1
00:00:02,413 --> 00:00:04,000
Hi, I'm Karley, you probably
know me from "16 and Pregnant."

2
00:00:04,172 --> 00:00:07,413
- I was on season four.
- Season three.

3
00:00:07,586 --> 00:00:10,310
I was on season five,
episode seven.

4
00:00:10,482 --> 00:00:12,896
Being where I'm from, how cool
is it to have somebody

5
00:00:13,034 --> 00:00:14,103
filming your life, I guess?

6
00:00:14,275 --> 00:00:16,379
I just think it sounds cool.
Sign me up.

7
00:00:17,379 --> 00:00:19,931
Oh, my gosh.
I'm gonna be on MTV.

8
00:00:20,068 --> 00:00:23,379
Like, I'm gonna be rich!

9
00:00:23,551 --> 00:00:25,482
[ominous tones play]

10
00:00:30,586 --> 00:00:32,172
[Sabrina] It was a lot of...

11
00:00:32,344 --> 00:00:34,896
not what I expected it to be.

12
00:00:35,034 --> 00:00:38,724
[Ashley] Giving birth
to a kid on TV at 16.

13
00:00:38,896 --> 00:00:40,379
What else is
more vulnerable than that?

14
00:00:40,551 --> 00:00:42,724
[Felicia] You think
you're gonna be on television,

15
00:00:42,896 --> 00:00:44,379
and it's gonna be great.

16
00:00:44,551 --> 00:00:48,310
Um, that's not really
how it works.

17
00:00:48,482 --> 00:00:50,586
[Dr. Drew] The reality is,
for many of these girls,

18
00:00:50,758 --> 00:00:52,000
the show did help them.

19
00:00:52,172 --> 00:00:54,000
It-- it was
a positive experience.

20
00:00:54,172 --> 00:00:57,482
It just was so unpredictable,
the potential downsides.

21
00:00:58,482 --> 00:01:00,310
[Ashley]
I mean, we all watched it.

22
00:01:00,482 --> 00:01:01,586
We all watched her...

23
00:01:03,206 --> 00:01:04,482
kick Gary down the stairs.

24
00:01:05,482 --> 00:01:08,482
After the show, I overdosed
in the backseat of her car.

25
00:01:08,655 --> 00:01:11,172
I remember flash bangs
and smoke bombs.

26
00:01:11,344 --> 00:01:13,206
And it was like,
we murdered him there.

27
00:01:13,379 --> 00:01:16,000
I've been homeless,
and I've slept out of my truck

28
00:01:16,172 --> 00:01:19,000
with kids in 20-degree weather,
and-- [sharp inhale].

29
00:01:19,172 --> 00:01:20,103
[Hope]
The producers are like,

30
00:01:20,275 --> 00:01:21,275
"You know, you're telling
your story.

31
00:01:21,448 --> 00:01:22,896
You're gonna help other people."

32
00:01:23,034 --> 00:01:24,482
I think all it did was...

33
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,000
hurt me.

34
00:01:28,275 --> 00:01:29,689
[theme music plays]

35
00:01:29,862 --> 00:01:31,793
- [crowd cheering]
- [indistinct background chatter]

36
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,068
[reporter] Producers promise
it will be fresh.

37
00:01:36,241 --> 00:01:37,343
[witness #1]
I was so scared.

38
00:01:37,344 --> 00:01:39,000
[witness #2] People
telling me to kill myself.

39
00:01:41,172 --> 00:01:43,586
Maybe someone
could learn from this.

40
00:01:43,758 --> 00:01:45,724
[camera shutters snapping]

41
00:01:51,482 --> 00:01:54,379
[announcer]
It all kicks off with
a brand-new show on Tuesday.

42
00:01:54,551 --> 00:01:56,482
Up until very recently,

43
00:01:56,655 --> 00:01:59,413
MTV was teenage HQ.

44
00:01:59,586 --> 00:02:03,275
It was where you went
for all things pop culture

45
00:02:03,448 --> 00:02:04,689
that mattered to teenagers.

46
00:02:04,862 --> 00:02:07,482
This is TV, this is live,
this is MTV.

47
00:02:07,655 --> 00:02:11,172
But then it was the birth
of reality TV.

48
00:02:11,344 --> 00:02:16,689
So we had "Real World,"
and "Road Rules," "True Life."

49
00:02:16,862 --> 00:02:20,103
We started to see some
of this more raw observational

50
00:02:20,275 --> 00:02:23,689
programming that, at the end
of the day, felt more real,

51
00:02:23,862 --> 00:02:25,793
perhaps almost
too real, honestly.

52
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,793
[Ashley] Those shows were great,
and there's always been people

53
00:02:29,965 --> 00:02:32,896
watching that, but they were
just slightly older.

54
00:02:33,034 --> 00:02:35,689
I have been known to watch
"A Shot at Love," and I watch...

55
00:02:35,862 --> 00:02:37,206
I think they realized that we,

56
00:02:37,379 --> 00:02:40,517
as young viewers, like,
we could go more.

57
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,000
We could go raw,
and we could go younger,

58
00:02:46,172 --> 00:02:47,068
and so they did.

59
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:56,310
In 2009, a producer at MTV
read a "People Magazine" article

60
00:02:56,482 --> 00:03:00,172
that was all about
this epidemic of teen pregnancy.

61
00:03:01,517 --> 00:03:04,000
In America, we were seeing
some of the highest rates

62
00:03:04,172 --> 00:03:07,586
of teen pregnancy
in our country's history.

63
00:03:07,758 --> 00:03:10,793
[Dr. Drew]
In 2008, over 750,000 women

64
00:03:10,965 --> 00:03:13,517
under the age
of 20 were pregnant.

65
00:03:13,689 --> 00:03:18,000
And 13,500 of those pregnancies
were 14 and under.

66
00:03:19,103 --> 00:03:22,586
[Simone] And MTV decided,
there's a show in this story.

67
00:03:24,793 --> 00:03:25,896
[announcer]
For most American teens,

68
00:03:26,034 --> 00:03:27,379
high school is about
having fun.

69
00:03:27,551 --> 00:03:29,275
I remember the first time
I saw the commercial,

70
00:03:29,448 --> 00:03:33,379
and I was glued.
I was so excited to watch it.

71
00:03:33,551 --> 00:03:36,000
And the commercial
that they did, they started

72
00:03:36,137 --> 00:03:37,827
with Maci's big belly.

73
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:42,482
We are introduced to a new
pregnant teen each episode.

74
00:03:42,655 --> 00:03:45,068
So, we really are seeing it
through from the final stages

75
00:03:45,241 --> 00:03:47,931
of pregnancy to watching
this teen mom

76
00:03:48,068 --> 00:03:49,896
welcome a child into her world.

77
00:03:50,034 --> 00:03:53,275
This is something that
I can't watch anywhere else.

78
00:03:53,448 --> 00:03:54,931
There's nothing
like this on TV.

79
00:03:55,931 --> 00:03:57,206
I love the styling.

80
00:03:57,379 --> 00:04:00,586
I love the way that
they presented the material.

81
00:04:00,758 --> 00:04:04,379
It's very much
styled like Juno was.

82
00:04:05,379 --> 00:04:07,586
[Simone]
Juno was this beloved film

83
00:04:07,758 --> 00:04:10,000
that came out two years earlier,

84
00:04:10,172 --> 00:04:12,896
which centers around
a teen pregnancy story.

85
00:04:13,034 --> 00:04:15,827
It had that
Hollywood movie veneer on it,

86
00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,275
and you can even see
hints of that inspiration.

87
00:04:19,448 --> 00:04:23,482
There are those diary sketches
that open up each episode,

88
00:04:23,655 --> 00:04:26,551
and that is really reminiscent
of what we saw in Juno.

89
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,379
[Ashley]
I think, in the beginning,
the characters that they cast--

90
00:04:32,551 --> 00:04:34,586
it was like, "No, no, no."
Whatever you had thought

91
00:04:34,758 --> 00:04:37,103
about what girls
get pregnant is wrong.

92
00:04:37,275 --> 00:04:40,896
This is everyone.
Look at this girl.

93
00:04:41,034 --> 00:04:43,793
Look at Maci.
Look at even Farrah.

94
00:04:43,965 --> 00:04:46,827
She had a two-parent home,
and she was a cheerleader.

95
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,586
It is-- your daughter
can have this happen.

96
00:04:49,758 --> 00:04:51,620
It really kind of opened
the conversation

97
00:04:51,793 --> 00:04:53,724
and scared a lot of people.

98
00:04:55,620 --> 00:04:58,896
And America needed to be
shook up a little bit, I think.

99
00:05:00,896 --> 00:05:02,206
[ominous tones play]

100
00:05:02,379 --> 00:05:05,000
[Dr. Drew] I've been doing
media for over 30 years.

101
00:05:05,172 --> 00:05:07,482
In 2009, I was mostly known

102
00:05:07,655 --> 00:05:10,517
for "Loveline,"
"Celebrity Rehab."

103
00:05:10,689 --> 00:05:12,206
I was willing to put myself

104
00:05:12,379 --> 00:05:14,482
in environments
that were uncomfortable

105
00:05:14,655 --> 00:05:16,482
because entertainment,
funny music,

106
00:05:16,655 --> 00:05:18,103
that attracts the eyes.

107
00:05:18,275 --> 00:05:19,793
We used to have
a philosophy we called

108
00:05:19,965 --> 00:05:21,896
the Gaines burger and the pill.

109
00:05:22,034 --> 00:05:23,413
You want a dog to take a pill,

110
00:05:23,586 --> 00:05:25,000
you have to wrap it
in something yummy.

111
00:05:25,137 --> 00:05:28,000
And so, I'm the pill
and the entertaining aspects

112
00:05:28,172 --> 00:05:29,275
are the yummy aspects.

113
00:05:29,448 --> 00:05:31,689
And if there is not
entertainment, I don't get

114
00:05:31,862 --> 00:05:33,482
to deliver the pill.

115
00:05:33,655 --> 00:05:35,517
[indistinct background chatter]

116
00:05:35,689 --> 00:05:39,724
Prior to "16 and Pregnant,"
I had done a show a few years

117
00:05:39,896 --> 00:05:43,689
earlier for NBC where
Hoda Kotb and I hosted

118
00:05:43,862 --> 00:05:47,586
a primetime special
where 16-year-old couples

119
00:05:47,758 --> 00:05:50,689
were given babies,
live infants.

120
00:05:50,862 --> 00:05:52,793
These children were
being sort of observed

121
00:05:52,965 --> 00:05:55,517
while they tried
to manage an infant.

122
00:05:55,689 --> 00:05:58,103
But I knew it quite wasn't
hitting the target yet.

123
00:05:58,275 --> 00:06:02,000
And in fact,
during that episode,

124
00:06:02,172 --> 00:06:06,275
a distinguished professor
of psychiatry from Yale

125
00:06:06,448 --> 00:06:08,689
stood up and said,
"This is terrible..."

126
00:06:08,862 --> 00:06:11,275
We don't do experiments like
this because we can't

127
00:06:11,448 --> 00:06:13,310
get these through
human investigation committees,

128
00:06:13,482 --> 00:06:15,379
because the amount of stress
that babies are likely

129
00:06:15,551 --> 00:06:18,689
to be feeling in even very short
periods of time.

130
00:06:18,862 --> 00:06:20,896
Which that-- that caught me
off guard a little bit.

131
00:06:21,896 --> 00:06:24,275
And I'll never forget
he mentioned,

132
00:06:24,448 --> 00:06:26,586
there is a pandemic of pregnancy

133
00:06:26,758 --> 00:06:28,379
among 16-year-olds
in this country.

134
00:06:28,551 --> 00:06:31,586
You should just put cameras
in the households

135
00:06:31,758 --> 00:06:35,413
of 16-year-old couples
with infants,

136
00:06:35,586 --> 00:06:38,793
which stayed in my mind
in following that.

137
00:06:38,965 --> 00:06:42,000
So, when "16 and Pregnant"
came along, I both knew

138
00:06:42,137 --> 00:06:43,379
from my "Loveline" experience
it would have

139
00:06:43,551 --> 00:06:45,689
a very significant impact
on teen pregnancy.

140
00:06:45,862 --> 00:06:48,000
And I remember
that psychiatrist saying,

141
00:06:48,172 --> 00:06:50,896
"This is the way to do this.
It's a good idea."

142
00:06:51,034 --> 00:06:53,413
There were six episodes
on season one

143
00:06:53,586 --> 00:06:55,482
following six different girls.

144
00:06:55,655 --> 00:06:57,896
And I thought, this is gonna--
this is gonna impact

145
00:06:58,034 --> 00:06:58,965
teen pregnancy for sure.

146
00:06:59,103 --> 00:07:00,689
I wanna be--
I wanna be part of this.

147
00:07:01,689 --> 00:07:04,793
And I was called
by the production team

148
00:07:04,965 --> 00:07:08,482
and the executives at MTV
to host their reunion specials

149
00:07:08,655 --> 00:07:09,999
at the end of each season.

150
00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:11,724
[Dr. Drew, archive]
The "16 and Pregnant"
finale special

151
00:07:11,896 --> 00:07:13,275
hosted by myself, Dr. Drew.

152
00:07:13,448 --> 00:07:16,275
What I appreciate is, we are
getting into these women's lives

153
00:07:16,448 --> 00:07:18,586
and some of it is very touching
and very intense.

154
00:07:18,758 --> 00:07:20,103
Sorry, [chuckles].

155
00:07:21,206 --> 00:07:22,931
- You all right?
- Yeah, I'm fine.

156
00:07:23,068 --> 00:07:26,793
I had a huge emotional reaction
to Catelynn and Tyler's story

157
00:07:26,965 --> 00:07:28,586
where they had given up
their child for adoption.

158
00:07:28,758 --> 00:07:30,379
I told you, you guys
take my breath away,

159
00:07:30,551 --> 00:07:31,620
your strength
and your courage.

160
00:07:31,793 --> 00:07:34,000
And it's just-- it's just
incredibly difficult

161
00:07:34,137 --> 00:07:35,724
what you guys--
- Yeah, it's not easy.

162
00:07:35,896 --> 00:07:37,620
And in fact,
when I got to the studio,

163
00:07:37,793 --> 00:07:39,689
asked to meet
with them privately,

164
00:07:39,862 --> 00:07:41,482
and they thought
they were in trouble.

165
00:07:41,655 --> 00:07:43,172
They thought
I was going to sort of...

166
00:07:43,344 --> 00:07:46,172
And I just wanted to tell them
how deeply moved I was

167
00:07:46,344 --> 00:07:47,827
by their willingness
to share their story.

168
00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:49,172
And they've always been
the closest to me

169
00:07:49,344 --> 00:07:51,068
of all the--
of all the subjects.

170
00:07:52,172 --> 00:07:54,413
Amber was on season one
of "16 and Pregnant."

171
00:07:54,586 --> 00:07:56,586
She got pregnant by Gary.

172
00:07:56,758 --> 00:07:58,000
Why did you tell
your mom about the PS3?

173
00:07:58,172 --> 00:07:59,586
You said you wouldn't.
It makes me look like an ass.

174
00:07:59,758 --> 00:08:01,620
- I was--
- Oh, 'cause you are
an ass for doing it.

175
00:08:01,793 --> 00:08:05,206
Amber was different.
She was not the girl next door.

176
00:08:05,379 --> 00:08:06,620
She was rough around the edges.

177
00:08:06,793 --> 00:08:10,000
And, you know,
that sticks in people's heads.

178
00:08:10,137 --> 00:08:11,103
We're not perfect.

179
00:08:11,275 --> 00:08:12,689
Oh, I don't really
think anybody is.

180
00:08:12,862 --> 00:08:15,896
You're gonna remember the one
that causes the most chaos.

181
00:08:17,103 --> 00:08:18,793
The show was wildly popular.

182
00:08:18,965 --> 00:08:23,103
That season reached an audience
of over 31 million views

183
00:08:23,275 --> 00:08:25,310
and consistently took
the number one spot

184
00:08:25,482 --> 00:08:27,482
in its time period
among young females

185
00:08:27,655 --> 00:08:29,827
between the ages
of 12 to 34.

186
00:08:32,275 --> 00:08:34,931
MTV also saw the potential
for spin-offs here.

187
00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,793
"Teen Mom," the spin-off,
was this huge phenomenon

188
00:08:38,965 --> 00:08:41,586
where producers
kept filming four of the girls

189
00:08:41,758 --> 00:08:44,379
from "16 and Pregnant,"
and we got to see

190
00:08:44,551 --> 00:08:48,620
really what their life was like
after having the baby.

191
00:08:48,793 --> 00:08:50,793
And Amber Portwood was
one of the girls

192
00:08:50,965 --> 00:08:52,724
who went on to "Teen Mom."

193
00:08:52,896 --> 00:08:53,931
[Dr. Drew]
It's just documentary,

194
00:08:54,068 --> 00:08:55,206
but I don't think
anyone appreciated

195
00:08:55,379 --> 00:08:57,068
what we were gonna
get into with-- with Amber.

196
00:08:57,241 --> 00:08:59,000
OK, Gary, just come over
here and pick me up.

197
00:08:59,172 --> 00:09:00,724
I'll see you in a minute.
- [Gary] All right.

198
00:09:00,896 --> 00:09:03,103
[Dr. Drew]
This is a moment from
the first season of "Teen Mom,"

199
00:09:03,275 --> 00:09:06,172
where tensions flare between
Amber and Gary because it takes

200
00:09:06,344 --> 00:09:09,000
Gary too long to pick Amber up
from her dad's place.

201
00:09:09,172 --> 00:09:10,931
- [Amber] Sorry.
- Well, you can [bleep].

202
00:09:11,068 --> 00:09:13,379
I don't wanna be here 'cause
it's bull[bleep]-- sourpuss.

