‘Teen Mom’s Amber Portwood Couldn’t Get Out of Bed for 4 Months After Daughter Leah’s Adoption Request

Amber Portwood has been having a difficult time processing the news that her 16-year-old daughter Leah may want to be adopted by her stepmother.

During Thursday’s new episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, the MTV star said Leah’s potential adoption by Kristina Shirley, who is married to Portwood’s ex, Gary Shirley, “took over everything” for her mentally.

“I thought I was already dark and deep and in a hole from what happened to me, the incident in North Carolina and him leaving me in the mountains,” she said, referring to ex-fiancé Gary Wayt disappearing in order to end their engagement. “But when I found out about my daughter saying she wanted to be adopted, it took over everything. I was really in bed for four months.”

Portwood has had a difficult relationship with her mom Tonya throughout her life, but after realizing she “just needed [her] mommy,” the Teen Mom star reconnected with her mother as a “shoulder to cry on” during those dark days.

“Me and my mom were fighting so bad, I had to leave the house and live with my father,” Portwood said of her childhood, adding that now, “I’ve seen my mom three times these last few weeks, when I hadn’t seen her in almost a year.”

When Portwood and her mom met up later in the episode, the reality personality expressed that she was “scared” that Leah was “never going to come around” and have a relationship with her.

Tonya reminded her daughter that she can’t “force” a relationship with her teenager, but shared with her that she still gets loving texts from Leah regularly. That news seemed to really impact Portwood, who began to cry, as she ended the episode with a renewed sense of optimism.

“I see how my relationship with my mom was completely tumultuous, and today I’m with my mom, I love my mom so much,” she said in a confessional. “This is why I have hope with Leah. It’s just gonna take me a while.”

Teen Mom: The Next Chapter airs on MTV Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.