Teen Mom OG star Maci Bookout‘s Season 9 storyline will include her experience with post-traumatic stress, according to a bio published on MTV‘s website for the new season. Bookout has been on the series since the beginning and is joined by Amber Portwood, Cheyenne Floyd, and Catelynn Lowell this season. The new season began on Tuesday, with Bookout’s story covering the status of her eldest son Bentley’s relationship with his father, Ryan Edwards.
Bookout, 29, will put her “personal feelings aside” to support Bentley, who begins attending therapy to repair his relationship with Edwards. She is also shocked when Edwards’ father, Larry, claims Bookout is refusing to let them see Bentley in tabloid interviews. Lastly, MTV notes that Bookout will witness a gas station “shootout” during the season and is “shaken and left to deal with post-traumatic stress.”
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The details surrounding the shootout incident will be left for later in the season, as it was not touched on during the Season 9 premiere. Instead, Bookout’s scenes focused on Bentley’s relationship with Edwards. At the beginning of the sow, Bookout told her husband, Taylor McKinney, her order of protection against her ex is ending and it has been a long time since Edwards has seen Bentley. Bookout said Bentley wanted to go to therapy, but Edwards and his family have not contacted her about this.
Later, Bookout spoke with Bentley, who said he told Edwards and Edwards’ parents that he wanted to go to therapy with his father. Bookout asked her son if he asked his father about scheduling a meeting, but the 8-year-old said he only brought up the situation once. Bentley told his mom he was good with McKinney or Bookout asking Edwards about scheduling a therapy session. Bookout praised Bentley for making the grown-up decision himself.
The MTV bio’s note about Bookout being surprised by Larry Edwards’ comments to tabloids appears to be a reference to Larry’s December 2020 interview with The Sun. Larry told the outlet Bookout’s co-parenting issues with Edwards would not be over “for a long time.” He claimed that even though the restraining order was over there was still tension between the two. “After everything that’s happened, I just don’t believe that’s going to be possible for a long time. Would I say never? Absolutely not,” Larry told The Sun. “Would I say currently, or in a year or two? I don’t think so. I don’t believe that’s going to be possible. I would not say it’s impossible, but I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Bookout defended herself in an interview with InTouch Weekly, noting that audiences will see a “deeper side” of Bentley and learn how her son feels in the new season. “Honestly, if I’m going to respond, it would just be that, I have raised Bentley to be an individual, to be himself and it’s okay to feel however he feels,” Bookout said this week. “Honestly, I have not raised him to give anybody the ability or the power to influence him, not even me. So there’s that. Really nothing else to say.”
