Jade Cline Says It Was ‘About Time’ for Her Fight With Ashley Jones on ‘Teen Mom: Family Reunion’ (Exclusive)

Tensions between Jade Cline and Ashley Jones had been building up for a while before the blowup teased in Teen Mom: Family Reunion and Cline told PopCulture.com ahead of Tuesday’s premiere it was “about time” the two hashed things out in person – regardless of how intense things got. Opening up about the MTV spinoff alongside Teen Mom 2 co-star Leah Messer and Teen Mom OG‘s Amber Portwood, Cheyenne Floyd and Maci Bookout, Cline said she didn’t hesitate to rip the Band-aid off when Jones arrived.

“I mean, I feel like it was about time,” she told PopCulture. “I think that there was a lot of stuff that was going on previously that I felt like it was time to get it all out of the air. And honestly, the kind of person I am, it was the first night and I felt like … I have to get off my chest how I’m feeling the first night so it’s not like this awkward, weird energy the rest of the trip.”

She continued, “I was like, ‘Either we’re going to fight or we’re going to get along or whatever.’ But after the first night of us all hanging out, I wanted to… I don’t know how to explain it. Like [have] some kind of resolution or to get the elephant out of the room, I guess.”

Portwood chimed in that watching Cline and Jones go at it “was something,” joking she felt like “a bodyguard” to Cline at times. “I know most of the OGs – since we’re not used to fighting with each other like that – we weren’t used to it and all we really wanted to do was help.” The fight felt like something “very emotional,” she continued, and something that “needed to happen” one way or another.

Cline knows it was quite the first impression she was making on some of the Teen Mom OG cast members. “I was like, ‘Well, I mean, they’re probably going to think I’m crazy, but I just have to get this s- off my chest, and hopefully they can see where I’m coming from and understand, OK, well obviously this was an issue and that’s why everything got so heated.’”

“I was hoping no one was upset with me or Ashley for how it unfolded,” she continued. “I was hoping everyone would be a little more supportive about the situation. And I think everyone definitely was.” Cline even felt changed as a person walking away from the getaway, saying that after everything she went through, she learned that “sometimes being the bigger person is walking away from something or really trying to resolve something instead of making it more confrontational.”

“I was just raised in an environment that’s very confrontational, so that’s just how I’ve always been,” she explained. “I think that I learned that confrontation isn’t always needed to resolve an issue. I think that there’s a lot of more healthy ways to go around it as long as both the parties are willing to go at it in a healthy way, instead of it being toxic.” Teen Mom: Family Reunion premieres Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. ET, followed by Teen Mom: Girls’ Night In at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.