203
00:09:13,551 --> 00:09:14,654
- [Dad] Leave then.
- Who are you talking to?

204
00:09:14,655 --> 00:09:16,172
[Dr. Drew] Gary gets upset
because Amber's dad

205
00:09:16,344 --> 00:09:18,172
inserts himself
into the situation.

206
00:09:18,344 --> 00:09:20,586
[Amber] You need
to [bleep] apologize to him.

207
00:09:20,758 --> 00:09:22,517
- [Gary] Amber, I'm not, I'm out.
- [overlapping arguing]

208
00:09:22,689 --> 00:09:26,275
[Dr. Drew] Amber, she engages
in physical abuse on Gary.

209
00:09:26,448 --> 00:09:28,793
[Amber] You don't [bleep] talk
to my [bleep] dad like that.

210
00:09:28,965 --> 00:09:30,689
You [bleep] hear me?
You apologize!

211
00:09:30,862 --> 00:09:35,103
Amber commits domestic violence
on camera in front of the crew.

212
00:09:35,275 --> 00:09:36,275
- I mean, we all watched it.

213
00:09:36,448 --> 00:09:37,620
We all watched her,

214
00:09:37,793 --> 00:09:39,896
you know, hold him
against the wall.

215
00:09:40,034 --> 00:09:41,896
- You don't [bleep]--
- You can get [bleep] out.

216
00:09:42,034 --> 00:09:43,896
Uh, horrible.

217
00:09:44,034 --> 00:09:48,310
These shows were designed
to really bring forward

218
00:09:48,482 --> 00:09:51,482
the struggles of pregnancy,
relationships, family,

219
00:09:51,655 --> 00:09:53,379
and of course, raising a baby.

220
00:09:53,551 --> 00:09:56,586
But there certainly
was tons of concern

221
00:09:56,758 --> 00:09:58,896
about what-- what we do
with this, tons of it.

222
00:09:59,034 --> 00:10:00,172
I wanna talk to you about the--

223
00:10:00,344 --> 00:10:02,000
one of the more
disturbing scenes

224
00:10:02,172 --> 00:10:03,896
from the entire season,
is when the domestic violence...

225
00:10:04,034 --> 00:10:05,482
[Dr. Drew]
This is from the reunion
episode that season.

226
00:10:05,655 --> 00:10:06,861
You just laughed
when you watch...

227
00:10:06,862 --> 00:10:11,896
I'm trying to get them to get
some help, ultimately.

228
00:10:12,034 --> 00:10:16,310
And what I'm aiming towards is
that should this happen again,

229
00:10:16,482 --> 00:10:17,689
he has got to call the police.

230
00:10:18,793 --> 00:10:20,172
He's got to be willing
to do that.

231
00:10:20,344 --> 00:10:25,103
It did turn the tables
on what people thought

232
00:10:25,275 --> 00:10:26,586
domestic violence
could look like.

233
00:10:26,758 --> 00:10:28,482
It can happen to men.

234
00:10:28,655 --> 00:10:32,103
Just because you're a big,
strong dude doesn't mean

235
00:10:32,275 --> 00:10:34,172
you can't have this going on.

236
00:10:34,344 --> 00:10:37,586
We were also trying to emphasize
the importance of awareness

237
00:10:37,758 --> 00:10:39,136
and the domestic violence.

238
00:10:39,137 --> 00:10:41,896
So if you have been a victim of
teen-on-teen dating violence,

239
00:10:42,034 --> 00:10:45,517
you can learn more about this
at loveisrespect.org.

240
00:10:45,689 --> 00:10:49,000
It's one word, L-O-V-E
is respect.org.

241
00:10:49,137 --> 00:10:50,309
It's an important issue.

242
00:10:50,310 --> 00:10:52,379
We wanna encourage everyone
to log on to get help.

243
00:10:52,551 --> 00:10:53,689
Learn more about healthier ways

244
00:10:53,862 --> 00:10:55,275
to communicate
with your partner.

245
00:10:55,448 --> 00:10:58,310
What I always told both
the producers and MTV is

246
00:10:58,482 --> 00:10:59,757
they should take a bow.

247
00:10:59,758 --> 00:11:03,896
They went to great lengths
to fund and place and get help

248
00:11:04,034 --> 00:11:05,206
when it was necessary.

249
00:11:05,379 --> 00:11:06,586
But an 18-year-old with a child

250
00:11:06,758 --> 00:11:08,482
is not necessarily
interested in psychotherapy.

251
00:11:12,379 --> 00:11:15,482
With Amber, clearly,
their relationship was troubled,

252
00:11:15,655 --> 00:11:17,931
but we did not know the full
extent of it at that point.

253
00:11:26,206 --> 00:11:29,620
[Simone] Amber and Gary lived
in the suburbs of Indianapolis.

254
00:11:29,793 --> 00:11:33,000
In "Teen Mom," season two,
there's an episode where Amber

255
00:11:33,137 --> 00:11:35,275
is laying in bed
and Gary is leaving.

256
00:11:35,448 --> 00:11:36,379
[Gary]
All right, I'll see you later.

257
00:11:36,551 --> 00:11:38,310
- [slap]
- Get off me.

258
00:11:38,482 --> 00:11:39,620
You need to shut
your [bleep] mouth!

259
00:11:39,793 --> 00:11:41,033
Amber...

260
00:11:41,034 --> 00:11:43,068
- I'll bring your ass
to [bleep] court.
- [indistinct]

261
00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:46,275
- You wanna [bleep] me?
- No.

262
00:11:47,517 --> 00:11:49,275
[objects thudding]

263
00:11:49,448 --> 00:11:51,586
- [Gary] Amber, quit.
- Huh?

264
00:11:51,758 --> 00:11:53,620
How is this on TV?

265
00:11:53,793 --> 00:11:56,793
- [Gary] Amber?
- No, I swear to God,
I wish I was bigger than you.

266
00:11:56,965 --> 00:11:58,275
- I'd [bleep] beat your ass.
- One more hit.

267
00:11:58,448 --> 00:11:59,517
- One more hit.
- One more hit, what?

268
00:11:59,689 --> 00:12:00,793
- You gonna [bleep] hit me?
- No.

269
00:12:00,965 --> 00:12:02,275
I am at the edge.

270
00:12:02,448 --> 00:12:03,896
Do you wanna get punched
in your [bleep] face?

271
00:12:04,034 --> 00:12:04,965
You wanna hit me then--

272
00:12:06,172 --> 00:12:08,000
I think everybody
watched that scene

273
00:12:08,172 --> 00:12:09,931
that when that episode aired
the first time,

274
00:12:10,068 --> 00:12:12,482
and they were saying,
"This shouldn't be on TV."

275
00:12:12,655 --> 00:12:14,310
[Amber] You better watch
your [bleep] damn back.

276
00:12:16,689 --> 00:12:20,206
I mean, we all watched
her kick Gary down the stairs.

277
00:12:33,275 --> 00:12:35,275
[ominous tones play]

278
00:12:36,379 --> 00:12:39,413
[Andrew] So there was an episode
of the TV show "Teen Mom"

279
00:12:39,586 --> 00:12:43,000
that aired, and we started
to receive phone calls

280
00:12:43,137 --> 00:12:45,896
to the prosecutor's office,
the Anderson Police Department,

281
00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,310
Department of Child Services,
beginning the very next day.

282
00:12:52,793 --> 00:12:55,482
The viewers were the ones that
ended up making the calls

283
00:12:55,655 --> 00:12:57,413
to the police,
and they got so many

284
00:12:57,586 --> 00:12:59,103
that they had
to look at it and say,

285
00:12:59,275 --> 00:13:01,206
"Well, what is actually
going on here?"

286
00:13:03,379 --> 00:13:05,482
[Andrew] This is still
a very unusual circumstance

287
00:13:05,655 --> 00:13:07,586
for something to air
on national television

288
00:13:07,758 --> 00:13:09,620
that had occurred
in Madison County,

289
00:13:09,793 --> 00:13:11,793
and that began
an investigation from

290
00:13:11,965 --> 00:13:13,172
the Anderson Police Department.

291
00:13:16,275 --> 00:13:18,103
We obtained the raw footage.

292
00:13:25,482 --> 00:13:28,172
Investigators watched
the footage and determined

293
00:13:28,344 --> 00:13:29,689
that there were
three separate incidents

294
00:13:29,862 --> 00:13:31,586
of domestic violence that
had occurred.

295
00:13:31,758 --> 00:13:33,275
[Dad] She left you a message.

296
00:13:33,448 --> 00:13:35,827
In that scene,
you see Amber first take

297
00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:37,793
the car seat from Gary.

298
00:13:37,965 --> 00:13:39,172
[bleep], let me
tell you something.

299
00:13:39,344 --> 00:13:40,931
You don't [bleep] talk
to my [bleep] dad

300
00:13:41,068 --> 00:13:42,379
like that, you [bleep]--
- [smack]

301
00:13:42,551 --> 00:13:45,413
Any one of those instances
where she makes contact

302
00:13:45,586 --> 00:13:48,586
with him in a rude or insolent
manner is domestic battery...

303
00:13:48,758 --> 00:13:49,793
[bleep]

304
00:13:49,965 --> 00:13:52,275
...and is now a felony in
the state of Indiana

305
00:13:52,448 --> 00:13:54,310
because of the presence
of the child.

306
00:13:54,482 --> 00:13:57,000
But this was not why people
reached out to

307
00:13:57,137 --> 00:13:58,482
the Anderson Police Department.

308
00:13:58,655 --> 00:14:00,586
[Gary] Are you done?
Are you seriously done?

309
00:14:00,758 --> 00:14:02,793
This was actually
the second incident

310
00:14:02,965 --> 00:14:05,724
where domestic violence had
occurred on national television.

311
00:14:06,793 --> 00:14:09,724
She slapped him five times,
punched him three times

312
00:14:09,896 --> 00:14:12,689
with a closed fist, and then
kicked him as he was carrying

313
00:14:12,862 --> 00:14:15,310
a television down the stairs
of their home.

314
00:14:15,482 --> 00:14:18,310
But there was a third incident
of domestic violence...

315
00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,724
that had not aired.
It was in uncut footage.

316
00:14:24,827 --> 00:14:26,793
[Dr. Drew] While the criminal
investigation was underway,

317
00:14:26,965 --> 00:14:29,379
we addressed the domestic
violence on the reunion show.

318
00:14:29,551 --> 00:14:31,689
[Dr. Drew, archive] OK.
It's hard to watch this stuff.

319
00:14:31,862 --> 00:14:33,275
It's very hard.

320
00:14:33,448 --> 00:14:34,586
Makes you wanna change,
doesn't it?

321
00:14:34,758 --> 00:14:36,000
[Amber sobbing]

322
00:14:36,172 --> 00:14:38,275
This has to stop.
We all agree.

323
00:14:38,448 --> 00:14:39,793
- Yeah.
- Has to stop, yes?

324
00:14:39,965 --> 00:14:41,379
- Yeah.
- OK, and you can't...

325
00:14:41,551 --> 00:14:43,482
There was a feeling that
we didn't want

326
00:14:43,655 --> 00:14:46,275
participation in this show
to cause her to go to prison,

327
00:14:46,448 --> 00:14:48,379
cause her to go to jail,
or cause her...

328
00:14:48,551 --> 00:14:50,896
She had enough going on
where the consequences

329
00:14:51,034 --> 00:14:53,931
would be potentially profound.
On the other hand,

330
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,379
if this were to continue,
that has to happen.

331
00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,172
[Andrew] The very next day,
Anderson Police Department

332
00:15:01,344 --> 00:15:04,000
conducted interviews
of both Gary Shirley

333
00:15:04,172 --> 00:15:05,448
and Amber Portwood.

334
00:15:07,413 --> 00:15:10,689
Amber was defiant in terms
of downplaying these incidents.

335
00:15:10,862 --> 00:15:13,206
She said, to a large degree,
she didn't remember

336
00:15:13,379 --> 00:15:16,206
these instances
because she had blacked out.

337
00:15:16,379 --> 00:15:17,482
But if they were on video,

338
00:15:17,655 --> 00:15:19,517
then she admitted
that they must have occurred.

339
00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:22,103
[Dr. Drew] She said,
she blacked out,

340
00:15:22,275 --> 00:15:23,378
which could be true.

341
00:15:23,379 --> 00:15:26,517
Blacking out in that sort
of experience of rages

342
00:15:26,689 --> 00:15:29,000
happens to dissociative people.

343
00:15:29,172 --> 00:15:30,896
Turns out Amber is
highly dissociative.

344
00:15:31,034 --> 00:15:33,275
She stated repeatedly
that these were not

345
00:15:33,448 --> 00:15:37,586
in any way staged or provoked
by the television show.

346
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,793
Amber Portwood agreed
to accept that plea agreement

347
00:15:42,965 --> 00:15:45,000
and she was sentenced
to two years

348
00:15:45,137 --> 00:15:48,482
that would be suspended
to formal probation.

349
00:15:48,655 --> 00:15:51,793
And also, once this became
a criminal investigation,

350
00:15:51,965 --> 00:15:55,482
there were steps put in place
by MTV and the producers

351
00:15:55,655 --> 00:15:59,413
of "Teen Mom" where a qualified
security guard would have to be

352
00:15:59,586 --> 00:16:02,310
present whenever Gary
and Amber were together

353
00:16:02,482 --> 00:16:04,793
or whenever Amber was
in the presence of her child

354
00:16:04,965 --> 00:16:06,068
for a period of time.

355
00:16:07,896 --> 00:16:10,379
[Dr. Drew] She went from
being just another teenager

356
00:16:10,551 --> 00:16:12,379
and then suddenly
a national figure.

357
00:16:12,551 --> 00:16:14,827
And then when
the domestic violence

358
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:16,275
comes to light...

359
00:16:16,448 --> 00:16:17,724
this is a level
of scrutiny that

360
00:16:18,896 --> 00:16:20,517
probably would never
come to light

361
00:16:20,689 --> 00:16:23,827
for the average teenager
dealing with pregnancy.

362
00:16:26,275 --> 00:16:29,620
And then, I'm not sure exactly
how she gets strung out

363
00:16:29,793 --> 00:16:31,172
on opiates, but she does.

364
00:16:32,482 --> 00:16:34,068
[Simone]
Amber violates her probation

365
00:16:34,241 --> 00:16:36,275
for possession
of a controlled substance.

366
00:16:44,275 --> 00:16:45,758
[Dr. Drew] While in court,
she went from the courtroom

367
00:16:45,931 --> 00:16:47,689
to the bathroom, said,
"Judge, I'll be right back,"

368
00:16:47,862 --> 00:16:49,896
and started sucking out
the contents

369
00:16:50,034 --> 00:16:51,896
of multiple fentanyl patches,

370
00:16:52,034 --> 00:16:53,482
went back into the courtroom
and said,

371
00:16:53,655 --> 00:16:54,964
"Judge, you have
to put me in jail

372
00:16:54,965 --> 00:16:57,793
because I'm gonna kill myself
if left to my own devices."

373
00:16:57,965 --> 00:16:58,896
And she was right.

374
00:16:59,931 --> 00:17:01,310
[Simone]
She spends two years in prison.

375
00:17:02,793 --> 00:17:04,586
Then she's invited
back on the show.

376
00:17:06,689 --> 00:17:09,862
[Dr. Drew]
You're doing a documentary
and not wanting to interfere

377
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,000
with somebody's life,
but I mean, that's the question

378
00:17:12,172 --> 00:17:15,172
on every single difficult
situation we're airing--

379
00:17:16,931 --> 00:17:19,517
are we giving it sunshine
and bringing it to light

380
00:17:19,689 --> 00:17:21,482
and showing people
what this really looks like

381
00:17:21,655 --> 00:17:24,482
and understanding it
and avoiding it?

382
00:17:25,482 --> 00:17:28,172
Or is it part
of an entertaining story?

383
00:17:28,344 --> 00:17:29,275
Or both?

384
00:17:30,379 --> 00:17:32,172
[Simone] Both shows--
"16 and Pregnant"

385
00:17:32,344 --> 00:17:34,620
and "Teen Mom,"
were airing concurrently,

386
00:17:34,793 --> 00:17:37,172
so MTV is moving very quickly

387
00:17:37,344 --> 00:17:39,103
to keep churning out
this content

388
00:17:39,275 --> 00:17:41,482
that they know audiences like.

389
00:17:41,655 --> 00:17:45,172
At the same time,
Amber commits multiple acts

390
00:17:45,344 --> 00:17:46,793
of domestic violence.

391
00:17:46,965 --> 00:17:49,517
This is when "16 and Pregnant"
was at its peak.

392
00:17:49,689 --> 00:17:52,689
When season two
of "16 and Pregnant" came out,

393
00:17:52,862 --> 00:17:55,896
it was the most-watched cable
show of the day,

394
00:17:56,034 --> 00:17:58,000
even topping
the Winter Olympics

395
00:17:58,172 --> 00:18:00,689
with the women
under 34 demographic.

396
00:18:02,413 --> 00:18:04,862
This debate started to emerge.

397
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,793
Was this show glamorizing
teen pregnancy,

398
00:18:08,965 --> 00:18:11,000
or was it helping to prevent it?

399
00:18:13,206 --> 00:18:15,620
The media people,
not understanding this

400
00:18:15,793 --> 00:18:17,793
about adolescence,
looked at it and went,

401
00:18:17,965 --> 00:18:19,689
"Oh, it's gonna
glamorize pregnancy.

402
00:18:19,862 --> 00:18:20,931
"It's gonna cause people
to get pregnant

403
00:18:21,068 --> 00:18:22,689
in order to be on the show."

