences I’ve had,” Leah, 16, admitted to her dad, 38, during the Thursday, February 20, episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.

Leah and her mother, 34, no longer share the close bond they once had as the MTV personality does not have custody of Leah nor her 6-year-old son James, whom she shares with her ex-boyfriend Andrew Glennon.

The teen currently resides with her father, his wife Kristina Anderson and their 7-year-old daughter, Emilee, full-time.

While speaking about the hardships she endured and ongoing struggles, Leah noted, “I want to overcome that so I can be able to forgive her and just move on, and I think that it would help to have someone to guide me on how to forgive someone because it’s hard for me to do that.”

Leah said during her rare confessional interview that she has “abandonment issues from her [mom] not being around.”

“I do know that there’s a lot of things going on that makes it difficult for her to be able to be there for me,” she said. “I feel like it does affect me every day because I’m always scared that Kristina is going to leave me. I’m always scared that people are just going to leave me for no reason.”

Gary expressed his support for Leah doing whatever she felt was necessary to find peace. “I just want you to have somebody to talk to that’s a safe space,” he said. “I want you to be happy. I love you.”

During the episode, Leah also spoke about how her childhood being captured by reality TV cameras had an impact on her.

“My friend messaged me and she’s like, ‘Are you on a TV show?’” Leah revealed to Gary. “And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And she’s like, ‘A video just popped up on my TikTok.’ And I was like, ‘Oh.’”

“It’s just weird,” Leah added. “I’ve been seeing a lot of TikTok videos with old clips and stuff.”

“I see the older ones,” Leah continued. “And it’s just weird to watch because it’s always, like, Amber screaming at you and you leave. And then there’s one clip where she’s yelling, like, ‘Why is Leah crying?’—when she’s in a complete opposite room, just leaving me. And it’s just weird. I think those ones are kinda painful to watch because it’s little me.”

As In Touch previously reported, Amber has been open about her mental health struggles, revealing her hopes to rebuild a connection with Leah and spend more time together going forward.

The 16 and Pregnant alum revealed in 2017 that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. Amber briefly reunited with her daughter last year during a family BBQ that was shown in an August 2024 episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.

“With my daughter, she doesn’t want to be around me,” Amber said on the February 6 episode. “I’ve never been a mom that didn’t care. Just a f–ked up mom.”