Why 'Teen Mom 2' Star Leah Messer Kept Her Abortion Hidden

Reflecting on her decision to terminate a pregnancy eight years ago, Leah Messer would have been more open about the choice. The Teen Mom 2 star, who revealed in her memoir Hope, Grace, & Faith earlier this year that the miscarriage she said she had with then-fiancé Jeremy Calvert was actually a lie to cover her decision to get an abortion, told Fox News in a new interview that she would have done things differently if given a chance.

"Looking back, I wouldn't have kept that a secret," Messer shared. "I would have been the person that I am today and say, 'You know what? This is where I'm at. This is what's happening.' And just be honest about it. It was a lesson learned, a hundred percent." At only 20 years old, Messer noted she wasn't ready to share that part of her life with the MTV audience. "Abortion is a very controversial topic and it's not something that I wasn't exactly proud of," she said.

At the time, Messer wrote in her book that several people close to her, including her mother, encouraged her to say she had a miscarriage. Now, almost a decade later and as a mom to 7-year-old Adalynn and 11-year-old twins Aliannah and Aleeah, Messer would want to be honest about her experience from the start as a way to help other women in a similar situation.

"I couldn't imagine anyone else experiencing the same thing," Messer shared. "I'm sure I'm not the only woman out there that has made it a rational decision and carried it for so long wishing that they had someone to talk to, wishing they had someone to [reach] out to." Because of that, she decided to share the real story in her book, which was "hard" but ultimately rewarding.

"I've heard so many stories [from] many other women going through the same thing and feeling like they can't talk about it," said Messer of the response from readers. "So to know that I [did] that and they finally feel like they have a safe place to talk about it — I feel like that was my goal. And I'm happy with that."

In August, following her book's release, Messer told PopCulture she was in "complete awe" of the responses she had gotten from readers supporting her sharing the "raw and vulnerable" parts of her life. Speaking so openly about things that have been painful in the past, Messer now feels like she can "close out the chapters of [her] life there."