404
00:18:22,862 --> 00:18:25,586
And of course,
the casting organizations went

405
00:18:25,758 --> 00:18:27,793
to great lengths
to exclude those people.

406
00:18:29,413 --> 00:18:32,793
The unfortunate reality is,
by the time "Teen Mom"

407
00:18:32,965 --> 00:18:35,310
comes around, there is
such a thing as a reality star.

408
00:18:35,482 --> 00:18:37,379
And therefore,
they can command more salary.

409
00:18:38,793 --> 00:18:40,172
The cast of "Teen Mom,"

410
00:18:40,344 --> 00:18:41,586
towards the middle
of the series,

411
00:18:41,758 --> 00:18:44,482
they started getting
$25,000 per episode.

412
00:18:44,655 --> 00:18:48,482
And I remember then
started hearing about managers

413
00:18:48,655 --> 00:18:51,310
and agents and publicists also.

414
00:18:51,482 --> 00:18:53,689
Later in the run
of the "Teen Mom" series,

415
00:18:53,862 --> 00:18:55,103
the girls started getting

416
00:18:55,275 --> 00:18:57,103
$40,000 to $50,000
per episode.

417
00:18:57,275 --> 00:18:58,793
[photographers
yelling indistinctly]

418
00:18:58,965 --> 00:19:01,620
As the series rolled along,
a young person who was pregnant

419
00:19:01,793 --> 00:19:03,758
might look at "16 and Pregnant"
and go,

420
00:19:03,931 --> 00:19:05,206
"Well, that is a way
to make money.

421
00:19:05,379 --> 00:19:07,172
It's a way to get
some sort of deal."

422
00:19:07,344 --> 00:19:08,310
Who knows what
they're thinking?

423
00:19:08,482 --> 00:19:10,586
And probably very magical
kind of thinking.

424
00:19:10,758 --> 00:19:13,586
But it did look like
a reasonable thing to do,

425
00:19:13,758 --> 00:19:14,793
if you were pregnant.

426
00:19:20,620 --> 00:19:23,103
My name is Sabrina Rosario.

427
00:19:23,275 --> 00:19:27,586
So growing up, I think
when I started watching

428
00:19:27,758 --> 00:19:29,931
"16 and Pregnant"
almost every day,

429
00:19:30,068 --> 00:19:32,793
I think it did put the idea
of having a baby in my head.

430
00:19:35,896 --> 00:19:37,620
Yeah, I just had that thought.

431
00:19:37,793 --> 00:19:40,172
When you're on the show,
that fame could solve

432
00:19:40,344 --> 00:19:43,068
their problems if they market
themselves correctly.

433
00:19:44,275 --> 00:19:48,896
But it was a lot of--
not what I expected it to be.

434
00:19:49,034 --> 00:19:50,620
[producer speaking]

435
00:19:50,793 --> 00:19:53,793
Um, I had Fish most of the time,
Fish Stevens.

436
00:19:53,965 --> 00:19:56,275
[archive audio playing faintly]

437
00:19:59,275 --> 00:20:00,275
[crew] It's on silent?

438
00:20:00,448 --> 00:20:01,689
My name is Felicia Stevens.

439
00:20:01,862 --> 00:20:02,826
Perfect.

440
00:20:02,827 --> 00:20:05,310
So, when I first started
working at MTV,

441
00:20:05,482 --> 00:20:07,379
I was in the heart of it,
the thick of it.

442
00:20:07,551 --> 00:20:11,620
The TRL days,
the Times Square craziness,

443
00:20:11,793 --> 00:20:14,000
streets blocked off
because NSYNC is there.

444
00:20:14,137 --> 00:20:18,000
And as time wore on,
I was a field producer

445
00:20:18,137 --> 00:20:20,000
on "16 and Pregnant."

446
00:20:20,172 --> 00:20:21,862
Producers do everything.

447
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,793
Everything that you see
on camera, on film,

448
00:20:25,965 --> 00:20:28,931
we've touched
every aspect of that.

449
00:20:31,103 --> 00:20:34,379
There was one girl
that needed a producer.

450
00:20:36,172 --> 00:20:39,068
So, when I first spoke with
Sabrina, it felt like she was

451
00:20:39,241 --> 00:20:44,172
just a sweet girl,
a young girl who had a dream.

452
00:20:44,344 --> 00:20:45,586
I was a cheerleader,

453
00:20:45,758 --> 00:20:47,862
and I wanted to be
a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader,

454
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,517
and I had no other
aspirations in my life.

455
00:20:51,689 --> 00:20:54,310
Her boyfriend was gonna be
a football player.

456
00:20:54,482 --> 00:20:56,000
I went to school with Iman.

457
00:20:56,172 --> 00:20:58,379
I liked that he was
a football player, [chuckles].

458
00:20:58,551 --> 00:21:00,517
I was very vain in high school.

459
00:21:00,689 --> 00:21:02,206
[Felicia]
She's the cheerleader.

460
00:21:02,379 --> 00:21:04,103
They're gonna ride off
in the sunset together

461
00:21:04,275 --> 00:21:05,586
with their new baby.

462
00:21:07,689 --> 00:21:11,793
I think that's what she wanted
to believe was going to happen.

463
00:21:11,965 --> 00:21:13,896
But that was not gonna happen.

464
00:21:15,896 --> 00:21:19,517
To be honest, I just think
a lot of the girls that were

465
00:21:19,689 --> 00:21:24,103
on "16 and Pregnant"
already had troubled pasts.

466
00:21:25,931 --> 00:21:29,103
I remember saying,
and crew members said this too,

467
00:21:29,275 --> 00:21:33,103
"We could write a handbook on
how to become 16 and pregnant."

468
00:21:34,896 --> 00:21:40,103
We saw in some of the girls
that their own mother

469
00:21:40,275 --> 00:21:42,172
was a teen mother,

470
00:21:42,344 --> 00:21:45,896
their parents
had addiction issues

471
00:21:46,034 --> 00:21:49,068
and/or not present
in the home.

472
00:21:49,241 --> 00:21:51,586
This is an issue that happens
everywhere, right?

473
00:21:51,758 --> 00:21:54,000
Not just the girls on the show.

474
00:21:56,482 --> 00:22:01,310
So, when I was younger,
with my mom and my two siblings,

475
00:22:01,482 --> 00:22:03,482
up until I was about
seven years old,

476
00:22:03,655 --> 00:22:04,931
we had different dads.

477
00:22:06,586 --> 00:22:09,068
My mom, I just knew
she wasn't present.

478
00:22:09,241 --> 00:22:12,586
At four or five years old,
I was raising my two siblings,

479
00:22:13,586 --> 00:22:15,413
and I just remember, like,

480
00:22:15,586 --> 00:22:17,172
playing outside
in the backyard.

481
00:22:17,344 --> 00:22:19,931
I would feed them, like,
the little canned sausages,

482
00:22:20,068 --> 00:22:21,206
Vienna sausages.

483
00:22:23,586 --> 00:22:25,275
Yeah, noodles.

484
00:22:33,689 --> 00:22:36,931
A young child taking care of
children is highly traumatic,

485
00:22:37,068 --> 00:22:40,482
but this is particularly
traumatic because I would be

486
00:22:40,655 --> 00:22:44,793
traumatized at my stage of life,
being a week alone

487
00:22:44,965 --> 00:22:47,482
with a five- and a two-year-old
and trying to manage it

488
00:22:47,655 --> 00:22:50,379
by myself-- that's a lot.
At age six, seven?

489
00:22:50,551 --> 00:22:53,517
It's just overwhelming.
And yet she just did it.

490
00:22:53,689 --> 00:22:56,793
When I was
about seven years old,

491
00:22:56,965 --> 00:22:59,482
I remember being
in the car with my mom.

492
00:22:59,655 --> 00:23:01,586
[indistinct radio chatter]

493
00:23:03,620 --> 00:23:07,586
She was speeding
and she got pulled over.

494
00:23:07,758 --> 00:23:10,586
And when she got pulled over,
I unbuckled my seat belt

495
00:23:10,758 --> 00:23:14,275
and I sat on her beer, her case
of beer in the back seat.

496
00:23:14,448 --> 00:23:17,000
So the cops took me away.

497
00:23:28,896 --> 00:23:31,758
After that,
I started living with my dad,

498
00:23:31,931 --> 00:23:34,000
and I'd never met my dad
really before.

499
00:23:34,172 --> 00:23:35,620
I think I met him like twice.

500
00:23:37,896 --> 00:23:40,413
They ended up with their dad.

501
00:23:44,206 --> 00:23:47,103
I felt alone
a lot of the times

502
00:23:47,275 --> 00:23:50,275
and couldn't stop
crying my whole life.

503
00:23:55,896 --> 00:23:57,275
Try not to cry-- OK.

504
00:23:57,448 --> 00:24:00,068
Um, probably.
I cry a lot, actually.

505
00:24:00,241 --> 00:24:01,758
[laughs]

506
00:24:01,931 --> 00:24:03,793
I cry about everything now.

507
00:24:03,965 --> 00:24:05,931
I...

508
00:24:06,068 --> 00:24:10,586
I see teen pregnancy as
a symptom of larger issues,

509
00:24:10,758 --> 00:24:12,482
but we didn't always get
to highlight them on the show.

510
00:24:13,931 --> 00:24:17,379
I'm of the opinion that most
teen pregnancy is already

511
00:24:17,551 --> 00:24:19,482
a symptom
of something going on

512
00:24:19,655 --> 00:24:21,172
from a mental health standpoint.

513
00:24:21,344 --> 00:24:23,793
And that childhood trauma,
of course,

514
00:24:23,965 --> 00:24:25,931
plays out through
mental health issues.

515
00:24:26,068 --> 00:24:27,793
People try to solve that trauma

516
00:24:27,965 --> 00:24:30,000
by doing things
like having a baby.

517
00:24:33,689 --> 00:24:34,862
[exhales]

518
00:24:38,275 --> 00:24:39,275
[crew]
Take one AB mark.

519
00:24:42,620 --> 00:24:45,000
[Jessica]
My mom had me at 16 years old.

520
00:24:45,172 --> 00:24:46,689
So my mom was a teen mom.

521
00:24:46,862 --> 00:24:50,862
Her and my biological dad,
they haven't been together

522
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,275
since I was two.
At about maybe ten,

523
00:24:56,275 --> 00:25:01,172
my stepdad, very abusive,
physically, verbally,

524
00:25:01,344 --> 00:25:04,068
went to jail for
punching me in the face.

525
00:25:06,586 --> 00:25:08,482
Like, he just wasn't a good man.

526
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,275
We dealt with evictions.

527
00:25:26,310 --> 00:25:29,000
We dealt with our heat
being turned off, our water.

528
00:25:29,172 --> 00:25:32,862
We used to have to go take big
gallons to my step grandparents

529
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,310
and fill them up with water,
so we could flush our toilet

530
00:25:35,482 --> 00:25:36,862
'cause we didn't have
water for so long.

531
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,758
Yeah, turning on the stove so
we'd have a little bit of heat.

532
00:25:40,931 --> 00:25:42,724
So, yeah, poor.

533
00:25:45,172 --> 00:25:47,586
I've blocked out
a lot of my childhood.

534
00:25:49,172 --> 00:25:50,379
Like, when I...

535
00:25:52,482 --> 00:25:55,172
I don't know, like,
I don't wanna cry, but, like,

536
00:25:55,344 --> 00:25:57,379
when I think back to...

537
00:25:57,551 --> 00:25:59,068
I just don't remember
a lot of it.

538
00:25:59,241 --> 00:26:00,758
Like, I mean...

539
00:26:01,758 --> 00:26:05,379
Appearing on a television show
could be a huge opportunity

540
00:26:05,551 --> 00:26:09,689
for someone who doesn't come
from a lot of prosperity,

541
00:26:09,862 --> 00:26:11,000
someone who comes
from a small town

542
00:26:11,172 --> 00:26:13,310
and a rough
family background.

543
00:26:15,482 --> 00:26:19,482
[Jessica]
When I was 16, I was dating
Jamie for three months,

544
00:26:19,655 --> 00:26:22,413
and then I got pregnant.
Mm-hmm.

545
00:26:24,896 --> 00:26:26,068
Like, even before
I got pregnant,

546
00:26:26,241 --> 00:26:29,275
I watched "16 and Pregnant"
every week.

547
00:26:29,448 --> 00:26:31,517
Oh, yeah, my mom
was also addicted to it.

548
00:26:31,689 --> 00:26:33,482
I mean, it was
a huge show then.

549
00:26:34,517 --> 00:26:36,379
Pretty much anybody I knew
watched it.

550
00:26:36,551 --> 00:26:38,000
I mean, look at them.

551
00:26:38,137 --> 00:26:39,862
They came
from "16 and Pregnant."

552
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,862
Now they're living in big,
beautiful homes

553
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,758
with money for days,
and they're well-off.

554
00:26:45,931 --> 00:26:47,689
We were not.

555
00:26:47,862 --> 00:26:50,379
I was a poor,
"16 and Pregnant" mom.

556
00:26:50,551 --> 00:26:53,482
I might get
the fame of being on TV,

557
00:26:53,655 --> 00:26:56,172
and they end up
making the big money.

558
00:26:56,344 --> 00:26:57,310
[cattle mooing]

559
00:26:58,379 --> 00:27:01,172
I'm from a small town
in East Texas.

560
00:27:01,344 --> 00:27:04,310
My dad, he is my stepdad.

561
00:27:04,482 --> 00:27:10,482
He was really funny and very
playful, but then he got sick.

562
00:27:10,655 --> 00:27:12,310
He had a brain tumor,
so it really changed

563
00:27:12,482 --> 00:27:16,655
his personality
in ways that weren't great.

564
00:27:19,103 --> 00:27:21,275
It was very chaotic.

565
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:24,000
Me and Todd were dating.

566
00:27:24,172 --> 00:27:25,793
He was two years older than me.

567
00:27:25,965 --> 00:27:29,206
He was very, like,
comforting and funny,

568
00:27:29,379 --> 00:27:32,310
and he was there
when I needed someone,

569
00:27:32,482 --> 00:27:34,068
and I got pregnant
my junior year.

570
00:27:35,793 --> 00:27:38,275
I had watched "16 and Pregnant."

571
00:27:38,448 --> 00:27:40,758
We just thought we were gonna
do it and make a paycheck.

572
00:27:44,310 --> 00:27:46,172
One day, I was talking
on the phone with, like,

573
00:27:46,344 --> 00:27:47,413
one of the producers.

574
00:27:47,586 --> 00:27:49,620
They were going back
and forth, picking girls.

575
00:27:49,793 --> 00:27:51,620
They were trying to choose.

576
00:27:51,793 --> 00:27:53,000
I mean, they asked
you a lot of, like,

577
00:27:53,172 --> 00:27:55,000
mental health questions.

578
00:27:55,172 --> 00:27:56,793
They're asking you stuff
from your childhood,

579
00:27:56,965 --> 00:27:59,586
current things like that.

580
00:27:59,758 --> 00:28:01,275
I honestly didn't think
we'd even get picked.

581
00:28:01,448 --> 00:28:03,379
I didn't think
we had enough, like, trauma.

582
00:28:03,551 --> 00:28:05,310
And there was things
that I knew

583
00:28:05,482 --> 00:28:08,310
I wasn't gonna share
on camera.

584
00:28:08,482 --> 00:28:11,689
I thought, automatically,
I thought, well, that's it.

585
00:28:11,862 --> 00:28:13,931
They're not, you know,
they're not gonna wanna do it.

586
00:28:19,275 --> 00:28:23,689
But then, I'm 17.
We were going on vacation.

587
00:28:23,862 --> 00:28:25,896
First vacation
I ever been on my entire life.

588
00:28:27,517 --> 00:28:32,482
I was, man, maybe
like 12 weeks pregnant,

589
00:28:32,655 --> 00:28:34,586
maybe a little farther along.

590
00:28:34,758 --> 00:28:37,206
[ominous tones play]

591
00:28:39,689 --> 00:28:41,275
We all went out in the water.

592
00:28:44,793 --> 00:28:47,000
My friend looked back at me
and said,

593
00:28:47,137 --> 00:28:48,896
"Don't come any further

594
00:28:49,034 --> 00:28:50,620
or you're gonna
get caught in the riptide."

595
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:56,689
But at that point, like,
I was caught in it.

596
00:28:59,586 --> 00:29:02,000
I blacked out.

597
00:29:02,137 --> 00:29:04,068
- [sirens wailing]
- [indistinct radio chatter]

598
00:29:05,413 --> 00:29:09,275
And then I remember, like,
the lifeguard coming, um...

599
00:29:10,586 --> 00:29:11,586
and yelling.

600
00:29:12,896 --> 00:29:16,620
And I had, like,
salt water in my lungs.

601
00:29:16,793 --> 00:29:20,172
They were trying to find
the heartbeat for the baby.

602
00:29:21,413 --> 00:29:24,172
I was looking around and, um...

603
00:29:25,172 --> 00:29:26,241
Todd wasn't there.

604
00:29:28,413 --> 00:29:30,931
I remember they called,
like, the Coast Guard

605
00:29:31,068 --> 00:29:32,000
to start looking.

606
00:29:32,172 --> 00:29:34,379
A few days later,
we got the phone call.

607
00:29:34,551 --> 00:29:36,413
The cleanup crew had found him.

608
00:29:42,896 --> 00:29:44,586
When all that was happening,
then you're just,

609
00:29:44,758 --> 00:29:48,379
like, focusing on being
pregnant and having this baby

610
00:29:48,551 --> 00:29:49,793
and hoping nothing happens
to the baby

611
00:29:49,965 --> 00:29:50,896
because it's all
you have left.

612
00:29:52,275 --> 00:29:54,000
I called the producer I had

613
00:29:54,172 --> 00:29:57,517
and told them
he had passed away.

