Maci Bookout is celebrating the “positive” new dynamic she has with ex Ryan Edwards and his girlfriend Amanda Conner. The Teen Mom: The Next Chapter star opened up to PopCulture.com about co-parenting 15-year-old son Bentley with Edwards ahead of Thursday’s Season 2 premiere, revealing that things have been going “really well” as of late.
“It’s going really well. This is new for us,” she explained. “I feel like I really always co-parented with [Edwards’] parents, so we’re still figuring it out, adjusting and seeing how it works for us [and] what that looks like for us.” The MTV star said her focus is also on “making sure that Ryan’s sobriety remains his priority” and that he continues to put in the work surrounding his recovery.
Videos by PopCulture.com
It’s been “a journey” for Bookout and Edwards filled with plenty of strife, but “we’re still headed in the right direction,” she assured. Part of that positive trajectory has to do with Edwards’ girlfriend, Bookout says, whom he began dating last summer after the two met in a rehabilitation facility.
Having Conner in the picture now has “definitely changed the dynamic, but I would say in a positive way,” Bookout told PopCulture, “She’s really easy to talk to, be around, to share a room with. [She’s] got a really good energy.” The 16 and Pregnant alum went on to praise Conner as “very supportive” of Bentley and of her co-parenting relationship with Edwards, adding, “She’s definitely been a benefit to our world, and she makes it easy really. It’s like she always had a seat at the table, [but] she just got to the table. But yeah, she’s fantastic.”
In addition to navigating her co-parenting relationships this season, Bookout is taking on a whole new chapter of life. The mother of three embarks on driving lessons with Bentley while juggling her other responsibilities with 9-year-old daughter Jayde and 7-year-old son Maverick, whom she shares with husband Taylor McKinney.
“I want to say bittersweet, but it’s really not bittersweet,” Bookout said of teaching her eldest to drive. ‘It’s really shocking. I feel like we got here very quickly. You think, ‘OK, it’s this far away. It’s this far.’ Then one day it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s the day. It’s happening. This is happening.’” She continued, “It’s exciting, but it’s very scary and it is hard because you got to let them go make some decisions on their own and figure out who they are and be willing to watch them screw up sometimes and support them in the aftermath of it.”
Teen Mom: The Next Chapter Season 2 premieres Thursday, May 30 at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.
