Amber Portwood or Amber Leanne Portwood was a common girl from a place called Anderson in Indiana before she became a famous name. She holds the title of being one of the most famous American Reality Show Star. She was picked up to feature in the famous TV program ‘16 and Pregnant’, and later in another one called ‘Teen Mom.’ In this article, we will talk about the real-life of Amber Portwood and several facts about her.
It is always exciting to know about the lives of TV personalities. Moreover, Amber sure has a happening experience because of either the shows or the controversies that she has been a part of always. As you read further, you will find out why so many people are curious about this woman.
Amber Portwood’s early life
Amber Portwood took birth in the city of Anderson in Indiana, on 14th May, 1990. Her full name is Amber Leanne Portwood. You can already understand that she is a native American, and ethnicity comes from the Northern part of the country. Her father, Shawn Portwood Sr. passed away in December 2014 when he was just 50. According to sources, he suffered a severe case of liver damage due to alcohol induction.
Amber Portwood’s mother, Tonya Portwood, was employed under the Indiana Automotive Fasteners Inc. during the time of her husband’s death. Her brother Shawn Edwin Portwood, Jr., is a US State Army veteran. She also had a sister called Candace Portwood, passed away even before she was a year old. However, Amber Portwood has revealed to the press that her mother highly neglected her during her growing years.
She blames it on the fact that Tonya Portwood had an affair after the death of her husband that lead to her ignoring duties towards her children. During her teenage years, Amber Portwood became pregnant with the child of Gary Shirley, who was her boyfriend back at that time. Later in 2008, she gave birth to a baby girl who was named Leah Leann Shirley. The mother and daughter bonded well for quite some years before they parted, and Shirley obtained complete custody of the child.
Later, from 2014 to 2017, Amber dated Matt Baier, a young DJ. They met through Twitter, a social networking platform. In between, the two men she was in a relationship with Andrew Glennon. They reunited in 2017 when she broke up with Baier, and finally, Amber Portwood baby James Andrew Glennon was born. Later, Portwood was diagnosed with BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) as well as Bipolar Disease.
Amber Portwood associated legal cases
There are several instances on which Amber Portwood was questioned and investigated by the police. In this section, we will address a few of them.
Portwood and Shirley Case:
From the earliest records, MTV once released footage that shows Portwood’s extremely violent acts towards Gary Shirley, the father of her eldest daughter. It was a continuous series of attacks, and during a few of them, the man did not even try to defend himself.
Portwood, as well as Shirley, were heavily questioned by Indiana Police as well as the Child Welfare Department. The incident came as a black mark for the TV personality. Her audience and the ordinary people started questioning her ability to bring up a child, given her violent nature. Police began searching her apartment and found suspicious elements. Later, according to trusted sources, we got to know that substantial amounts of crack cocaine and marijuana were found in the apartment.
During 2010, Portwood tried to clear her image and issued a press release confessing that she would want the Indiana police to keep an eye on her for the next six months. Her condition was that she wanted custody of her daughter, Leann if shew was proved clean. In the same year, during November, she was accused of multiple charges that included repeated attacks on Shirley, and other forms of domestic violence.
Drug abuse case
After a year, during December 2011, the TV celebrity was summoned again on charges of substance possession. It also meant that she had committed a breach of law in spite of being under monitoring. Her monitoring included an anger management course, achieving the GED certificate, proper behavior in the society, clearing of probation dues, and, most importantly, arranging college fees for Leann costing at $10,000.
Later, she was sent to jail with a suspended term of 5 years. The jury presented a condition against dropping all charges against her. They said that she would be proved innocent if she was ready to go for a complete session in rehab. A few months later, during March 2012 could not pass a drug test, thus violating the conditions of her release in association with the suspended sentence. Therefore, the verdict was further reimposed. However, the judge resented this imposition and instead commanded her to perform drug tests for consecutive 30 days.
What happened next
Portwood failed again and also dropped of rehab leading to her third violation in a row. Finally, in June 13, 2012, Amber Portwood started serving her sentence that was to end post five years. During this time, she also had to attend rehabilitation classes and finally work towards earning a proper GED.
Soon, in December 2013, she featured in Dr. Phil’s Talk Show on which she confessed that she had achieved early release on the grounds of sober behavior. She added that she has also obtained a GED and confessed how she used to be high on illegal drugs during most of her appearance in Teem Mom.
She says those were dark days, and she is clean now and has no intention to go back to such a filthy life anymore. Moreover, she is pursuing joint-custody of her daughter Leann. Besides, she has started a home for girls to help them fight drug abuse.