614
00:29:58,758 --> 00:30:01,000
And I probably
won't do it anymore now.

615
00:30:02,689 --> 00:30:04,689
It was almost immediate.
They were like...

616
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:09,000
"We want you."

617
00:30:18,448 --> 00:30:19,758
[Simone] When you're casting
a reality show,

618
00:30:19,931 --> 00:30:21,275
you want compelling stories.

619
00:30:23,068 --> 00:30:26,586
And sometimes
that looks like casting someone

620
00:30:26,758 --> 00:30:28,896
who just lost
their baby's father.

621
00:30:30,172 --> 00:30:34,000
You could imagine that to be

622
00:30:34,137 --> 00:30:37,068
somewhat of a Machiavellian
move on part of producing,

623
00:30:38,551 --> 00:30:41,689
but her story had
become interesting.

624
00:30:41,862 --> 00:30:43,275
They wanted to investigate it.

625
00:30:43,448 --> 00:30:44,482
[Felicia]
The industry is pressure.

626
00:30:46,758 --> 00:30:48,379
It's entertainment.
We're always about,

627
00:30:48,551 --> 00:30:51,551
[singing Show Biz theme]
You know?

628
00:30:51,724 --> 00:30:53,551
How do I keep
these eyes on this show?

629
00:30:54,793 --> 00:30:58,862
What will viewers
wanna keep watching?

630
00:31:01,379 --> 00:31:03,793
[Dr. Drew] After a girl
is cast on the show,
they have to sign

631
00:31:03,965 --> 00:31:07,068
a contract or agreement
to appear on the TV show.

632
00:31:07,241 --> 00:31:09,689
But remember,
we're dealing with minors.

633
00:31:09,862 --> 00:31:13,344
So how much can an adolescent
pay attention to a contract

634
00:31:13,517 --> 00:31:17,034
or negotiate payment
or understand what down the road

635
00:31:17,206 --> 00:31:18,896
may be a consequence
from being on television?

636
00:31:19,034 --> 00:31:20,000
Essentially impossible.

637
00:31:20,172 --> 00:31:21,448
[producer speaking]

638
00:31:22,689 --> 00:31:24,379
No, no we don't care.

639
00:31:24,551 --> 00:31:26,862
I mean, I've-- I've never
read a contract in my life.

640
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,000
Usually it's just skip to sign,

641
00:31:29,137 --> 00:31:31,896
it's usually big words,
mumbo-jumbo.

642
00:31:32,034 --> 00:31:35,482
We don't know what any
of it means anyway at that age.

643
00:31:37,965 --> 00:31:40,103
[Felicia] Even an adult
doesn't really have a clue

644
00:31:40,275 --> 00:31:44,344
as to what really happens
to make a show like this.

645
00:31:46,793 --> 00:31:50,965
So why would we think
a 16-year-old would know?

646
00:31:51,103 --> 00:31:53,379
So they're relying on somebody
with a functioning frontal lobe

647
00:31:53,551 --> 00:31:55,000
hopefully, the parents.

648
00:31:55,172 --> 00:31:58,896
But, of course, parents may have
their own biases,

649
00:31:59,034 --> 00:32:02,655
their own mental health issues,
their own reasons for consenting

650
00:32:02,827 --> 00:32:04,103
to something like this
that may not be

651
00:32:04,275 --> 00:32:05,793
in the best interest
of the child.

652
00:32:08,241 --> 00:32:10,482
[Sabrina] So, when MTV first
started talking,

653
00:32:10,655 --> 00:32:13,000
immediately they pulled out
the contracts just to go over

654
00:32:13,172 --> 00:32:14,758
before even deciding to do it.

655
00:32:14,931 --> 00:32:19,275
It did say there was room
for negotiation, but my mom was

656
00:32:19,448 --> 00:32:21,275
like, "If you don't sign it,
maybe they won't, like,

657
00:32:21,448 --> 00:32:24,275
accept you or not want
you on the show."

658
00:32:24,448 --> 00:32:26,103
[producer speaking]

659
00:32:27,379 --> 00:32:29,034
Pff-- I doubt it.

660
00:32:29,206 --> 00:32:30,551
I know I didn't read it.

661
00:32:30,724 --> 00:32:31,689
We were just...

662
00:32:33,103 --> 00:32:34,275
poor people in Ohio.

663
00:32:34,448 --> 00:32:38,586
We were just like,
"Cool, sign me up."

664
00:32:38,758 --> 00:32:42,103
So I wanna tell you,
I was scared to ask.

665
00:32:42,275 --> 00:32:43,896
I was scared to talk about it.

666
00:32:44,034 --> 00:32:46,482
And if it was in my contract,
I definitely didn't read it,

667
00:32:46,655 --> 00:32:48,793
which is crazy
to think about now.

668
00:32:48,965 --> 00:32:52,172
But at 17, you're not really
thinking about it.

669
00:32:53,793 --> 00:32:55,586
So I just signed it,
I mean, I didn't think--

670
00:32:55,758 --> 00:32:56,862
And I didn't--
and I really didn't know

671
00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:58,586
how much I was gonna
get paid until, I think,

672
00:32:58,758 --> 00:32:59,896
I, like, got my first check.

673
00:33:02,068 --> 00:33:06,379
I think it's like $5,000,
like a total-- $5,000.

674
00:33:06,551 --> 00:33:08,793
I was like, "OK, well, at least
after, I could get a car."

675
00:33:08,965 --> 00:33:11,103
And I needed a car.

676
00:33:11,275 --> 00:33:15,448
And I used that $2,500,
the first $2,500,

677
00:33:15,620 --> 00:33:16,826
for things for the baby.

678
00:33:16,827 --> 00:33:19,689
The last $2,500, I think
I bought, like, a lot of beer

679
00:33:19,862 --> 00:33:21,379
for, like, house parties
and stuff.

680
00:33:21,551 --> 00:33:24,586
But, um, which was horrible.

681
00:33:26,482 --> 00:33:28,137
It was interesting when
I would tell people

682
00:33:28,310 --> 00:33:30,448
that I was working
on the show.

683
00:33:30,620 --> 00:33:33,000
Some were-- mm.

684
00:33:33,137 --> 00:33:35,172
Gave me a look like,
"Oh, I don't-- you know,

685
00:33:35,344 --> 00:33:37,862
you're glamorizing
teen pregnancy."

686
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:39,896
So I would always
reiterate that

687
00:33:40,034 --> 00:33:41,689
there's no glamour
involved here.

688
00:33:42,689 --> 00:33:45,655
If you look at any episode
of "16 and Pregnant,"

689
00:33:45,827 --> 00:33:47,862
you'll see the belly reveal,

690
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,172
doctor's appointments,
the hospital.

691
00:33:51,344 --> 00:33:52,793
This is not fun.

692
00:33:52,965 --> 00:33:54,586
We're not talking
"Housewives" here.

693
00:33:54,758 --> 00:33:58,103
They're not in glam,
OK, before they get to set.

694
00:33:58,275 --> 00:34:01,275
You know, they're wearing
their T-shirts and shorts,

695
00:34:01,448 --> 00:34:04,482
and they're not going
to Turks and Caicos, [chuckles].

696
00:34:04,655 --> 00:34:06,965
You know, this is real deal.

697
00:34:07,103 --> 00:34:10,103
We probably went out
every couple of weeks.

698
00:34:11,448 --> 00:34:15,689
And then once any of the girls
were about to deliver,

699
00:34:15,862 --> 00:34:17,275
then it was more of, like,

700
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,000
being in touch with her,
like, almost every day.

701
00:34:21,172 --> 00:34:24,034
Like, are you good?
Are we on?

702
00:34:24,206 --> 00:34:27,379
I would say during-- during
filming they were really good.

703
00:34:27,551 --> 00:34:29,482
It was-- during filming
they were really good.

704
00:34:32,689 --> 00:34:34,344
But the problem is...

705
00:34:43,689 --> 00:34:47,241
And I wasn't trained
or anything to handle it.

706
00:34:50,965 --> 00:34:55,655
One day I went to Walmart,
before the episode aired,

707
00:34:58,103 --> 00:35:01,137
I was not expecting
to see a picture...

708
00:35:03,344 --> 00:35:07,793
of me and Todd on the cover
of the "Star Magazine."

709
00:35:08,793 --> 00:35:10,586
It was just talking
about the accident

710
00:35:10,758 --> 00:35:16,793
and it was like implicating
that we murdered him there.

711
00:35:27,551 --> 00:35:29,758
[somber tones play]

712
00:35:29,931 --> 00:35:31,172
[Kristina]
It was a pretty big shock,

713
00:35:31,344 --> 00:35:33,793
'cause my episode
hadn't aired yet.

714
00:35:33,965 --> 00:35:35,172
But I remember thinking, like,

715
00:35:35,344 --> 00:35:36,793
"Nobody called
and asked me anything."

716
00:35:36,965 --> 00:35:39,448
Like, this was being put
out there, and then I was like,

717
00:35:39,620 --> 00:35:41,379
I had no voice to it at all.

718
00:35:41,551 --> 00:35:45,310
I did not ever think
that would happen, truly.

719
00:35:47,793 --> 00:35:50,448
[Dr. Drew]
Maybe these women thought
the show would be an escape,

720
00:35:50,620 --> 00:35:52,275
a chance for fame.

721
00:35:52,448 --> 00:35:55,000
But in the meantime,
they're being very public

722
00:35:55,172 --> 00:35:57,482
with their lives,
but we couldn't have predicted

723
00:35:57,655 --> 00:36:01,103
audiences treating them
as non-human entities

724
00:36:01,275 --> 00:36:03,379
and subject them to ridicule.

725
00:36:05,551 --> 00:36:06,896
I've talked to girls
who have said,

726
00:36:07,034 --> 00:36:08,793
you know, they got
called out in the street

727
00:36:08,965 --> 00:36:10,482
while they're pushing
their baby in a stroller

728
00:36:10,655 --> 00:36:12,689
and people are yelling at them
for something that they did

729
00:36:12,862 --> 00:36:14,551
in their episode.
They actually feel like,

730
00:36:14,724 --> 00:36:16,344
"Oh, God,
is this girl gonna hit me?"

731
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,965
You're no longer
a private person.

732
00:36:22,551 --> 00:36:25,689
Where it becomes stickier
with this particular show

733
00:36:27,068 --> 00:36:30,655
is the girl signed on--
yes, absolutely,

734
00:36:30,827 --> 00:36:32,896
they knew what they were doing,
they chose to be public figures.

735
00:36:34,689 --> 00:36:37,655
They've consented,
but can you consent

736
00:36:37,827 --> 00:36:39,137
when you're
a pregnant 15-year-old

737
00:36:39,310 --> 00:36:40,482
and you're desperate for money

738
00:36:40,655 --> 00:36:42,103
and you don't know
what you're going to do

739
00:36:42,275 --> 00:36:43,655
and you maybe don't
have the best parents?

740
00:36:45,793 --> 00:36:47,551
I don't think a lot
of these girls knew

741
00:36:47,724 --> 00:36:49,068
all of the negative aspects
of fame.

742
00:36:55,586 --> 00:36:57,689
[Jessica] I was
with Jamie for three months,

743
00:36:57,862 --> 00:36:59,482
and then I got pregnant.

744
00:36:59,655 --> 00:37:04,896
So I lived with Jamie
and Jamie's dad

745
00:37:05,965 --> 00:37:07,068
in a whole 'nother town.

746
00:37:08,344 --> 00:37:10,172
When we were filming
for the show, however,

747
00:37:10,344 --> 00:37:13,655
any time MTV came in,
maybe two times a month,

748
00:37:13,827 --> 00:37:16,482
I would go to my mom's house
and spend the night there.

749
00:37:16,655 --> 00:37:19,344
So we actually made
a bedroom there

750
00:37:20,896 --> 00:37:22,758
because my mom didn't
want the whole world

751
00:37:22,931 --> 00:37:25,655
to know that she let her
16-year-old daughter

752
00:37:25,827 --> 00:37:27,448
go live with her boyfriend.

753
00:37:27,620 --> 00:37:28,896
And there was even
a part in the show

754
00:37:29,034 --> 00:37:31,034
where she cries about it.

755
00:37:31,206 --> 00:37:36,241
Now, when people look at me,
they think that

756
00:37:36,413 --> 00:37:39,896
I'm this horrible person because
I have a 16-year-old daughter

757
00:37:40,034 --> 00:37:42,379
who's pregnant, which I worked
so hard to embed it

758
00:37:42,551 --> 00:37:46,758
in your head that this isn't
something that you wanted.

759
00:37:46,931 --> 00:37:49,137
[Dr. Drew] Well, I feel
terrible for both of them,

760
00:37:49,310 --> 00:37:53,172
obviously, but the thing
I heard was Mom saying,

761
00:37:53,344 --> 00:37:55,172
how could I put my daughter
back in the same environment

762
00:37:55,344 --> 00:37:57,034
where I got pregnant?
What did I expect?

763
00:37:57,206 --> 00:37:58,448
What's interesting to me,
she's caught up

764
00:37:58,620 --> 00:38:00,965
in her own stuff,
and she is not

765
00:38:01,103 --> 00:38:03,275
fully present for Jessica,
maybe the way she should be.

766
00:38:07,068 --> 00:38:10,793
[Jessica]
My mom probably thought
that me being on TV and pregnant

767
00:38:10,965 --> 00:38:16,137
would help with finances,
like things that are typically

768
00:38:16,310 --> 00:38:20,000
very difficult for, like,
just your average teen mom.

769
00:38:21,275 --> 00:38:24,793
But I didn't want our dirty
laundry out there.

770
00:38:24,965 --> 00:38:26,000
But we had a lot of it.

771
00:38:28,034 --> 00:38:30,482
When I gave birth,
I just recently went back

772
00:38:30,655 --> 00:38:32,103
and watched it, and I cried.

773
00:38:32,275 --> 00:38:34,172
[baby crying]

774
00:38:34,344 --> 00:38:37,689
So I was like, "That is really
such a beautiful thing to have."

775
00:38:37,862 --> 00:38:40,448
Like, I've never filmed
another labor and delivery.

776
00:38:40,620 --> 00:38:43,000
I only ever had that filmed.

777
00:38:43,137 --> 00:38:46,413
And yeah, it's beautiful
to be able to go back and look.

778
00:38:48,896 --> 00:38:51,965
The whole internet hated me
just from seeing my show,

779
00:38:52,103 --> 00:38:53,689
because the way
I talked and looked.

780
00:38:55,689 --> 00:38:58,379
I was 130 pounds
when I got pregnant with him.

781
00:38:58,551 --> 00:39:01,482
I was 223 when I gave birth.

782
00:39:01,655 --> 00:39:04,482
I gained 100 pounds
with that kid.

783
00:39:04,655 --> 00:39:05,896
And I was 16 years old,

784
00:39:06,034 --> 00:39:08,379
so I ruined my body
at such a young age.

785
00:39:08,551 --> 00:39:10,896
[dramatic music plays]

786
00:39:11,034 --> 00:39:15,172
[Dr. Drew]
This was in 2011, when social
media was really taking off.

787
00:39:15,344 --> 00:39:18,000
And these girls were facing
extraordinary stress,

788
00:39:18,172 --> 00:39:19,793
not just from being on TV,

789
00:39:19,965 --> 00:39:21,862
but the pressure
of social media.

790
00:39:22,896 --> 00:39:24,137
[notification chime]

791
00:39:25,379 --> 00:39:26,586
The day the show aired,

792
00:39:26,758 --> 00:39:29,482
I was dealing
with hate comments, negativity.

793
00:39:29,655 --> 00:39:31,275
[notification swoosh]

794
00:39:31,448 --> 00:39:34,275
[Jessica] It was like
hate from everywhere.

795
00:39:34,448 --> 00:39:38,758
"You fat cow,
you fat whale, fat,

796
00:39:38,931 --> 00:39:42,137
fat, fat, fat, fat, fat,
fat, fat."

797
00:39:42,310 --> 00:39:43,965
I logged onto Twitter

798
00:39:44,103 --> 00:39:46,172
and had people telling me
to kill myself.

799
00:39:55,379 --> 00:39:56,655
[Jessica]
When people watch this show,

800
00:39:56,827 --> 00:39:57,793
they think we're just
a character,

801
00:39:57,965 --> 00:39:59,689
we're not a real human being.

802
00:39:59,862 --> 00:40:04,896
And everybody on TV deals
with that, but we were children.

803
00:40:05,034 --> 00:40:08,137
And it's almost like people
forgot that we were children.

804
00:40:08,310 --> 00:40:12,482
Audiences are drawn
to instability and conflict

805
00:40:12,655 --> 00:40:14,551
and chaos
in these reality shows

806
00:40:14,724 --> 00:40:17,000
because it's what
we call hate-watching.

807
00:40:17,137 --> 00:40:20,241
There are fans who derive
pleasure from criticizing

808
00:40:20,413 --> 00:40:21,655
what's on their screen.

809
00:40:21,827 --> 00:40:24,586
[Dr. Drew] Young women
in particular gather in mobs

810
00:40:24,758 --> 00:40:26,137
and try to scapegoat.

811
00:40:26,310 --> 00:40:30,551
And what better scapegoat
than a helpless teenage mom?

812
00:40:30,724 --> 00:40:33,137
One study concluded that
hate is a strong driver

813
00:40:33,310 --> 00:40:34,758
for retaining viewers.

814
00:40:34,931 --> 00:40:37,655
For every 1% of hate response
on social media,

815
00:40:37,827 --> 00:40:41,034
there's a boost to viewership
for the following episode.

816
00:40:41,206 --> 00:40:43,448
That is more than double
the boost if the person said

817
00:40:43,620 --> 00:40:44,586
they, quote, "Loved it."

