‘Teen Mom OG’: Maci Bookout Says Son Bentley Has ‘Really Found His Voice’ Amid Ryan Edwards Ultimatum (Exclusive)

Maci Bookout couldn’t be more proud of the way son Bentley has learned to express his wants and needs, especially when it comes to his relationship with his father Ryan Edwards. Ahead of Tuesday’s Teen Mom OG season premiere, in which the 12-year-old expressed he didn’t want to see his father unless he went to therapy, the MTV star opened up to PopCulture.com about her son’s own progress with his therapist, and how he has “really found his voice.”

“As far as Bentley goes, he’s been working really hard in therapy for months now, and it’s just done wonders for him,” Bookout shared. “He is able to share his thoughts and feelings … in more than a few words and in more than one sentence. He’s asking more questions, and he’s giving his input and has really found his voice.”

Bookout has never forced Bentley to film when he was absolutely against it, but the mother of three, who also shares daughter Jayde, 5, and son Maverick, 4, with husband Taylor McKinney, shared that her oldest has been “more comfortable talking for himself and having conversations on camera.”

During Tuesday’s season premiere, tensions were high between Bookout and Edwards after the protection order she had against her ex expired. The order “caused a lot of strain between our families,” the reality star explained, but once it was lifted, there wasn’t exactly a surge in Bentley spending more time with his dad. Bookout claimed that neither Edwards nor his wife, Mackenzie Standifer, attended any of Bentley’s games even when they were allowed to, and said that it was a two-way street when it comes to putting in the effort for that relationship. “I couldn’t tell you the last time the words, ‘I wanna see my dad’ came out of his mouth,” she said of Bentley.

Bentley even ended up telling his grandparents, Jen and Larry, that “he doesn’t want to see his dad anymore unless he gets therapy.” The line in the sand was drawn three months back at the time of filming, Bookout said, and there had been no movement on Edwards’ part to make any kind of effort or appointment. For more of Bookout’s story, as well as those of co-stars Amber Portwood, Catelynn Lowell, Mackenzie McKee and Cheyenne Floyd, don’t miss new episodes of Teen Mom OG on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.

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