‘Teen Mom OG’: Maci Bookout Worries Son Is ‘Burying’ Trauma of Dad Ryan Edwards’ Arrests

With Ryan Edwards‘ time in jail coming to an end, Teen Mom OG‘s Maci Bookout feared his stint behind bars was having more of an impact on their 10-year-old son than Bentley was letting on.

As Edwards served three months in the county jail on an open heroin possession warrant, wife Mackenzie Standifer provided a little insight into his incarcerated life to his parents, who admitted to rarely hearing from him.

“It’s not fun by any means, but it will be over soon enough,” she told them, cradling her newborn son Jagger, who was born while Edwards worked on his substance abuse issues in a 90-day rehab program. “And then we’ll re-evaluate.”

The sentence had a profound impact on Edwards, Standifer later told a friend.

“He’s been around some pretty hard criminals, and I think he’s starting to realize that he does not ever want to be there that long again,” she admitted. “It’s been an eye-opener. I just can’t wait to have my family back under one roof.”

As his family eagerly awaited his release from jail, Bookout was dealing with mixed emotions when it came to letting their son contact him, especially given that Edwards hadn’t reached out to Bentley from behind bars.

“I think he handles it well on the outside,” Bookout told husband Taylor McKinney. “No 10-year-old should handle some things like this this well. That scares me. He doesn’t know how to face these feelings, which means he’s burying them somewhere. He doesn’t have the tools to handle this on his own in a healthy way. It would be ignorant of us to think he does.”

And while she wasn’t sure where their co-parenting relationship would land after his release, Bookout explained she was ready to talk to Edwards once again following all the drama of the last year.

“I think I’ve processed the anger — oh, all the anger. All of the anger. There’s a lot of anger” she explained “Are there scars? Yes. Have they healed all the way? No. You know me, and I want to be there for people that I care about, and I care about him. I want him to be healthy and happy. Point blank, period.”

Teen Mom OG airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.

Photo credit: MTV