818
00:40:51,034 --> 00:40:55,068
I was on season four.
My mom was also a teen mom.

819
00:40:55,241 --> 00:40:57,034
She had me at 16.

820
00:40:57,206 --> 00:41:03,000
I think every teenager thinks
it would be fun to be on MTV.

821
00:41:04,896 --> 00:41:09,862
I was 16, and I met Ben
at a party.

822
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:14,000
He was cute, but there wasn't
really a relationship,

823
00:41:14,137 --> 00:41:16,241
and then we started
sleeping together.

824
00:41:16,413 --> 00:41:17,655
Still no relationship.

825
00:41:18,689 --> 00:41:20,275
I got pregnant at 17.

826
00:41:21,482 --> 00:41:23,655
When my episodes aired on TV,

827
00:41:24,689 --> 00:41:27,965
they were focusing
on my weight.

828
00:41:29,448 --> 00:41:34,551
MTV did the cartoon
of my cankles... dancing.

829
00:41:34,724 --> 00:41:37,068
I was like, "Oh gosh,
this is so embarrassing."

830
00:41:38,379 --> 00:41:42,241
And there was one time
they had my boyfriend

831
00:41:42,413 --> 00:41:45,275
go to the doctors with me,

832
00:41:45,448 --> 00:41:48,000
and I had stepped
on the scale

833
00:41:48,137 --> 00:41:50,586
and I had just broke 200 pounds.

834
00:41:50,758 --> 00:41:51,758
Oh, man.

835
00:41:51,931 --> 00:41:55,758
And so, one,
for the whole world to see

836
00:41:55,931 --> 00:41:59,172
and your new boyfriend
that you don't even have

837
00:41:59,344 --> 00:42:03,758
a solid relationship yet,
to see your weight

838
00:42:03,931 --> 00:42:07,000
and I just started crying.

839
00:42:09,448 --> 00:42:12,379
And they'd be like,
"Oh, we need to film this scene

840
00:42:12,551 --> 00:42:13,896
going to the lake."

841
00:42:14,034 --> 00:42:17,896
And I did not want to be
on camera in a swimsuit.

842
00:42:18,034 --> 00:42:19,448
They're like,
"Well, let's just do it.

843
00:42:19,620 --> 00:42:20,862
It'll be fun."

844
00:42:22,344 --> 00:42:24,241
[Dr. Drew] She clearly is
thinking about it.

845
00:42:24,413 --> 00:42:25,965
Remember, we were thinking
about, you know,

846
00:42:26,103 --> 00:42:28,103
discouraging teen pregnancy.

847
00:42:28,275 --> 00:42:30,241
What she was saying
about her body is

848
00:42:30,413 --> 00:42:32,103
one of the realities
of being a pregnant woman.

849
00:42:32,275 --> 00:42:35,000
And I'm sure they wanted
to portray that.

850
00:42:37,482 --> 00:42:39,896
[Hope] In preparation of doing
this interview,

851
00:42:40,034 --> 00:42:43,068
I went back and looked
at some of the old comments

852
00:42:43,241 --> 00:42:44,379
that I could find.

853
00:42:44,551 --> 00:42:47,034
Some of the comments
would be like,

854
00:42:47,206 --> 00:42:49,896
"Ew, her makeup's so bad."

855
00:42:50,034 --> 00:42:51,379
"Ew, she's fat."

856
00:42:52,689 --> 00:42:55,586
That I'm so boring
and I have no personality.

857
00:42:56,862 --> 00:42:58,068
I'm a bad mom.

858
00:42:59,793 --> 00:43:04,000
MTV did kind of sell me on it,
like, "Oh, it's gonna stop

859
00:43:04,137 --> 00:43:07,172
"the stigma on being
young and pregnant.

860
00:43:07,344 --> 00:43:11,379
It's gonna help other people
choose birth control."

861
00:43:11,551 --> 00:43:14,896
And I'm not sure
if I even helped anyone.

862
00:43:15,034 --> 00:43:17,793
I don't know that my story
made it easier

863
00:43:17,965 --> 00:43:21,000
for someone else.
I think all it did was hurt me.

864
00:43:22,862 --> 00:43:25,586
[producer speaking]

865
00:43:25,758 --> 00:43:27,655
So I went into--

866
00:43:27,827 --> 00:43:30,689
they--
I got to choose the date

867
00:43:30,862 --> 00:43:35,172
that Tristan was born on
because I was getting induced.

868
00:43:35,344 --> 00:43:38,241
And by the evening,
they told me that

869
00:43:38,413 --> 00:43:42,586
my contractions were coming
too hard and too fast

870
00:43:42,758 --> 00:43:47,137
and that we needed to have
a C-section.

871
00:43:48,655 --> 00:43:52,034
I remember the show being
so excited that they were going

872
00:43:52,206 --> 00:43:54,103
to actually film my C-section.

873
00:43:54,275 --> 00:43:55,482
Like, "This is the first time

874
00:43:55,655 --> 00:43:58,000
we're, like, getting
the whole on camera."

875
00:44:00,344 --> 00:44:02,275
And I'm feeling
all this pressure

876
00:44:02,448 --> 00:44:04,551
and already have anxiety.

877
00:44:06,379 --> 00:44:11,000
They have a bucket of blood
that's being like sucked up

878
00:44:11,172 --> 00:44:12,793
right by my head.

879
00:44:12,965 --> 00:44:16,068
And just these cameras
all around me

880
00:44:16,241 --> 00:44:19,000
and all these noises beeping.

881
00:44:19,172 --> 00:44:20,758
[medical device beeping]

882
00:44:21,793 --> 00:44:24,275
I just remember being
so scared.

883
00:44:25,482 --> 00:44:27,482
- [music playing]
- [indistinct chattering]

884
00:44:30,896 --> 00:44:32,103
[Hope] Oh, my God.

885
00:44:32,275 --> 00:44:34,000
Even if you get
pregnant young,

886
00:44:34,137 --> 00:44:35,689
it doesn't mean your life
is over.

887
00:44:35,862 --> 00:44:40,448
If anything,
Tristan made my life better.

888
00:44:40,620 --> 00:44:42,965
I often wonder,
what would my life been

889
00:44:43,103 --> 00:44:44,344
if I didn't get pregnant?

890
00:44:45,586 --> 00:44:49,344
But you're at a point where
you have a baby

891
00:44:49,517 --> 00:44:52,896
and you have a family,
and you don't really care.

892
00:44:55,344 --> 00:44:57,551
[producer speaking]

893
00:45:00,068 --> 00:45:02,586
[sighs] I would say yes and no.

894
00:45:02,758 --> 00:45:05,379
I don't go back
and watch the show

895
00:45:05,551 --> 00:45:09,482
because it just brings up a lot
of feelings I don't care to...

896
00:45:11,103 --> 00:45:12,689
relive again.

897
00:45:12,862 --> 00:45:15,896
So, I'm glad that they have

898
00:45:16,034 --> 00:45:19,379
the first moments
for Tristan to see.

899
00:45:20,482 --> 00:45:22,862
For me, I don't know
that I necessarily want to

900
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:24,344
go back and look at it.

901
00:45:26,793 --> 00:45:30,103
Ben did not like the way
he was portrayed.

902
00:45:32,586 --> 00:45:35,448
Do you think we're in a good
place in our relationship?

903
00:45:35,620 --> 00:45:38,000
My relationship with Ben
was good,

904
00:45:38,137 --> 00:45:42,896
but Ben made a comment that
he would rather live in a tent

905
00:45:43,034 --> 00:45:48,172
than have a conversation
about us moving in with his mom.

906
00:45:48,344 --> 00:45:51,655
And MTV went, "Wait,

907
00:45:51,827 --> 00:45:54,000
can we film you
setting up a tent?"

908
00:45:54,137 --> 00:45:57,482
And Ben's like, "I will only
do this if I never have

909
00:45:57,655 --> 00:46:00,482
to film anything ever again."

910
00:46:01,758 --> 00:46:03,965
So they have him sitting
in an empty tent.

911
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:06,137
I feel like...

912
00:46:07,793 --> 00:46:11,448
having your relationship
on a microscope for everyone

913
00:46:11,620 --> 00:46:13,896
to see causes more issues.

914
00:46:14,034 --> 00:46:18,000
So, I feel like whenever
we stopped filming,

915
00:46:18,172 --> 00:46:23,068
it made our relationship better
and just made us both

916
00:46:23,241 --> 00:46:24,379
happy overall.

917
00:46:31,655 --> 00:46:35,103
[producer speaking]

918
00:46:37,586 --> 00:46:39,172
I'm not gonna lie and say,
like, the attention.

919
00:46:39,344 --> 00:46:41,551
I obviously wanted
some kind of, like, attention.

920
00:46:41,724 --> 00:46:44,379
But outside of that, I think
I was thinking that,

921
00:46:44,551 --> 00:46:47,000
like, "Yeah, we can do this."
Like, "We've got this.

922
00:46:47,137 --> 00:46:49,862
We're gonna show them
that we've got this."

923
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:54,034
That was my expectation.
And I do still watch it.

924
00:46:54,206 --> 00:46:55,241
I'm like,
"Yeah, you did get that,

925
00:46:55,413 --> 00:46:58,275
just not in the way
that you anticipated."

926
00:47:04,275 --> 00:47:06,965
My story is different
than other girls.

927
00:47:08,689 --> 00:47:11,448
I grew up very Mormon
and religious,

928
00:47:11,620 --> 00:47:13,551
and I bring that up
because I do think it shaped

929
00:47:13,724 --> 00:47:16,275
a lot of how
my childhood went.

930
00:47:16,448 --> 00:47:18,034
I didn't talk about sex
in my household.

931
00:47:18,206 --> 00:47:20,068
Yeah, we didn't talk
about sex at all

932
00:47:21,448 --> 00:47:24,482
because in Utah, it is
very abstinence-based.

933
00:47:24,655 --> 00:47:26,551
I don't remember learning
about condoms, birth control,

934
00:47:26,724 --> 00:47:28,551
or anything in high school.

935
00:47:28,724 --> 00:47:31,000
And at home, especially,
we were not having

936
00:47:31,137 --> 00:47:32,793
that conversation
because you don't have sex

937
00:47:32,965 --> 00:47:35,103
until you're married,
so why would we talk about it?

938
00:47:37,172 --> 00:47:42,137
I met my daughter's dad,
Tony, when I was, uh, 15.

939
00:47:43,655 --> 00:47:45,275
I was in science class,

940
00:47:46,275 --> 00:47:49,482
and he kept looking at me.
Then we started hanging out.

941
00:47:49,655 --> 00:47:52,793
I think I liked the attention.
You know, I think...

942
00:47:53,793 --> 00:47:55,000
[sighs]

943
00:47:57,000 --> 00:47:59,586
I don't think it really
mattered who he was

944
00:47:59,758 --> 00:48:01,344
as a person,
or, you know, I think

945
00:48:01,517 --> 00:48:03,896
I just liked that this boy was
giving me attention.

946
00:48:07,896 --> 00:48:10,965
Very quickly, he wanted to,
like, hold my hand,

947
00:48:11,103 --> 00:48:13,034
and he wanted to kiss.

948
00:48:13,206 --> 00:48:15,551
We were in a bedroom
alone together, you know?

949
00:48:15,724 --> 00:48:17,000
I'm like,
"Oh, you wanna do what?"

950
00:48:17,172 --> 00:48:20,827
And so it was scary,
but we did.

951
00:48:23,275 --> 00:48:25,793
So I was 17 when I found out
I was pregnant.

952
00:48:27,275 --> 00:48:30,034
And then we go to
the ultrasound with my doctor,

953
00:48:30,206 --> 00:48:32,448
and we find out
we might be having twins.

954
00:48:33,965 --> 00:48:35,000
My mom cried.

955
00:48:35,172 --> 00:48:36,896
My mom cried for, like,
a week straight.

956
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:40,482
[voice trembles]
She was just heartbroken,

957
00:48:40,655 --> 00:48:42,103
as I imagine I would be,
too, if my daughters

958
00:48:42,275 --> 00:48:43,689
got pregnant at that age.

959
00:48:43,862 --> 00:48:46,000
My parents were
very supportive, though.

960
00:48:46,172 --> 00:48:49,379
Now, her and her boyfriend
decide to get married

961
00:48:49,551 --> 00:48:52,379
so that they can officially
raise these kids

962
00:48:52,551 --> 00:48:54,413
as a family unit.

963
00:48:56,896 --> 00:48:59,551
[Karley] I remember thinking,
"I wonder if MTV's casting."

964
00:48:59,724 --> 00:49:01,000
Tony was like, "Let's do it."

965
00:49:01,137 --> 00:49:02,689
He's like,
"We're gonna be famous.

966
00:49:02,862 --> 00:49:04,758
"This is gonna be awesome.

967
00:49:04,931 --> 00:49:06,137
We're going to look so good."

968
00:49:07,275 --> 00:49:10,275
[producer speaking]

969
00:49:20,551 --> 00:49:22,482
Maybe.
Maybe in the beginning.

970
00:49:22,655 --> 00:49:23,826
Absolutely.

971
00:49:23,827 --> 00:49:26,275
I was like, "Oh, my God,
my life is about to change."

972
00:49:26,448 --> 00:49:28,275
And then I had babies,
and everything changed.

973
00:49:30,551 --> 00:49:33,137
With twins, I think I was just
in survival mode,

974
00:49:33,310 --> 00:49:35,000
just, like, doing what needs
to be done.

975
00:49:36,379 --> 00:49:38,172
I think I was...

976
00:49:39,241 --> 00:49:41,275
[sighs]...thinking about
my daughters.

977
00:49:41,448 --> 00:49:44,172
I think I was thinking
about everything except for

978
00:49:44,344 --> 00:49:46,689
how I was feeling and what
I needed or what I wanted.

979
00:49:49,862 --> 00:49:52,379
And then we were
actually filming,

980
00:49:52,551 --> 00:49:57,034
and that was
such a stressful time.

981
00:49:57,206 --> 00:49:59,965
And it wasn't stressful because
of anything the show provided.

982
00:50:00,103 --> 00:50:02,793
It was stressful because who
I was filming with.

983
00:50:02,965 --> 00:50:03,896
And yeah.

984
00:50:05,896 --> 00:50:07,896
I grew up with
this expectation, right?

985
00:50:08,034 --> 00:50:10,586
The man goes to work,
and then he comes home,

986
00:50:10,758 --> 00:50:12,551
and he provides.

987
00:50:15,586 --> 00:50:16,793
But-- and I knew this was

988
00:50:16,965 --> 00:50:17,896
a stressful time
for my parents.

989
00:50:18,034 --> 00:50:19,482
You know, they had to pick up

990
00:50:19,655 --> 00:50:21,172
extra financial support.

991
00:50:21,344 --> 00:50:24,103
They had to start support--
you know, they were doing

992
00:50:24,275 --> 00:50:25,689
so much for me.

993
00:50:25,862 --> 00:50:27,689
And this is one of those
memories that's not great,

994
00:50:27,862 --> 00:50:30,344
so I don't have a lot of details
surrounding it,

995
00:50:30,517 --> 00:50:32,793
but we were still living
at my mom's house,

996
00:50:32,965 --> 00:50:35,586
and something did happen
between Tony and I

997
00:50:35,758 --> 00:50:39,103
that we got into a really,
really, really bad argument,

998
00:50:39,275 --> 00:50:40,896
and, um...

999
00:50:45,586 --> 00:50:47,551
The cameras weren't there.

1000
00:50:47,724 --> 00:50:50,034
But at that point,
my relationship with Tony

1001
00:50:50,206 --> 00:50:53,655
already wasn't great,
and my producer had called me.

1002
00:50:53,827 --> 00:50:55,344
They called me,
and they're like, "Hey,

1003
00:50:55,517 --> 00:50:56,551
"Tony let us know
what happened.

1004
00:50:56,724 --> 00:50:58,275
We're coming down,
an emergency trip."

1005
00:50:59,275 --> 00:51:01,103
I'm thinking, you know,
we don't--

1006
00:51:01,275 --> 00:51:03,793
I don't wanna-- this is not
something I wanna talk about.

1007
00:51:05,172 --> 00:51:08,758
And this is when everything
comes crashing down.

1008
00:51:18,379 --> 00:51:21,379
[Dr. Drew]
There are gray areas
that we, you know, worried--

1009
00:51:21,551 --> 00:51:22,862
did we do
the right thing?

1010
00:51:23,655 --> 00:51:26,551
That's inevitable in situations
like this when you're going

1011
00:51:26,724 --> 00:51:28,241
into very
stressful environments

1012
00:51:28,413 --> 00:51:31,000
and showing people's lives
on television.

1013
00:51:33,448 --> 00:51:37,000
OK, I remember this.
This is Carly's episode

1014
00:51:37,172 --> 00:51:38,551
from season five.

1015
00:51:38,724 --> 00:51:39,792
[Cindy] You know what, Tony?

1016
00:51:39,793 --> 00:51:41,172
Part of me would like
you guys to move out.

1017
00:51:41,344 --> 00:51:43,275
The tension really comes out

1018
00:51:43,448 --> 00:51:47,482
in the dynamic between Tony,
the husband, and Karley's mom,

1019
00:51:47,655 --> 00:51:50,275
because her mom is very adamant

1020
00:51:50,448 --> 00:51:54,172
about the two of them staying
there so that she can help them

1021
00:51:54,344 --> 00:51:56,068
raise these twins.

1022
00:51:56,241 --> 00:51:59,586
[Cindy]
I don't feel like you really
know how much we really...

1023
00:51:59,758 --> 00:52:01,896
[Ashley] Oh, you can see
how uncomfortable Karley is.

1024
00:52:02,034 --> 00:52:04,862
She is wanting her cameras
gone so bad.