Amber Portwood career
Apart from being very popular, Portwood has quite a successful TV career. It has paid her off well, and the Amber Portwood net worth is of around $1,000,000. Though her exact salary has never come out in front of the public, we can very well understand that she is happy and satisfied. (buy ambient soundscapes) So, why not take a look at her career over the years.?
Her first appearance was in the American TV show “16 and Pregnant” in 2009. It became quite a hit, and Portwood became a popular name in the country after this. Soon, she reached heights of popularity and gained praise, appreciation, and loads off accolades for her performance. There were several wrong responses from the audience too, but she sure became a public figure now.
Again in 2009, she became a part of another American TV show called “Teen Mom.”
It was another spin-off series, and Portwood participated in all four seasons. The fourth season finally ended in 2012. After a lot happened in her life, Amber Portwood returned to the screen and to MTV with the fifth season of the same show that was renamed as Teen Mom OG. However, that was the end of her television appearances, and she has not featured in any other show to date.
“Never Too Late”
It is a saying that we all can relate to, but here we are talking about the famous American TV personality, Amber Portwood. “Never Too Late” is her memoir, and you must read that to know more about the real-life of the woman. It contains revelations about her that you would otherwise never get to know from what is shown on TV. These are like the inside scenes of any cinema. What are they? These are all accounts of what Amber has to say, and most importantly, her side of the story.
1. Early life
In her memoir, she talks a lot about her childhood and her family. She talks about her family before her life turned topsy-turvy when she became pregnant at an early age of sixteen. Amber has fond memories of her childhood. However, things started becoming sour with the death of her younger sister, Candice Portwood. The relationship between her parents began deteriorating, and they both started consuming a lot of alcohol.
2. Suicide attempt
Once you start going through the memoir, one of the most shocking revelations made by the star is about she attempted suicide at a very early age. She says that nothing felt right for her, and she was combatting depression, although she had no idea what it was. One day, when she was alone at home, she took a cord to the bathroom, hung it to the ceiling fan, and tried to hang herself. The entire attempt failed fortunately though she suffered a little sickness.
3. Amber Portwood and Gary Shirley
Another exciting episode of the memoir is when there is the mention of Gary Shirley, the father of her daughter. She has written how she knew Gary as her elder brother Shawn’s friend and that she had first seen him in the school library.
They were formally introduced the very next week. Amber recalls in her memoir that Gary was tremendous as a boy, and she could not even see his face. The surprising part is that throughout the journal, she does not mention his name even once. She either addresses him as her “future-fiancé,” “fiancé,” and finally as her “ex-fiancé” or only as “Leah’s father.”
4. The first relationship
It all started when Gary wanted to strike up a conversation with Amber, and the two realized that they had something special. Amber speaks very romantically and fondly about Gary Shirley in this section of her memoir. The audience is quite taken aback by the way she speaks of him. She adds that he plays the best guitar out of any man that she has met to date.
5. Pregnancy revelation
Amber remembers that she found out that she was pregnant at work and told Gary, who took it playfully. The big deal was when her parents found out. Both of them were already at loggerheads, and the news freaked them out even more.
6. The increasing fame
Now she talks about how she and Shirley participated in the American TV show “16 & Pregnant”. She says that it was unexpected for them to get selected, but it sure changed their lives a lot. They had thought that it was just a show and people would forget them after the appearance. However, what happened was precisely the opposite. Gary started becoming friendly with other girls sexually and finally moved away from his family.
7. The bad phase
During a long time, Amber admits to having taken resort to pills that she stopped when she was pregnant. However, just a few months after the birth of Leah, she was back to overdosing herself. It was during this time that she was offered Teen Mom, and she also caught Gary cheating.
Her addiction saw no boundaries, and her life meant just men, drugs, and sex. She adds to it that Gary had confessed his guilt and wanted to get her back throughout. Later, the fight between the couple became physical, too, and the final separation happened. The next was the fight for custody.
8. Times in jail and later
Extreme violence and drug abuse sent Amber to prison. She even failed to pass any of the drug tests that could save her from suspension again. Therefore, she was sent to jail for quite a long time. It was here that she had to undergo therapy. Portwood learned to become sober and ditch the filthy path that she resents entirely now.
She adds that it was the time when she learned a lot of other useful things. Her relationship with Gary also started getting better, and she helped him financially so that he could get a place to stay with her and Leah. However, she later found out that he was cheating once again and already had a girlfriend. She says that she had lost all hope finally and never tried to reconcile after that.
If you or a loved one is struggling with their sobriety consider sober living in Tucson. Sometimes you have to get away from it all and concentrate on yourself.
Final thoughts
You will keep reading about celebrities and their personal lives in journals and magazines. However. Amber Portwood is one who has had a very happening life that gives quite a thrilling experience to readers.
