Thursday’s all-new ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ sees the pair work through Amber’s mental health challenges.
There was trouble in paradise for Amber Portwood and Gary Wayt, long before Wayt went missing — and was subsequently found fine — earlier this month.
On Thursday’s all new Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, Portwood gave gave fans a look at her relationship with Wayt, and some of the struggles they were encountering as a couple amid the reality star’s longtime struggles with mental illness.
Portwood was diagnosed with bipolar and borderline personality disorders in 2011, and has been candid about the challenges she’s faced over the years — including blackouts, which can render her unable to remember certain situations, conversations or events.
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“Me and Gary are doing really good,” Portwood told her friend Lexi, following a date night between her and her then-boyfriend on the new hour. “We’ve been staying with each other a lot more, spending more time together.”
She continued, “We’re just going with the flow. We’re not moving fast. We’re not moving slow. We’re moving at a good place, whatever we’re feeling.”
While Portwood said things were on the up and up between her and Wayt, their relationship hit a pivotal point once he experienced her having a manic episode for the first time.
“The other day, he experienced my first manic episode — almost a blackout. So, we start going to couples therapy. We’ve been there twice now,” Portwood shared, before taking viewers into one of their sessions later in the episode.
It’s clear Wayt was looking for the tools to best support his girlfriend, telling the psychiatrist that he’s aware of the signs to look for when Portwood is having a manic episode and often helps pull her out of it by placing his hand on her face, or playing music — something Portwood says she’s never experienced with her previous partners.
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“I think I go into the protector mode,” Wayt said of his support. “This is something that she’s used to dealing with by herself, and I can’t imagine dealing with something like that by yourself.”
Labeling Wayt a “grounding force,” Portwood worried she’ll be too much of a burden on her boyfriend, but her doctor insisted that it’s through taking care of themselves as individuals that they can be better partners in their relationship.
“Finding somebody that I actually truly love, that’s what I’ve wanted and we’re both all in,” Wayt told the doctor. Sealing the session with a kiss, the pair then professed their love for each other.
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So what went wrong?
Earlier this month, Wayt was reported missing by Portwood after he left their cabin in North Carolina on June 9, where the Indiana-based couple was staying for her brother’s wedding. After several impassioned pleas for Wayt’s return, and a few sightings along the way, Wayt was no longer declared a missing person by police and was considered safe on June 15.
According to Us Weekly, citing sources, the two have since called off their engagement and decided “it’s over between them.”
“They have too much to overcome to move forward together,” the source added.
Keep up with all the drama on Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, airing Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET on MTV.
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