Andrew Glennon and Amber Portwood
John Kopaloff/FilmMagic)Teen momis Amber Portwood gets surprising support from her ex Andrew Glennon after Gary Shirley claims she hasn’t paid child support in years.
“My reaction was, it’s not true,” Glennon, 40, said exclusively Us Weekly on Friday, December 13. “I witnessed Amber paying regularly throughout our relationship. I often went with her to deliver the funds.”
Glennon and Portwood, 34, began dating in 2017 after meeting on Marriage Boot Camp Reality Stars: Family Edition. (She was a cast member while Glennon worked on the production.)
The couple welcomed a sonJames, in May 2018, before splitting a year later. Although the pair clashed legal battles during their public breakup, Glennon said he was in a much better place with Portwood today.
“Our communication has improved dramatically,” he said us. “We can be on the same page for our son’s sake. (James and Amber) are in constant communication, Facetiming daily and calling a lot.”
Although Glennon continues to keep James away from reality TV because “he deserves his privacy,” a source previously said us that Teen Mom: The Next Chapter filming a new season.
The insider noted that cameras captured Portwood and Shirley, 38, not seeing eye to eye when comes for child support over their 15-year-old daughter Leah.
“He claims Amber hasn’t paid child support in years and may want to take her to court for arrears,” a source said us in November. “Because their relationship was so long ago, Gary and Amber never established formal payment protocols.”
Gary and Leah
Courtesy of Gary Shirley/InstagramHowever, a source close to Portwood said she has been paying child support.
“Amber has given him cashier’s checks and money over the years whenever he was due. She has receipts,” the insider explained to us. “She’s been open about her struggles and it’s devastating that this is happening to father of her child.”
Fans met Shirley and Portwood during MTV 16 and Pregnant. Cameras were rolling when the couple welcomed daughter Leah in 2008. After the couple split in 2010, Shirley eventually became primary parent with Leah living with him most of the time.
From Glennon’s perspective, Portwood is a “loving, caring and present” mother. As a result, he wanted to come to his ex’s defense while she dealt with the allegations on camera.
Where does the time go? Teen Mom premiered on MTV in 2009, and the children of Catelynn Lowell, Amber Portwood, Maci Bookout and Farrah Abraham are all grown up. After the original season of Teen Mom, Lowell, Bookout, and Portwood expanded their families. Lowell and her longtime partner Tyler Baltierra, whom she married in 2015, share daughters (…)
“Normally I wouldn’t get involved in that kind of thing because I like to live a private life,” Glennon said. us“but I felt it was the right thing to do as I witnessed Amber pay him large sums of money many times, specifically for child support.”
us reached out to Shirley for comment. MTV has not yet officially announced a new season of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter.
With reporting by Andrea Simpson
