‘Teen Mom OG’: Ryan Edwards Disagrees With Maci Bookout’s Parenting of Bentley in Exclusive Preview

Maci Bookout is concerned that 11-year-old son Bentley’s wrestling dreams aren’t being nurtured by his father, Ryan Edwards, as the Teen Mom OG star’s ex comes out strong against the strict diet the young athlete is being required to stick to. In a PopCulture.com exclusive clip of Tuesday’s all-new episode, Bookout reveals that wrestling has been a great outlet for Bentley after “struggling” last year with Edwards’ drug addiction issues and run-ins with the law.

With Bentley’s dream being to make it to states in the 75 lb. weight class, Bookout gets him a private lesson to work on technique, all while making sure to feed him a “very strict, very good healthy calorie diet” with lots of water. But sending him to his grandparents’ house, she fears his eating habits will go off the rails. “Bentley is still splitting his time between our house and Ryan’s parents’ house,” she explains. “So I hope when he’s over there, he’s sticking to his diet because he needs to stay in his weight class to be competitive.”

Edwards certainly isn’t supportive of his son’s new way of eating, telling him, “I thought wrestling was about technique. I know you gotta have a little bit of strength, so why aren’t you trying to gain weight? You need to be gaining weight.” He adds to Bentley, “You know what’s gonna happen? You’re gonna stunt your growth, then when you really…it’s time to get bigger, you’re just gonna be a great bloomer and it’s gonna suck for you.”

Back in March, Bookout told PopCulture that despite the difficult times she’s had with Edwards in the past, she has been trying to maintain a cordial relationship with him amid the restraining order against him. “For now, we’re in a place where we’re trying to do what’s best with Bentley and not try to force anything as far as our relationship goes — nothing that wouldn’t happen naturally,” she explained. “We’re taking slow, small steps.”

The MTV star added that she and husband Taylor McKinney make sure to keep an open line of communication with Bentley, as he has been through a lot with his father and has the tendency to “stay quiet when he shouldn’t” about his feelings. She explained, “Keeping open-minded communication with him is really important and making sure he isn’t internalizing anything and handling his emotions well. …We’re lucky because he’s easy.”

Follow Bookout’s co-parenting journey with Edwards in the new episodes of Teen Mom OG, airing Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on MTV. For more about Teen Mom OG and its stars from PopCulture, click here.