‘Teen Mom OG’: Ryan Edwards Addresses Relapse Rumors After Reunion Drama

Former Teen Mom OG star Ryan Edwards said he is sober after Taylor McKinney claimed he relapsed on drugs during the first part of the Season 9 reunion Tuesday. Edwards, the ex-boyfriend of Maci Bookout and the father of her 12-year-old son Bentley, did not take part in the reunion, but his parents did. During the combative meeting between Bookout, McKinney, and Edwards’ parents Larry and Jen, McKinney said he did not think Edwards was sober during production.

Although Edwards, 33, said he could understand why McKinney thought that, but he insists he is sober. “I can see why he made the comment, but really I was just exhausted 99 percent of the time,” Edwards told The Sun. “Staying up all night then helping Mackenzie with kids in the day. That’s in between going back to the garage building my buggy to try and get it done for King of the Hammers off-road race.”

Edwards works late nights, building cards for off-road races, he explained. “There were many nights I would work so long, I would just sit down for 15-20 min in the shop and nap for that long and get back to it,” he said. “Imagine hand-building and fabricating everything you see on a car by yourself in a little less than a year. Covid ended up getting in the way too much and I didn’t get it done in time, but we will get there next year!”

During the reunion, McKinney said he did not believe Edwards was sober. He noted there were some scenes on the show when Edwards “can’t hardly keep his eyes open.” McKinney then said he did not “feel safe” sending Bentley to spend time with Edwards. McKinney threw several other insults Edwards’ way, claiming that Edwards “can really show you how big a piece of s— he really is.” McKinney also said, “I think every week when you watch a new episode, you think Ryan can’t possibly be any dumber than he is, and he will prove you wrong the next week.”

In response to that, Edwards called McKinney a “punk b—” in his interview with The Sun. “People do that because they feel incompetent, threatened or less than whatever makes him feel that way. He could be like my one-year-old that does stuff like that for attention,” Edwards said. Edwards also made it very clear that he is looking forward to life without Teen Mom cameras following him. He called being fired from the show a “blessing in disguise” and said his family is “so happy” they are no longer going to be on.

“This is the happiest I’ve been since before I started taking pain killers. It makes me real happy to see my wife so happy so I couldn’t ask for much more,” Edwards told The Sun. He said his wife, McKenzie Standifer is “doing her thing with her business and I am starting my own fabrication business building off-road race cars and racing them as well.” The couple is parents to Jagger, 2, and Stella, 1. Edwards is also stepdad to Hudson. The second part of the Teen Mom OG reunion airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV. Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.