1025
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:06,655
You can see it
all over her face.

1026
00:52:06,827 --> 00:52:08,000
Well, if
it's a big deal, then...

1027
00:52:08,172 --> 00:52:09,034
No, it's not a big deal.

1028
00:52:09,206 --> 00:52:10,586
It's just a little bit
of grat--

1029
00:52:10,758 --> 00:52:12,344
a little bit of gratefulness.

1030
00:52:12,517 --> 00:52:13,655
[Tony]
Do I not show appreciation?

1031
00:52:13,827 --> 00:52:14,896
[Cindy]
No, last night you didn't.

1032
00:52:15,034 --> 00:52:16,896
But I work my ass off
every [bleep] day.

1033
00:52:17,034 --> 00:52:18,378
- I--
- Oh, my gosh.

1034
00:52:18,379 --> 00:52:23,137
You can see his anger building,
and it looks like the women

1035
00:52:23,310 --> 00:52:25,275
know exactly what's
about to happen.

1036
00:52:26,586 --> 00:52:27,862
[sighs] Oh, man.

1037
00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:30,068
Your mom's [bleep] crazy.
I'm leaving.

1038
00:52:30,241 --> 00:52:31,482
I--
Tony, I work every--

1039
00:52:31,655 --> 00:52:33,172
[Tony]
Shut the [bleep] up, Cindy.

1040
00:52:33,344 --> 00:52:34,586
You're [bleep] crazy.

1041
00:52:34,758 --> 00:52:36,000
[Karley] Tony, don't sit there

1042
00:52:36,137 --> 00:52:37,379
and talk to her like that.
- It's fine.

1043
00:52:37,551 --> 00:52:39,896
The fact that he can talk
to the grandparents like that

1044
00:52:40,034 --> 00:52:41,793
is astonishing.

1045
00:52:41,965 --> 00:52:43,482
I go to work every [bleep] day.

1046
00:52:43,655 --> 00:52:45,448
- [Cindy] I do too!
- I [bleep] work my ass off.

1047
00:52:45,620 --> 00:52:47,379
I think I was [bleep] scared
and didn't know what to do.

1048
00:52:47,551 --> 00:52:48,896
And then I come home
and get told I don't know

1049
00:52:49,034 --> 00:52:51,103
what's coming towards me?
- I didn't say it like that!

1050
00:52:51,275 --> 00:52:52,586
[Cindy] Shut the [bleep] up.

1051
00:52:52,758 --> 00:52:53,723
[Karley] Get out.

1052
00:52:53,724 --> 00:52:54,758
You're not gonna talk to her
like that.

1053
00:52:54,931 --> 00:52:56,275
- [bleep] you.
- [Karley] Seriously.

1054
00:52:57,275 --> 00:52:58,586
[bleep] I hate this Tony.

1055
00:52:58,758 --> 00:53:00,067
I hate this!

1056
00:53:00,068 --> 00:53:03,137
[crying] I hate this!
I don't wanna do it anymore!

1057
00:53:03,310 --> 00:53:04,517
[shrieking]

1058
00:53:06,482 --> 00:53:09,551
Oh my gosh, I gotta imagine
that she's probably really

1059
00:53:09,724 --> 00:53:11,689
embarrassed that this is
what people are going to see

1060
00:53:11,862 --> 00:53:12,793
of her family.

1061
00:53:14,103 --> 00:53:15,896
[Karley] My mom was not happy.

1062
00:53:16,034 --> 00:53:18,137
I think that's probably one
of the hardest things

1063
00:53:18,310 --> 00:53:19,586
I struggle with,

1064
00:53:19,758 --> 00:53:22,793
with my episode,
is how people perceive her.

1065
00:53:27,793 --> 00:53:30,172
And I don't like the way
people demonized her for it.

1066
00:53:35,137 --> 00:53:38,034
My mom said, "Yes,"
and she had to participate,

1067
00:53:38,206 --> 00:53:39,758
but I think about it sometimes.

1068
00:53:39,931 --> 00:53:42,689
I put her in this
insane situation

1069
00:53:42,862 --> 00:53:45,275
that she was uncomfortable in
and didn't wanna be in,

1070
00:53:45,448 --> 00:53:47,896
and she did a really good job.
You know, she was--

1071
00:53:48,034 --> 00:53:49,275
and she did it for me.

1072
00:53:50,068 --> 00:53:53,551
And that broke me and ruined me
for years, so. [sniffles]

1073
00:53:57,172 --> 00:54:01,379
So Tony and I, after the show,
it didn't turn around

1074
00:54:01,551 --> 00:54:04,482
for the better.
It only got worse from there.

1075
00:54:05,862 --> 00:54:09,034
We stayed together, I wanna say,
'til they were two.

1076
00:54:10,862 --> 00:54:13,689
I really wanted the chance
to talk to the dads,

1077
00:54:13,862 --> 00:54:16,103
'cause I was so disappointed.

1078
00:54:16,275 --> 00:54:17,862
None of them stuck around.

1079
00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:21,103
And these were about the most
important relationships

1080
00:54:21,275 --> 00:54:22,862
in anyone's life,

1081
00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:24,551
and very few
of the relationships

1082
00:54:24,724 --> 00:54:26,379
seen on "16 and Pregnant" last.

1083
00:54:26,551 --> 00:54:28,103
But keep in mind
how many teen couples

1084
00:54:28,275 --> 00:54:30,103
just in general stay together,

1085
00:54:30,275 --> 00:54:33,241
and how many teen moms stay
with the baby's father.

1086
00:54:33,413 --> 00:54:35,482
Statistically, that's very few.

1087
00:54:35,655 --> 00:54:37,241
This is the reality of--

1088
00:54:37,413 --> 00:54:39,172
the ripple effect
of teen pregnancy.

1089
00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:44,586
I consider the show a triumph

1090
00:54:44,758 --> 00:54:46,862
because it accomplished
what we set out to do.

1091
00:54:51,068 --> 00:54:53,896
After the episode aired,
I still have questions.

1092
00:54:58,586 --> 00:55:01,068
I wanna know more about
what their life is like,

1093
00:55:03,551 --> 00:55:05,586
why people have succeeded
and been resilient

1094
00:55:05,758 --> 00:55:07,068
where they have,

1095
00:55:07,896 --> 00:55:10,310
and why people have struggled
where things didn't go so well.

1096
00:55:12,793 --> 00:55:15,137
My name is Aleah LeBouf.
I was on season five.

1097
00:55:20,482 --> 00:55:22,482
It's just been me and my mom,
our whole lives.

1098
00:55:22,655 --> 00:55:26,655
And I loved my mom.
I adored her.

1099
00:55:26,827 --> 00:55:28,586
A lot of times when we were
struggling or our electric was

1100
00:55:28,758 --> 00:55:31,068
off or no running water,
you know, I'd always tell her,

1101
00:55:31,241 --> 00:55:33,068
like, "You're a good mom
anyways, Mom.

1102
00:55:33,241 --> 00:55:34,482
I love you."

1103
00:55:34,655 --> 00:55:36,172
And then she met my stepdad.

1104
00:55:36,344 --> 00:55:38,275
If I locked my keys in my car,
that's who I called.

1105
00:55:38,448 --> 00:55:40,068
If I was broke down,
that's who I called.

1106
00:55:40,241 --> 00:55:42,068
That was my dad.

1107
00:55:44,551 --> 00:55:46,896
But my mom struggled
throughout my whole childhood

1108
00:55:47,034 --> 00:55:51,655
and started doing drugs
whenever I was pretty young.

1109
00:55:51,827 --> 00:55:54,379
When I fell into teenagehood,
I wanted to drink

1110
00:55:54,551 --> 00:55:58,172
with my friends, and I wanted
to hang out and smoke weed,

1111
00:55:58,344 --> 00:56:02,137
do illicit drugs,
and that's when I ended up

1112
00:56:02,310 --> 00:56:03,655
in juvenile the first time.

1113
00:56:05,068 --> 00:56:07,586
I was in juvenile
for a total of three years.

1114
00:56:07,758 --> 00:56:09,689
And that's when I met Sean.

1115
00:56:09,862 --> 00:56:11,344
I was 16.

1116
00:56:11,517 --> 00:56:15,379
One of the unfortunate aspects
of being in criminal detention

1117
00:56:15,551 --> 00:56:17,586
is sometimes people find
each other there,

1118
00:56:17,758 --> 00:56:20,379
and that's a bad sign.
It does not go well.

1119
00:56:24,586 --> 00:56:27,137
As soon as we both got
out of juvenile detention,

1120
00:56:27,310 --> 00:56:28,551
I wanna say
whenever I turned 17,

1121
00:56:28,724 --> 00:56:29,999
I moved out
of my parents' house.

1122
00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:32,379
We got our first apartment
maybe two, three months later.

1123
00:56:32,551 --> 00:56:34,793
And then I find out
I'm pregnant.

1124
00:56:37,241 --> 00:56:40,379
So, Aleah has
type 1 diabetes.

1125
00:56:40,551 --> 00:56:42,000
She was already
insulin-dependent,

1126
00:56:42,172 --> 00:56:43,965
and she's pregnant,
and the metabolism of pregnancy

1127
00:56:44,103 --> 00:56:46,379
is highly unpredictable
for diabetes,

1128
00:56:46,551 --> 00:56:48,000
and it makes the pregnancy
high-risk

1129
00:56:48,172 --> 00:56:49,689
of various complications.

1130
00:56:51,103 --> 00:56:54,655
[Aleah] My actual birth-birth
was not filmed

1131
00:56:54,827 --> 00:56:58,379
because my doctors were not
comfortable with filming

1132
00:56:58,551 --> 00:57:00,448
a high-risk pregnancy.

1133
00:57:00,620 --> 00:57:03,862
But whenever I started filming,
they wanted as many details

1134
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:06,000
as possible.
- Genetically go to...

1135
00:57:06,172 --> 00:57:08,172
Voice the issues
that we were having...

1136
00:57:08,344 --> 00:57:09,551
It's 285.

1137
00:57:09,724 --> 00:57:11,793
...and talk about the possible
birth defects.

1138
00:57:11,965 --> 00:57:16,275
Doctor doesn't want
to chance a stillbirth.

1139
00:57:16,448 --> 00:57:19,172
It was just a consistent
anxiety for me.

1140
00:57:19,344 --> 00:57:21,586
But yeah, I believe it was
an accurate portrayal

1141
00:57:21,758 --> 00:57:25,551
of my actual fears
and anxieties at that time.

1142
00:57:25,724 --> 00:57:29,379
We had Peyton, and she was
healthy and beautiful

1143
00:57:29,551 --> 00:57:33,689
and just honestly the easiest,
best baby ever.

1144
00:57:33,862 --> 00:57:38,275
She hardly ever cried.
She made parenthood easy.

1145
00:57:38,448 --> 00:57:39,482
It was all the other stuff...

1146
00:57:40,586 --> 00:57:42,172
that made parenthood hard.

1147
00:57:45,586 --> 00:57:47,482
At that point
when the show ended,

1148
00:57:47,655 --> 00:57:49,482
life hadn't hit me hard yet.

1149
00:57:49,655 --> 00:57:52,000
Life didn't hit me hard
until a year later.

1150
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:55,344
[Dr. Drew] So Aleah was
very close to her stepfather.

1151
00:57:55,517 --> 00:57:58,206
Unfortunately, he is killed
in a tragic accident.

1152
00:58:00,758 --> 00:58:02,586
[Aleah] And then...

1153
00:58:02,758 --> 00:58:06,034
my mom, who was on crack
when I was younger,

1154
00:58:06,206 --> 00:58:08,379
got her life together
and then, uh,

1155
00:58:09,896 --> 00:58:11,689
you know, to get a call
from a coworker of hers,

1156
00:58:11,862 --> 00:58:13,344
and he said, "Are you
sitting down somewhere?"

1157
00:58:15,275 --> 00:58:18,379
And I said, "Ray, don't say it."
I was like, "Don't say it, Ray."

1158
00:58:18,551 --> 00:58:20,103
"You can't, you can't--
[sharp inhale]

1159
00:58:21,655 --> 00:58:22,689
Ray, don't say it."

1160
00:58:22,862 --> 00:58:24,172
And he said, "I am so sorry."

1161
00:58:24,344 --> 00:58:26,586
And I just threw my phone
on the wall, and it shattered.

1162
00:58:29,034 --> 00:58:30,896
They found her keeled over dead

1163
00:58:31,034 --> 00:58:34,965
in a shitty, shitty
crack hotel.

1164
00:58:35,103 --> 00:58:38,482
Cause of death was cocaine
and a fentanyl overdose.

1165
00:58:38,655 --> 00:58:42,758
[crying] And then I said,
"You selfish bitch.

1166
00:58:42,931 --> 00:58:46,000
"you selfish bitch.
You [bleep]-- [sobs].

1167
00:58:47,103 --> 00:58:49,379
You left me here."

1168
00:58:49,551 --> 00:58:50,655
And then I just fell
on the floor

1169
00:58:50,827 --> 00:58:52,000
and I just started crying.
[sharp inhale]

1170
00:58:52,172 --> 00:58:53,793
And I mean, I was
in a fetal position.

1171
00:58:55,689 --> 00:58:59,379
I started grieving hard
and spiraling,

1172
00:58:59,551 --> 00:59:01,275
going out drinking a lot
with my friends,

1173
00:59:01,448 --> 00:59:02,965
not really being able
to go to work.

1174
00:59:04,034 --> 00:59:06,448
[Simone] And at this time,
Aleah had four kids

1175
00:59:06,620 --> 00:59:07,896
with three different fathers.

1176
00:59:09,103 --> 00:59:10,793
[Aleah] Since my parents died,
I've been homeless

1177
00:59:10,965 --> 00:59:14,379
and I've slept out in my truck
with the kids.

1178
00:59:14,551 --> 00:59:18,482
And now I see certain places
when I drive past and I think,

1179
00:59:20,344 --> 00:59:21,793
"If me and the kids
had to sleep in a tent,

1180
00:59:21,965 --> 00:59:23,137
[voice trembling]
that'd be a good place to go."

1181
00:59:27,068 --> 00:59:29,758
I know that it's easier...

1182
00:59:29,931 --> 00:59:33,896
to steal butcher ground beef
than it is to steal the rolls.

1183
00:59:37,655 --> 00:59:38,758
[sniffles]

1184
00:59:38,931 --> 00:59:41,172
I know that hospital
parking lots are

1185
00:59:41,344 --> 00:59:43,000
the best place to go
and sleep at, at night,

1186
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:46,586
'cause they cover
the wind and the cold,

1187
00:59:46,758 --> 00:59:50,275
and [sniffles] typically people
park there overnight.

1188
00:59:50,448 --> 00:59:52,379
Nobody notices.

1189
00:59:52,551 --> 00:59:54,965
'Cause they have
security cops don't go in there.

1190
00:59:55,103 --> 00:59:56,655
And then I wouldn't get
the kids taken away.

1191
01:00:00,448 --> 01:00:02,241
[sniffles]

1192
01:00:02,413 --> 01:00:03,586
And worrying about
that kind of stuff,

1193
01:00:03,758 --> 01:00:05,379
it changes you a little bit,
you know?

1194
01:00:09,000 --> 01:00:12,413
[Jessica]
I was on "16 and Pregnant,"
season three.

1195
01:00:14,896 --> 01:00:18,379
We first meet Jessica
as a 16-year-old girl

1196
01:00:18,551 --> 01:00:20,275
with her boyfriend, Jamie.

1197
01:00:20,448 --> 01:00:25,137
It seems like she had
a really unstable upbringing.

1198
01:00:25,310 --> 01:00:28,482
And dealing with all this hate
and backlash online...

1199
01:00:29,551 --> 01:00:31,379
after the show, you wonder

1200
01:00:31,551 --> 01:00:33,965
what happened to this person
after they gave birth.

1201
01:00:35,000 --> 01:00:38,862
Being on that show is like
the weirdest bubble, I mean,

1202
01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:40,862
'cause you gotta think,
you go from being just

1203
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:46,103
a regular person, you wake up,
you do whatever, you go to bed.

1204
01:00:46,275 --> 01:00:50,275
Now you wake up and you can't
even get on social media

1205
01:00:50,448 --> 01:00:54,379
without seeing the worst
of worst.

1206
01:00:55,379 --> 01:00:57,793
[baby crying]

1207
01:00:57,965 --> 01:00:59,448
[Jessica]
I just started partying

1208
01:01:00,482 --> 01:01:02,793
and then all of a sudden, pills.

1209
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:08,482
I started going into the parties
and we were doing Xanax,

1210
01:01:08,655 --> 01:01:10,000
and then it was Percocet.

1211
01:01:10,137 --> 01:01:14,172
And I was 17, and had somebody
shoot me up with heroin.

1212
01:01:14,344 --> 01:01:15,379
[baby cries fade]

1213
01:01:20,896 --> 01:01:22,413
[Dr. Drew] Online negativity
certainly isn't

1214
01:01:22,586 --> 01:01:25,620
what causes addiction, per se,
but it might have motivated her

1215
01:01:25,793 --> 01:01:28,000
seeking relief
with a substance, certainly.

1216
01:01:29,413 --> 01:01:31,689
And heroin addicts do not
attend to their kids.

1217
01:01:36,172 --> 01:01:38,689
[Jessica] To the outside world,
I was a functioning addict.

1218
01:01:39,689 --> 01:01:41,689
To the inside world,
I was dying.

1219
01:01:44,137 --> 01:01:46,413
I always knew it wasn't OK,
but in my head,

1220
01:01:47,448 --> 01:01:49,827
I kept a house, job, car.

1221
01:01:51,758 --> 01:01:56,000
I thought, "I'm fine.
I'm still being an OK mom."

