Teen Mom 2 alum Taylor Lewis passed away on Thursday, Jan. 5, in Eden, North Carolina, at 29. The cause of death remains unknown, but Haylee Lewis told In Touch that detectives are looking into a possible homicide. “I’ve been speaking with detectives too, and they are saying they saw footage of two men with Taylor in the hotel room,” she told the outlet, adding that a housekeeper found Taylor “hours later.”
Fellow Teen Mom 2 alum Jenelle Evans, 31, expressed sadness over her friend’s passing on social media on Jan. 6. “Taylor what happened?!” posted the former reality star on Facebook, accompanied by childhood photos. “We were once best friends, and we went our separate ways because of the diff crowds we chose to hang out with. I wanted to see you eventually flourish as a woman from a distance but was always rooting for you.” She continued, “I don’t know what happened, but I am very saddened to hear this news and hope you’re resting easy.”
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The relationship between Taylor and Jenelle is complicated since Taylor was the first wife of Jenelle’s ex-husband, Courtland Rogers. Courtland and Taylor welcomed a daughter named Jordan before their split and his subsequent relationship with Jenelle. In early 2012, Jenelle and Courtland were romantically linked, and in December of that year, they were married in an issuing courthouse ceremony. One month later, the couple ended their romance. When Jenelle found out she was pregnant with Courtland’s baby in January 2014, she confided in her best friend in the Season 5 premiere. “I did relapse [on heroin] one time and that was when I met Courtland,” she told her friend at the time.
“Me and him, we got married only after three months of dating. I’m so mad at myself for marrying someone that I didn’t think through.” She continued, “I went to the doctor the other day ’cause I was sick. And they were like, ‘We can’t give you a chest X-ray because you’re pregnant.’” In the end, Jenelle admitted that she was “upset” with herself and decided to have an abortion.
Although it’s unclear why they fell out, a tweet from October 2013 showed the MTV star responding to another Twitter user, saying, “Correction Taylor and I are not friends.” Despite this, in the wake of Taylor’s death, Jenelle revealed last year that her former friend had contacted her. “I’m so sorry and sending your family prayers,” her Facebook tribute read. “I feel awful for not answering her in March 2022, but I felt like she wasn’t doing her best.”
