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'This Has All Been Hell': ‘Teen Mom OG’ Star Amber Portwood Opens Up About Domestic Battery Case, Plea Deal
Amber Portwood was accused last year of hitting her ex while he was holding their child, and later threatening him with a machete.
"Teen Mom OG" star Amber Portwood has spoken out about the domestic battery case involving her ex-boyfriend, expressing frustration that she's apparently legally unable to tell her side of the story.
Portwood, 29, was arrested last year and hit with numerous charges after allegedly assaulting her ex-boyfriend, Andrew Glennon, while he was holding their infant son.
Glennon told police that Portwood struck him with a thick-heeled sandal while the couple's young son was in his arms, and that she later brandished a machete and came toward him while he was holding the baby, forcing him to hide in the bathroom with the child and call the police for help.
Portwood was charged with domestic battery, criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon, and domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16 years old, according to Page Six.
Now, nearly a year after the alleged incident, the aftermath for Portwood is playing out on television. On Tuesday’s episode of “Teen Mom OG,” Portwood, who ultimately reached a plea deal in the case, was shown attending a court hearing and speaking — to the extent that the plea deal allows her to — about the case, PEOPLE reports.
Prior to Portwood’s Oct. 31 hearing, she told “Teen Mom OG” producers on camera, “I just want it done. I’m so adamant on, ‘Please, just get this done.’ None of this is a victory. This has all been hell.”
While the show was not allowed to film inside the courtroom, audio of the hearing was included in the episode, according to PEOPLE. At one point during the episode, Glennon could be heard sharing his victim impact statement, saying of the incident, “That night was one of the scariest nights of my life and my mind replays the moments to no end. When I begged you to please stop shouting in front of our infant and your reply was, ‘It doesn’t matter, he’s just a baby.’ Be a mother for once in your life.”
As part of a plea deal, Portwood pleaded guilty to domestic battery in exchange for avoiding prison time and instead being placed on probation for two years and six months, E! News reports. The terms of her probation stipulate that Portwood attend parenting classes, and she is also barred from leaving Indiana without permission if it’s not related to work, according to the outlet.
At the time of her arrest, Portwood admitted to hitting Glennon while he was holding their son but denied wielding a knife against him, according to an affidavit for probable cause obtained by Radar Online.
Portwood also maintained her innocence during the “Teen Mom OG” reunion special in September, E! News reports.
“I opted out of drug court a long time ago to put myself in prison to help myself,” she said, apparently referring to the 17 months she spent in prison in 2012 on drug charges and for violating probation. “You haven't heard s--t from me since then. I haven't got in trouble one time. But all of a sudden, I'm running after my kid and [Glennon] with a machete? You're insane.”
During Tuesday’s episode, Portwood expressed frustration that she was not allowed to tell her side of the story, PEOPLE reports.
“I’m hurt and stuck, I cannot speak, I cannot speak about certain things,” she said. “I feel very angry about it and it annoys me. I cannot say my side. I don’t even know what the f--- I can f---ing say.”
She went on to say that she felt the terms of her probation were setting her up for failure, remarking, “You give somebody two and a half years probation but you also say you can’t do a certain thing for two and a half years as if you’re ‘possibly’ not going to slip up. I kinda feel like you’re setting that person up for failure. I feel like I was set up for failure as if they wanted me to go to jail.”
“There’s no f---ing way I’m going back,” she went on. “There’s no way. There’s no way.”
In an episode of the series that aired earlier this month, Glennon briefly spoke to a producer of the show about his situation with Portwood, according to PEOPLE.
“It’s giving me anxiety,” he said. “It’s a total mess. It’s completely spiraled out of control. It’s really frustrating.”