1222
01:01:56,137 --> 01:01:58,517
It's not like he wasn't getting
fed or clothed,

1223
01:01:58,689 --> 01:02:01,620
but emotionally,
I just wasn't there

1224
01:02:01,793 --> 01:02:03,206
like I should have been.

1225
01:02:05,689 --> 01:02:08,551
I don't think I was like,
"Oh, because of this show,

1226
01:02:08,724 --> 01:02:09,586
I'm gonna go do drugs."

1227
01:02:09,758 --> 01:02:11,655
But I think naturally, yeah,

1228
01:02:11,827 --> 01:02:13,896
it was the only thing
that I could numb...

1229
01:02:15,103 --> 01:02:16,896
everything with, was drugs.

1230
01:02:19,034 --> 01:02:21,068
[Dr. Drew]
She has plenty of reasons
to be upset

1231
01:02:21,241 --> 01:02:23,517
with the negativity she had
to suffer through

1232
01:02:23,689 --> 01:02:26,137
and how she perceives it
as having contributed

1233
01:02:26,310 --> 01:02:28,310
to her progression of addiction.

1234
01:02:28,482 --> 01:02:32,379
The first steps of sobriety are
about dealing with resentments,

1235
01:02:32,551 --> 01:02:34,000
and if she is not doing that,

1236
01:02:34,172 --> 01:02:36,620
resentments become a reason
to continue to use.

1237
01:02:40,068 --> 01:02:41,931
[Jessica] A year after the show,

1238
01:02:44,379 --> 01:02:46,965
my grandma and I get
into a heated,

1239
01:02:47,103 --> 01:02:48,758
heated yelling match,

1240
01:02:48,931 --> 01:02:50,275
and I'm sure
it was my fault.

1241
01:02:50,448 --> 01:02:51,379
[indistinct cries]

1242
01:02:51,551 --> 01:02:54,103
She tried to push open
my bedroom door

1243
01:02:54,275 --> 01:02:56,137
and then I pushed
the door back.

1244
01:02:56,310 --> 01:02:59,137
And then she fell back
onto the ground.

1245
01:02:59,310 --> 01:03:01,758
And the neighbors heard us
screaming at each other.

1246
01:03:03,517 --> 01:03:05,655
And they call the cops,
cops show up,

1247
01:03:05,827 --> 01:03:08,827
they find out that
I had pushed her.

1248
01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:11,275
And so they arrest me
and I go to jail.

1249
01:03:18,379 --> 01:03:22,206
Also in 2012,
I got a bag of heroin.

1250
01:03:22,379 --> 01:03:23,517
I was in the backseat of

1251
01:03:23,689 --> 01:03:25,379
my best friend
at the time's car.

1252
01:03:26,413 --> 01:03:29,103
We go to a McDonald's.
It's like 2 in the morning.

1253
01:03:30,379 --> 01:03:32,413
I overdosed in the backseat
of her car.

1254
01:03:33,965 --> 01:03:37,689
Back then, Narcan wasn't
a thing like it is today,

1255
01:03:37,862 --> 01:03:39,827
where you can just Narcan
and send you on your way.

1256
01:03:41,344 --> 01:03:43,758
So I'm, like,
choking on my tongue,

1257
01:03:43,931 --> 01:03:45,482
she doesn't wanna call the cops,

1258
01:03:45,655 --> 01:03:47,758
so she drives me all the way
to the hospital.

1259
01:03:50,068 --> 01:03:51,206
By the time I got
to the hospital,

1260
01:03:51,379 --> 01:03:53,413
I was black-and-blue,
and they were saying

1261
01:03:53,586 --> 01:03:54,551
I was gonna be brain-dead.

1262
01:03:59,103 --> 01:04:02,793
So when I woke up from the coma
after I overdosed,

1263
01:04:02,965 --> 01:04:06,275
my boyfriend, Jamie, was there,
my grandma, all my family

1264
01:04:06,448 --> 01:04:07,758
was surrounding me,

1265
01:04:07,931 --> 01:04:12,827
and me and Jamie, we found out
we're gonna have another kid.

1266
01:04:13,000 --> 01:04:13,896
I was pregnant.

1267
01:04:15,000 --> 01:04:16,620
Yep.

1268
01:04:16,793 --> 01:04:20,655
Very early, four weeks pregnant
with my daughter.

1269
01:04:22,655 --> 01:04:23,896
Now we're having another kid,

1270
01:04:24,896 --> 01:04:26,689
and I just overdosed
with one kid.

1271
01:04:27,965 --> 01:04:28,965
Yeah.

1272
01:04:30,206 --> 01:04:32,000
Yeah, so,

1273
01:04:33,103 --> 01:04:34,241
that's a rough one.

1274
01:04:35,344 --> 01:04:40,758
And luckily, she is...
the most beautiful girl.

1275
01:04:41,827 --> 01:04:43,482
And I never touched it again.

1276
01:04:44,758 --> 01:04:46,344
So she's my miracle baby.

1277
01:04:48,689 --> 01:04:51,103
[child laughs]

1278
01:04:53,551 --> 01:04:56,103
[Dr. Drew]
Teen pregnancy is a marker
for mental illness

1279
01:04:56,275 --> 01:04:58,551
and sometimes addiction.

1280
01:04:58,724 --> 01:05:03,551
And addiction by itself has
a worse prognosis,

1281
01:05:03,724 --> 01:05:07,310
particularly opiate addiction,
than the majority of cancers,

1282
01:05:07,482 --> 01:05:09,275
and people just can't seem
to understand

1283
01:05:09,448 --> 01:05:11,448
why addicts die young.

1284
01:05:11,620 --> 01:05:13,172
They rarely see 50.

1285
01:05:15,206 --> 01:05:18,379
Valerie from season two,
she was a foster kid.

1286
01:05:18,551 --> 01:05:23,068
She was adopted, passed away
from an overdose in 2016.

1287
01:05:23,241 --> 01:05:24,551
And then you had Autumn,

1288
01:05:24,724 --> 01:05:26,482
who passed away
from an overdose.

1289
01:05:28,068 --> 01:05:30,275
And then another girl
from season five.

1290
01:05:30,448 --> 01:05:31,517
There was a lot of stuff
going on

1291
01:05:31,689 --> 01:05:33,206
and then you hear she died.

1292
01:05:35,689 --> 01:05:39,172
And it's all been
addiction-related.

1293
01:05:39,344 --> 01:05:40,655
[dramatic chord strikes]

1294
01:05:46,896 --> 01:05:49,655
[Ashley] Would they have been
in addiction

1295
01:05:49,827 --> 01:05:51,034
without the show?

1296
01:05:51,206 --> 01:05:53,241
Probably, based on what
their lives were like

1297
01:05:53,413 --> 01:05:55,275
before they were found by MTV.

1298
01:05:56,655 --> 01:05:58,034
That's my opinion.

1299
01:05:59,655 --> 01:06:03,137
[Dr. Drew]
You have to ask yourself,
why do people watch dramas?

1300
01:06:03,310 --> 01:06:05,862
Normal, healthy people are
not interesting.

1301
01:06:06,000 --> 01:06:09,620
So if you're going to create
something where you show

1302
01:06:09,793 --> 01:06:12,172
people's lives that people
wanna watch,

1303
01:06:12,344 --> 01:06:13,896
there's going to be drama.

1304
01:06:14,034 --> 01:06:16,586
And if there's drama,
there's going to be

1305
01:06:16,758 --> 01:06:19,586
some mental health issues
going on.

1306
01:06:22,034 --> 01:06:23,827
And I'm of the opinion that
they should be

1307
01:06:24,000 --> 01:06:25,344
brought to light and addressed.

1308
01:06:26,862 --> 01:06:28,310
And that's how people learn.

1309
01:06:33,896 --> 01:06:35,275
[producer] Are you having fun?

1310
01:06:35,448 --> 01:06:36,931
[Savannah]
Zoe, look at the camera.

1311
01:06:37,068 --> 01:06:38,862
Say, "Cheese!"

1312
01:06:39,000 --> 01:06:40,965
Zoe is my rainbow baby.

1313
01:06:41,103 --> 01:06:43,137
She's been waiting for this
for her whole life.

1314
01:06:44,275 --> 01:06:46,896
Don't boo me.
Don't boo me.

1315
01:06:47,034 --> 01:06:49,551
[Savannah] Don't boo her.
That's what she said.

1316
01:06:49,724 --> 01:06:51,551
[producer] Don't boo you?
We're definitely not booing.

1317
01:06:51,724 --> 01:06:53,000
- We're cheering.
- [Savannah] Yay, Zoe!

1318
01:06:53,172 --> 01:06:55,310
[crew] Yay, Zoe!

1319
01:06:55,482 --> 01:06:56,517
[Zoe speaks indistinctly]

1320
01:06:56,689 --> 01:06:57,862
We already slated
and everything?

1321
01:06:58,724 --> 01:07:00,931
[Dr. Drew]
So, by the time we get
to season five,

1322
01:07:01,068 --> 01:07:02,241
we meet Savannah.

1323
01:07:03,379 --> 01:07:06,000
Her little girls, Zoe, is
actually her youngest kid.

1324
01:07:06,172 --> 01:07:07,965
She gave birth to
her first child, Rowan,

1325
01:07:08,103 --> 01:07:09,793
in the season finale.

1326
01:07:09,965 --> 01:07:12,379
Rowan coming along was
probably the most

1327
01:07:12,551 --> 01:07:14,103
difficult thing for us,
but the best thing

1328
01:07:14,275 --> 01:07:15,862
that ever happened.

1329
01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:18,482
Watching my episode
of "16 and Pregnant"

1330
01:07:18,655 --> 01:07:22,206
for the early moments
with Rowan, it's bittersweet.

1331
01:07:22,379 --> 01:07:24,931
And that's my firstborn,
and it's nice to have

1332
01:07:25,068 --> 01:07:26,482
those moments captured, but...

1333
01:07:27,793 --> 01:07:31,000
I was incredibly depressed
and incredibly sad.

1334
01:07:31,172 --> 01:07:33,413
Savannah had a very
chaotic childhood.

1335
01:07:35,241 --> 01:07:37,103
[Savannah]
It was just my mom and I.

1336
01:07:38,379 --> 01:07:40,448
I grew up in public housing.

1337
01:07:40,620 --> 01:07:43,862
My mom has been on food stamps
since as long as I can remember.

1338
01:07:45,620 --> 01:07:48,000
I grew up with
my alcoholic mother,

1339
01:07:48,137 --> 01:07:50,931
and lots of screaming,
lots of doors slamming.

1340
01:07:52,137 --> 01:07:53,379
It was obvious on the show.

1341
01:07:53,551 --> 01:07:55,655
- Stop slamming doors!
- No!

1342
01:07:55,827 --> 01:07:57,206
[bang]

1343
01:07:57,379 --> 01:08:00,448
[Savannah]
And then I turned a teenager.

1344
01:08:00,620 --> 01:08:03,379
I had a group of friends
that I spent a lot of time with,

1345
01:08:03,551 --> 01:08:05,724
and we were wild teenagers.

1346
01:08:07,034 --> 01:08:08,241
Very wild.

1347
01:08:08,413 --> 01:08:11,000
My first alcoholic drink
was at 14.

1348
01:08:12,172 --> 01:08:14,172
[Zoe crying]

1349
01:08:15,551 --> 01:08:17,586
- Zoe, come here.
- [Zoe continues crying]

1350
01:08:19,000 --> 01:08:21,448
- Is it OK if I-- OK.
- [producer] Oh, please, please.

1351
01:08:23,896 --> 01:08:26,206
[Savannah]
I know you don't understand
a whole lot of this,

1352
01:08:26,379 --> 01:08:27,551
but Mommy's gotta do something,

1353
01:08:27,724 --> 01:08:29,379
and you have to be
a good girl, OK?

1354
01:08:29,551 --> 01:08:31,137
- [Zoe whispers] OK.
- [Savannah] You gotta be quiet.

1355
01:08:31,310 --> 01:08:32,827
All right, Mommy's gonna go
back downstairs

1356
01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:34,241
and do this, OK?

1357
01:08:34,413 --> 01:08:37,068
[kiss smacks]
I love you big as the sky, OK?

1358
01:08:41,068 --> 01:08:44,068
[producer]
Oh, my God, she's so cute.
She's got such good energy.

1359
01:08:44,241 --> 01:08:46,241
I hope she never loses that.

1360
01:08:50,586 --> 01:08:53,517
I was 13 when I met Stone,
and he was 14.

1361
01:08:54,724 --> 01:08:56,758
He was funny.
He made me laugh.

1362
01:08:56,931 --> 01:09:00,413
And he brought a sense
of comfort to my life,

1363
01:09:00,586 --> 01:09:03,000
which is what I felt like
I had been missing.

1364
01:09:04,758 --> 01:09:07,689
When I was 16 years old,
my friend had the notion that

1365
01:09:07,862 --> 01:09:10,793
she was pregnant,
and she wanted me to take

1366
01:09:10,965 --> 01:09:16,034
one with her to ease her mind,
and her mind was put at ease

1367
01:09:16,206 --> 01:09:19,000
when hers came up negative
and mine came up positive.

1368
01:09:21,172 --> 01:09:25,206
My mom found out I was pregnant
because I left

1369
01:09:25,379 --> 01:09:27,068
the pregnancy test
in the bathroom.

1370
01:09:27,241 --> 01:09:30,000
She just told me she wasn't
raising another child.

1371
01:09:31,620 --> 01:09:34,137
Applying for "16 and Pregnant"
was not my idea.

1372
01:09:34,310 --> 01:09:37,000
My friend was like,
"Hey, you should

1373
01:09:37,172 --> 01:09:38,482
sign up for '16 and Pregnant.'"

1374
01:09:38,655 --> 01:09:40,655
And I was like, those kinds
of things don't happen

1375
01:09:40,827 --> 01:09:42,103
to people like me.

1376
01:09:42,275 --> 01:09:45,206
So she sent in an email for me,

1377
01:09:45,379 --> 01:09:47,344
and three months later,
I got a phone call.

1378
01:09:49,206 --> 01:09:52,517
Being where I'm from,
how cool is it to have somebody,

1379
01:09:52,689 --> 01:09:54,137
you know, filming
your life, I guess?

1380
01:09:55,620 --> 01:09:58,793
I guess I kind of thought
the girls of "16 and Pregnant"

1381
01:09:58,965 --> 01:10:01,482
were having fun, and they were
having a good time.

1382
01:10:03,827 --> 01:10:06,000
But going into
"16 and Pregnant,"

1383
01:10:06,137 --> 01:10:07,965
I had two concerns.

1384
01:10:08,103 --> 01:10:11,448
One was that it would split
Stone and I completely,

1385
01:10:11,620 --> 01:10:13,172
and to a point, it did.

1386
01:10:13,344 --> 01:10:16,931
And my second fear was my mom
being my mom and doing

1387
01:10:17,068 --> 01:10:20,413
what she does, drinking,
and she's a very vile person

1388
01:10:20,586 --> 01:10:21,758
when she's drunk.

1389
01:10:21,931 --> 01:10:25,103
And I feared that she was just
gonna be so hateful

1390
01:10:25,275 --> 01:10:28,275
to everybody, but, I mean,
my fear came true.

1391
01:10:28,448 --> 01:10:30,241
- Stop slamming doors!
- [mom] No!

1392
01:10:31,379 --> 01:10:34,206
[Dr. Drew]
This is when the mom comes
home intoxicated

1393
01:10:34,379 --> 01:10:36,413
and scares the brother,
whose name is Ben,

1394
01:10:36,586 --> 01:10:38,655
and this is while Savannah's
baby is sleeping.

1395
01:10:38,827 --> 01:10:40,724
[Savannah] Take responsibility
for your own [bleep] actions.

1396
01:10:40,896 --> 01:10:42,000
[mom] Oh, my God...

1397
01:10:43,241 --> 01:10:44,655
[Savannah] I'll get the cops
over here to do it.

1398
01:10:44,827 --> 01:10:45,826
[mom] Do it!

1399
01:10:45,827 --> 01:10:48,068
And Savannah ends up
calling the police.

1400
01:10:49,586 --> 01:10:51,758
[Savannah] Yes, sir.
I have a belligerently
drunk mother.

1401
01:10:51,931 --> 01:10:53,413
And as far as my little brother,

1402
01:10:53,586 --> 01:10:55,793
I don't feel comfortable
leaving him here tonight.

1403
01:10:55,965 --> 01:10:58,034
[Ashley]
You can say what you want
about "16 and Pregnant,"

1404
01:10:58,206 --> 01:11:01,448
but this is about as raw
as you can get for TV.

1405
01:11:01,620 --> 01:11:03,482
The girl looks
absolutely mortified.

1406
01:11:03,655 --> 01:11:06,068
On top of everything,
this is what your life is,

1407
01:11:06,241 --> 01:11:07,551
and everybody sees it.

1408
01:11:07,724 --> 01:11:10,241
I feel really bad for her,
and I feel bad for

1409
01:11:10,413 --> 01:11:13,344
the little brother, too.
Oh, my gosh.

1410
01:11:13,517 --> 01:11:17,000
[officer] But I can't force her
to give you her kid.

1411
01:11:17,172 --> 01:11:19,586
But she's not fit
to take care of him.

1412
01:11:19,758 --> 01:11:22,103
[Benjamin]
I remember all the vans,
the cameras.

1413
01:11:22,275 --> 01:11:23,655
I've seen a lot of that fighting

1414
01:11:23,827 --> 01:11:27,448
and a lot of her drinking,
so, like, it's just past me now.

1415
01:11:27,620 --> 01:11:29,310
It's like, she's gonna
keep doing it.

1416
01:11:29,482 --> 01:11:30,758
Why even care anymore?

