Amber Portwood’s daughter, Leah Shirley, is ready to take a big step in her relationship with her stepmother.
During Thursday’s new episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, Leah expressed how she wants her stepmom, Kristina, to adopt her, but admitted that she’s nervous to bring it up to Amber.
While at a birthday party for Jade Cline’s daughter Kloie, Leah opened up with Cheyenne Floyd about her close relationship with Kristina, and gave an update on her strained relationship with Amber.
“I haven’t really talked to her in a while or seen her in a while,” Leah told Cheyenne, who replied, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Leah said. “I don’t really care anymore.”
“I kind of want Kristina to adopt me,” the teen continued of her stepmom, who has been married to her dad, Gary Shirley, since 2015. “I’ve been wanting it for a while. … Kristina has been here for me since I was in kindergarten, and I think before that too.”
In contrast, Leah said she and Amber are still not on good terms.
“Amber, when I do see her, she acts like everything is perfectly fine, and it’s like, ‘I haven’t seen you in months. Why are you talking to me?'” she shared.
When Cheyenne asked Leah if she’s ever told Amber how she feels, the 16-year-old replied, “No, not really. I’m scared to.”
“Obviously, she has a lot of things going on and lots of difficulties. But I just, I feel like I can’t handle it. I wish I could, but I can’t,” added Leah, who revealed last episode that she started therapy to address her “issues” stemming from her relationship with her mother.
Cheyenne said she hopes “one day” Leah and Amber can sit down and discuss how they feel, to which Leah agreed, “I think it would be good to maybe one day have a sit down. I just don’t know when.”
Meanwhile, in a confessional, Cheyenne expressed her sadness over Leah and Amber’s strained relationship with her mom.
“I think it’s just really unfortunate and sad because Leah seems like such a great kid, and I could not imagine … not showing up for Ryder,” she said of her daughter, “and there is nobody [who] could keep me from showing up for Ryder. Nobody. Nothing.”
Cheyenne added that it’s “really hard” for her to “understand,” noting that if she was in Amber’s shoes, she would “be at their house, damn near every day, trying to fight for my relationship with my child.”
Later in the episode, Leah has a sit-down with her dad and Kristina, in which Leah recapped her conversation with Cheyenne, including how she’s not really interested in repairing her relationship with Amber, and how she wants Kristina to adopt her.
“I told her I haven’t really seen Amber for a couple months, or heard from her, so I really just don’t care anymore if she comes around,” Leah said. “I don’t really want her do.”
“I also mentioned how I want you to adopt me,” she told Kristina. “And I mentioned how I’ve been wanting that for a long time.”
Gary stressed to Leah that Kristina adopting her would be a huge step.
“As a father, I want to make sure you know if it’s 100% what you want,” he said, to which Leah immediately replied, “Yeah.”
“I know it is,” Gary continued. “Once that happens, it’ll basically be for your mom, for Amber, it would be a big heartbreak for her, which I know you’re not trying to do, but it’s just part of the process.”
Leah noted that she’s aware, but again reiterated that she “really want[s]” Kristina to adopt her, adding that Amber “didn’t raise me.”
“For me, it’s whatever you want,” Gary told his daughter.
Kristina, meanwhile, chimed in, sharing what “scares me the most.”
“With her being under the age of 18, if something were to happen to you,” she told Gary. “What would happen to Leah?”
Gary then revealed his decision.
“I think I want to speak to an attorney, and at least just get the information, see what that would entail,” he said. “That’s the next step. I’m going to call a couple attorneys and see what they say.”
New episodes of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter air Thursdays on MTV.
