Teen Mom OG star Catelynn Lowell‘s ongoing mental health issues are taking a toll on husband Tyler Baltierra.
In Monday’s season premiere of the MTV series, Baltierra struggled with his feelings of resentment and abandonment while his wife was away in treatment for her mental health a second time around after experiencing suicidal thoughts last year following a miscarriage.
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Holding things down at home with 3-year-old daughter Nova, especially after saying he felt like maybe Lowell’s issues stemmed from her feelings about him in last season’s finale, left Baltierra discouraged about his relationship.
“It’s hard to not become bitter, especially when there’s so much focus on other people and you’re sitting there in the corner,” he told mom Kim.
Later, viewers could see how downtrodden Baltierra was when Lowell called him and Nova from treatment. The toddler pleaded for her mom not to leave her and the reality personality gushed over movie nights and nature walks in her program.
Baltierra’s frustration eventually boiled over when he was talking to his mom and her husband Bill, as he revealed she was skipping some of the classes in her treatment program in favor of staying up late watching movies, which he saw as her not doing her part to get better and come home to her family.
When Bill told his stepson that it is hard to commiserate with Lowell over her anxiety and depression issues, Baltierra responded “Well, you never seen her on the couch for days in a row in her robe,” adding that “It’s not depressing, it’s repulsing.”
Kim and Bill were pretty shocked to hear the generally patient and gentle husband say something so harsh, but he admitted those feelings are how he knew he needed help to prevent himself from getting burnt out in his marriage.
“That’s why I want to go to therapy, like something’s wrong with me. I’m losing sympathy and empathy,” he said. Maybe the empathy and sympathy is sucked dry, I don’t know, but I recognize that and that’s why I need to figure this out.”
After the initial shock, Kim admitted she feels the same when it comes to her daughter-in-law.
“When I see her doing nothing, it makes me upset,” Kim admitted, “and then she goes back in [to treatment], and you’re abandoned for six weeks with Nova, and it’s a lot of stress.”
To try and help his feelings, he made an appointment with a therapist to discuss his abandonment, saying he didn’t know if it was “resentment building” or anger over her lack of consideration for her decisions.
“I think I’m constantly in this care taking position all the time,” he admitted. “I’m exhausted.”
He even said he had been having “scary thoughts” about his marriage to Lowell, saying he was “absolutely not” happy, and hadn’t been “for a couple years.”
Ahead of the season premiere, Baltierra took to Twitter to address the situation with people who wouldn’t understand the ups and downs of his marriage.
“I know I will most likely get a ton of backlash from viewers this season (and) that’s okay, honestly…it will NEVER hold me back from being 100 percent real (and) honest!” he wrote. “Loving someone through severe depression/anxiety takes a toll (and) I’m only one human being that experiences weak moments too.”
The two are clearly back in a better place, announcing last month that they were expecting another child together following their miscarriage.
Teen Mom OG airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.
Photo credit: MTV