1417
01:11:34,931 --> 01:11:37,000
After tonight, baby,
you gotta go assert it

1418
01:11:37,172 --> 01:11:38,965
somewhere else.
- That's fine.

1419
01:11:39,103 --> 01:11:40,241
Savannah did exactly
the right thing.

1420
01:11:40,413 --> 01:11:42,586
I sort of admire how
Savannah behaved here.

1421
01:11:42,758 --> 01:11:44,344
That's exactly right.

1422
01:11:44,517 --> 01:11:46,586
They're looking for you.
Go up there and stop.

1423
01:11:47,620 --> 01:11:48,965
[Savannah] I'm going to.

1424
01:11:49,103 --> 01:11:51,620
[Dr. Drew]
If we're gonna document
life with an alcoholic,

1425
01:11:51,793 --> 01:11:54,000
you're gonna see
stuff like this.

1426
01:11:54,137 --> 01:11:57,000
And we feel as though
we're doing something wrong

1427
01:11:57,137 --> 01:11:58,034
when we look at it,

1428
01:11:58,206 --> 01:12:00,206
but I would argue
that this kind of--

1429
01:12:00,379 --> 01:12:02,275
these circumstances
need sunlight.

1430
01:12:02,448 --> 01:12:04,310
It might motivate Savannah
to get out of there

1431
01:12:04,482 --> 01:12:06,103
and build her own life
away from mom.

1432
01:12:07,827 --> 01:12:10,827
Stone and I were
not on good terms at all.

1433
01:12:11,000 --> 01:12:13,896
We argued the entire time
we were filming.

1434
01:12:14,034 --> 01:12:15,344
I was miserable.

1435
01:12:15,517 --> 01:12:18,034
After the show, we broke up.

1436
01:12:18,206 --> 01:12:19,482
I wanted to be a mom to Rowan,

1437
01:12:19,655 --> 01:12:20,586
[voice breaking]
I just didn't know how.

1438
01:12:24,068 --> 01:12:25,517
And I feel like I failed my son

1439
01:12:25,689 --> 01:12:27,551
because he's growing up
in a broken home.

1440
01:12:33,931 --> 01:12:35,931
[producer speaking]

1441
01:12:39,724 --> 01:12:41,448
[Savannah]
...I could just rewind time

1442
01:12:41,620 --> 01:12:43,965
and figure out where
everything went wrong

1443
01:12:45,034 --> 01:12:46,655
and fix it.
- [producer] "Sometimes I wish

1444
01:12:46,827 --> 01:12:47,931
"I could rewind my life

1445
01:12:48,068 --> 01:12:49,586
and figure out where
everything went wrong."

1446
01:12:53,172 --> 01:12:55,275
My life got really complicated
after that.

1447
01:12:59,379 --> 01:13:01,379
After my episode came up,

1448
01:13:01,551 --> 01:13:04,551
I had to turn my phone off
from the notifications

1449
01:13:04,724 --> 01:13:05,931
that were coming in.

1450
01:13:06,068 --> 01:13:07,793
There was a fair share
of negative comments

1451
01:13:07,965 --> 01:13:12,586
because of, "How dare
the black girl make it on TV."

1452
01:13:12,758 --> 01:13:15,241
There was one girl that posted
something like,

1453
01:13:15,413 --> 01:13:18,172
"Imagine being famous
for opening your legs."

1454
01:13:19,517 --> 01:13:22,241
I was incredibly depressed
and incredibly sad.

1455
01:13:23,896 --> 01:13:25,931
Rowan went to live
with Stone's mom.

1456
01:13:27,551 --> 01:13:31,344
And then,
I think I was 19, 20.

1457
01:13:31,517 --> 01:13:33,551
I was in a very
abusive relationship

1458
01:13:33,724 --> 01:13:35,241
off-again, on-again.

1459
01:13:35,413 --> 01:13:37,827
And then after that,
I lost myself completely.

1460
01:13:43,689 --> 01:13:45,965
Eight years later,
after the show,

1461
01:13:46,103 --> 01:13:47,172
I was pregnant with Zoe.

1462
01:13:48,379 --> 01:13:50,344
Zoe's father is Jonathan O'Dell,

1463
01:13:50,517 --> 01:13:52,827
he was put-together,

1464
01:13:53,000 --> 01:13:54,551
and we had been living together.

1465
01:13:54,724 --> 01:13:56,275
Look, you told me no about
putting up

1466
01:13:56,448 --> 01:13:58,862
the Christmas tree early,
and it's literally two days,

1467
01:13:59,000 --> 01:14:01,310
three days after Thanksgiving,
and you're already ready to go.

1468
01:14:01,482 --> 01:14:03,827
Hey, 'cause you wanted that.

1469
01:14:04,000 --> 01:14:05,655
He had manners.

1470
01:14:05,827 --> 01:14:07,034
[Savannah cackles]

1471
01:14:07,206 --> 01:14:09,103
Someone that didn't yell.

1472
01:14:09,275 --> 01:14:11,172
Someone that didn't put
their hands on me.

1473
01:14:11,344 --> 01:14:13,724
Someone that never left me
wondering where

1474
01:14:13,896 --> 01:14:14,965
I stood with him.

1475
01:14:16,172 --> 01:14:17,275
Um...

1476
01:14:18,896 --> 01:14:19,931
just...

1477
01:14:21,413 --> 01:14:22,482
peace.

1478
01:14:24,517 --> 01:14:28,000
October 7th, I woke up

1479
01:14:28,172 --> 01:14:31,551
and he had a friend
that was living with us.

1480
01:14:31,724 --> 01:14:33,068
I am not his biggest fan.

1481
01:14:34,310 --> 01:14:36,000
I went to wake him up.

1482
01:14:36,137 --> 01:14:38,724
We had this big bay window,
and I...

1483
01:14:40,413 --> 01:14:43,206
I was being nosy, and I can
see military personnel.

1484
01:14:43,379 --> 01:14:44,689
There's two choppers
in the air.

1485
01:14:46,379 --> 01:14:48,586
Every agency you could possibly
imagine was there.

1486
01:14:49,758 --> 01:14:51,241
The next thing I remember...

1487
01:14:52,724 --> 01:14:55,310
is flash bangs
and smoke bombs...

1488
01:14:56,448 --> 01:14:57,448
everywhere.

1489
01:14:59,517 --> 01:15:01,689
Jonathan laid on top of me
in the hallway,

1490
01:15:01,862 --> 01:15:05,379
and his friend comes out
dressed in bulletproof vest,

1491
01:15:05,551 --> 01:15:08,137
uh, all the works.
And his friend

1492
01:15:09,310 --> 01:15:11,482
shot 11 shots out of the window

1493
01:15:12,551 --> 01:15:16,206
at the FBI and cracked
their Bearcat window.

1494
01:15:16,379 --> 01:15:17,448
And, uh...

1495
01:15:19,206 --> 01:15:20,620
We just kind of
accepted the fact that

1496
01:15:20,793 --> 01:15:21,862
I was gonna die that morning.

1497
01:15:22,000 --> 01:15:23,448
[sniffles] So, um,

1498
01:15:25,172 --> 01:15:27,931
we both kind of said
a prayer and goodbye.

1499
01:15:30,896 --> 01:15:32,034
And, uh,

1500
01:15:32,965 --> 01:15:35,896
finally, like, everything
stopped for like a second.

1501
01:15:37,482 --> 01:15:39,862
I got up and I ran out the door
with my hands up.

1502
01:15:41,965 --> 01:15:44,379
And I said, "Please don't shoot.
I'm 24 weeks pregnant."

1503
01:15:44,551 --> 01:15:46,448
[dramatic chord strikes]

1504
01:15:53,172 --> 01:15:55,000
[Savannah]
And they snatched me up
and cuffed me and threw me

1505
01:15:55,172 --> 01:15:56,378
in the back of the Bearcat

1506
01:15:56,379 --> 01:16:00,000
and I sat out in the cold
for two and a half hours,

1507
01:16:00,206 --> 01:16:01,689
when they finally uncuffed me,
and told me that

1508
01:16:01,862 --> 01:16:04,482
I wasn't under arrest
at this time.

1509
01:16:06,965 --> 01:16:11,068
I thought for sure that
they had the wrong house,

1510
01:16:11,241 --> 01:16:12,896
the wrong people.

1511
01:16:13,034 --> 01:16:14,241
[sniffles]

1512
01:16:16,724 --> 01:16:17,793
Um...

1513
01:16:19,758 --> 01:16:20,758
that wasn't the case.

1514
01:16:25,448 --> 01:16:29,034
I found out then,
Jonathan and his friend were

1515
01:16:29,206 --> 01:16:31,344
part of a self-named group

1516
01:16:31,517 --> 01:16:33,275
called the Second Amendment
Militia,

1517
01:16:35,758 --> 01:16:36,965
who were gonna go
to the border

1518
01:16:37,103 --> 01:16:38,448
and shoot immigrants.

1519
01:16:40,931 --> 01:16:42,931
[producer speaking]

1520
01:16:43,068 --> 01:16:44,206
If there was, I missed it.

1521
01:16:58,034 --> 01:16:59,137
Hey.

1522
01:16:59,310 --> 01:17:01,000
Hey.
Look at me.

1523
01:17:02,000 --> 01:17:03,827
- You're beautiful.
- [Zoe] Thanks.

1524
01:17:04,000 --> 01:17:05,965
[Savannah] You're welcome.
Can I have a kiss?

1525
01:17:06,103 --> 01:17:08,620
Three months later,
I had Zoe.

1526
01:17:10,413 --> 01:17:11,551
I spent...

1527
01:17:13,000 --> 01:17:16,103
the next year and a half
bouncing from place to place

1528
01:17:16,275 --> 01:17:17,172
with my daughter--
[voice breaks].

1529
01:17:18,379 --> 01:17:19,724
Because I couldn't work.

1530
01:17:24,000 --> 01:17:26,413
I was gonna raise my daughter
in a two-parent household

1531
01:17:27,448 --> 01:17:29,448
that wasn't chaotic.
It was full of love.

1532
01:17:29,620 --> 01:17:30,551
[Zoe speaks indistinctly]

1533
01:17:31,827 --> 01:17:33,689
[Savannah] Hm.

1534
01:17:33,862 --> 01:17:35,000
I was gonna have
what I deemed as

1535
01:17:35,172 --> 01:17:36,931
my happily ever after,

1536
01:17:37,068 --> 01:17:39,172
and it abruptly got
taken from me.

1537
01:17:43,379 --> 01:17:44,827
Zoe's never met her father.

1538
01:17:45,896 --> 01:17:47,448
She only knows him
through video chat.

1539
01:17:49,034 --> 01:17:50,724
[sniffles]

1540
01:17:50,896 --> 01:17:52,827
I don't know what I'm gonna do
when she asks me one day

1541
01:17:53,000 --> 01:17:54,482
why he can't come home
with her.

1542
01:17:58,103 --> 01:18:00,482
[soft piano music plays]

1543
01:18:02,965 --> 01:18:04,482
[Savannah]
I don't blame the show.

1544
01:18:04,655 --> 01:18:06,896
It's not show-related
that I was with him.

1545
01:18:09,103 --> 01:18:12,275
I was looking to fill a void,
and it didn't.

1546
01:18:13,655 --> 01:18:17,000
The older I get,
the more I see that

1547
01:18:17,137 --> 01:18:19,344
no amount of love
from people on the internet,

1548
01:18:19,517 --> 01:18:23,068
no amount of love from people
who watch you on TV

1549
01:18:23,241 --> 01:18:24,586
will do that.

1550
01:18:27,034 --> 01:18:30,172
I made the decision to
sober up...

1551
01:18:32,310 --> 01:18:34,724
because I don't wanna walk
in my mom's footsteps.

1552
01:18:37,068 --> 01:18:39,379
And Rowan is back in my life.

1553
01:18:43,137 --> 01:18:44,689
"16 and Pregnant" was
a high-wire act.

1554
01:18:44,862 --> 01:18:47,379
It was very challenging,
it was scary.

1555
01:18:47,551 --> 01:18:52,034
And after Season 5,
MTV ceased production.

1556
01:18:52,206 --> 01:18:55,137
I was glad to see it go,
frankly, because dealing

1557
01:18:55,310 --> 01:18:59,241
with adolescents with pregnancy,
it just was very challenging.

1558
01:19:05,896 --> 01:19:09,344
I think that my life would have
been a struggle regardless.

1559
01:19:09,517 --> 01:19:14,586
Do I feel like it added fuel
to my already...

1560
01:19:15,620 --> 01:19:19,172
roaring fire of self-doubt?
Absolutely.

1561
01:19:19,344 --> 01:19:21,000
I don't think
that was their intention.

1562
01:19:21,172 --> 01:19:23,034
I think their intention was
just to be realistic

1563
01:19:23,206 --> 01:19:24,206
and to show the struggles.

1564
01:19:27,517 --> 01:19:30,137
The one thing we have not
talked about is

1565
01:19:30,310 --> 01:19:34,241
bad circumstance do not have
to mean bad outcome.

1566
01:19:34,413 --> 01:19:38,310
[Hope] I got pregnant at 17
and had Tristan at 18.

1567
01:19:39,551 --> 01:19:42,689
He is going to be 15 this year,

1568
01:19:42,862 --> 01:19:45,275
has made the honor roll
every year in school.

1569
01:19:45,448 --> 01:19:47,000
[indistinct speaking]

1570
01:19:47,172 --> 01:19:48,724
[Tristan]
I think it's pretty cool.

1571
01:19:48,896 --> 01:19:51,551
Like, not a lot of people get
to say that they were born

1572
01:19:51,724 --> 01:19:54,448
on TV or just even on TV.

1573
01:19:54,620 --> 01:19:56,931
So it's something that
makes me different,

1574
01:19:57,068 --> 01:19:58,344
more unique from people.

1575
01:20:05,310 --> 01:20:06,620
Hi.
I'm Amayah.

1576
01:20:06,793 --> 01:20:09,586
I'm one of Karley's daughters.

1577
01:20:09,758 --> 01:20:13,724
Wonderful woman that gave
birth at 16.

1578
01:20:13,896 --> 01:20:16,275
This was me when I was a baby.
I'm right here.

1579
01:20:16,448 --> 01:20:19,172
I know that I don't want
a child at 16.

1580
01:20:19,344 --> 01:20:21,103
I won't be prepared.

1581
01:20:21,275 --> 01:20:24,068
I don't wanna do that stuff
to have a child.

1582
01:20:24,241 --> 01:20:26,344
And if I do,
I'm gonna use protection.

1583
01:20:31,413 --> 01:20:36,034
[Sabrina] My daughter, Audrey,
she's turning 15.

1584
01:20:36,206 --> 01:20:39,310
She was a competitive
cheerleader for five years.

1585
01:20:39,482 --> 01:20:40,931
Yeah, I'm just proud of her.

1586
01:20:45,965 --> 01:20:48,206
My son's name is Jamie.

1587
01:20:48,379 --> 01:20:50,551
He's honor roll student.

1588
01:20:50,724 --> 01:20:52,034
I'm, like, in awe of him.

1589
01:20:58,000 --> 01:21:02,862
My son Lukas is-- he's 14 now.
We tell him about Todd.

1590
01:21:04,241 --> 01:21:05,517
We take him to his grave.

1591
01:21:11,862 --> 01:21:17,620
It's like, I think that he would
be very proud of him and, um...

1592
01:21:19,965 --> 01:21:21,862
the life that we've created
for him.

1593
01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:24,275
Like, I know that he wants to be
here for him,

1594
01:21:24,448 --> 01:21:29,310
but I think that when
he looks down, as they say,

1595
01:21:29,482 --> 01:21:31,275
like, I think that
he's very proud of him.

1596
01:21:33,482 --> 01:21:35,275
At the present time,
there have been six seasons

1597
01:21:35,448 --> 01:21:39,034
of "16 and Pregnant,"
eight iterations of "Teen Mom,"

1598
01:21:39,206 --> 01:21:41,103
and 69 episodes
of "16 and Pregnant."

1599
01:21:56,000 --> 01:21:57,206
The ratings are trash.

1600
01:21:57,379 --> 01:22:00,586
Why would they pick it up
again over trash ratings?

1601
01:22:00,758 --> 01:22:03,896
And it was supposed to be like
a positive light on like

1602
01:22:04,034 --> 01:22:06,206
teen pregnancy
or just preventative light.

1603
01:22:06,379 --> 01:22:08,172
And it's turned into this,

1604
01:22:08,344 --> 01:22:10,517
honestly, like trash
reality TV.

1605
01:22:14,034 --> 01:22:16,310
When I quit months ago,

1606
01:22:16,482 --> 01:22:19,137
honey, it was gone.
We know this.

1607
01:22:19,310 --> 01:22:21,827
I personally loved watching
"Teen Mom" for many, many years,

1608
01:22:22,000 --> 01:22:23,000
and parts of me still do.

1609
01:22:23,172 --> 01:22:24,275
Do I think it should
end now though?

1610
01:22:24,448 --> 01:22:25,379
Yes.

1611
01:22:33,793 --> 01:22:38,517
I think "16 and Pregnant" was
a pivotal program

1612
01:22:38,689 --> 01:22:41,517
in television history,
and I don't say that lightly.

1613
01:22:42,689 --> 01:22:45,137
For so many years
in our society,

1614
01:22:45,310 --> 01:22:47,931
teen pregnancy was brushed
off to the side.

1615
01:22:48,068 --> 01:22:49,275
You hid that.

1616
01:22:49,448 --> 01:22:54,206
To be able to have a show
that put a huge spotlight

1617
01:22:54,379 --> 01:22:55,896
on this issue,

1618
01:22:56,034 --> 01:23:00,000
it made America deal with it.