'Teen Mom': Maci Bookout Shares Update on Relationship With Ryan Edwards Amid Prison Sentence (Exclusive)
Maci Bookout and Ryan Edwards have managed to repair their relationship even as the Teen Mom dad served time in prison on harassment charges. Bookout opened up to PopCulture.com about her relationship with 14-year-old son Bentley's father, which Teen Mom: The Next Chapter viewers will get to see play out when the MTV show returns with back-to-back episodes on Wednesday, July 19.
Bookout and Edwards decided to give their tumultuous co-parenting relationship another shot after connecting over Bentley's best interests at The Next Chapter's first reunion, and the mother of three, who shares younger kids Jayde and Maverick with husband Taylor McKinney, told PopCulture they "made some commitments" to mending things that ended up sticking. Reestablishing a relationship with his had "had a really positive effect" on Bentley. "You can just tell there's like weight lifted off of him and I think it just relieved some of the pressure for him," Bookout explained.
Edwards has had a number of run-ins with the law since the initial reunion was filmed, and in April was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in prison on harassment charges in regards to his ex-wife, Mackenzie Standifer. That same month, Edwards was arrested on charges related to possession of a controlled substance, DUI and violating the terms of his probation.
"We still have a good relationship. I mean obviously, he's in jail right now, but we talk regularly – he calls a lot." Bookout said of where she and her ex stand today. "Forever he will struggle with sobriety, and it's a journey, but hopefully with everything that's happened and the decisions that he made, I'm just hoping that I can just... well, we can be a supportive piece for him just moving forward, being sober." Friday, Edwards appeared in court in Hamilton County, Tennessee, where a judge announced he would be given a furlough to complete an inpatient rehab program after serving three months of his one-year sentence.
Bookout has also been taking steps to manage her relationship with Edwards, such as attending Al-Anon meetings. "I think one of the biggest things I've learned from that is that I can't fix all the problems and most problems aren't mine to fix," she told PopCulture. "I can't change or apologize or do anything about certain decisions that Ryan has made and the effect it has had on Bentley. That's Ryan's responsibility and he's the only one that can do that. I can't do that for him or for Bentley as much as I would love to be able to." Teen Mom: The Next Chapter premieres with back-to-back episodes on Wednesday, July 19 at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.