Maci Bookout and Taylor McKinney are sharing more than ever about their marriage on Teen Mom: Family Reunion. Ahead of Wednesday’s all-new episode of the MTV show, the Teen Mom couple opened up to PopCulture.com about the raw and real therapy session viewers are about to witness and how they “opened up a little more” than they normally do to the public.
In Wednesday’s episode, Bookout teased that the couple’s session she and her husband had with Dr. Mike Dow was going to be intense. “For me, I was like, you’re just going to have to do it. Don’t half-ass it basically,” she told PopCulture. “If you want something out of it, you’ve got to just peel the Band-Aid off and dive in.”
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The 16 and Pregnant alum noted that she and McKinney are “both always on the same page of what we share with the public,” as there are “definitely things that we both know will always stay between the two of us” in order to “protect [their] marriage.” This therapy session was different, however. “With this, I do feel like going into it, we didn’t really get a chance to really pre-game discuss, ‘What are we going to share? Where’s the line, basically?’” she admitted. “I feel like we probably each cross that line a little bit more than we ever have, but I feel like in the long run it was very beneficial that we opened up a little more than I’d say we normally do.”
Tackling their communication issues head-on with Dr. Mike, Bookout said it was a valuable lesson for her and McKinney to take time out of their parenting roles to connect as spouses. Now, McKinney said, “A lot of times we get an hour or so at the end of the night where the kids go to bed, we get to sit down on the couch with each other and talk and hang out or just watch TV and not have to deal with anything.”
It was also an eye-opener going to Colombia without their kids, 8-year-old Jayde and 7-year-old Maverick, as well as Bookout’s 15-year-old son, Bentley, whom she shares with ex Ryan Edwards. “I was concerned with all three of our kids and how busy we are,” Bookout told PopCulture. “If there are no distractions and there are no tasks and responsibilities and we just have to sit with us or do something just us, are we really still going to like each other? Are we going to have that friendship, that banter that, I don’t know, just the core of why we got married in the first place? Is that still there?” Luckily, leaving, Bookout came to realize, “No, I like this guy. I’d hang out with him all the time, kids or not. … I really needed that.”
Teen Mom: Family Reunion airs on MTV Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
