Amber Portwood

Career:

Amber Portwood (born on May 14, 1990 in Anderson, Indiana) is a reality star best known for her role on Teen Mom. Amber started her career as a TV personality in 2008 on the MTV original series 16 & Pregnant, followed by the spinoff series, Teen Mom. In Season One of the show, Amber dreamed of opening her own beauty salon but dropped out of high school when she discovered she was pregnant with her on-again off-again boyfriend Gary Shirley. On November 12, at the age of 18, she gave birth to their daughter, Leah Leann Shirley. Although the pair were engaged for quite some time, they eventually separated. The MTV series documented Amber’s struggle with raising her daughter and keeping a healthy relationship with Gary, which led to physical violence and multiple run-ins with the law. Her final season on Teen Mom aired in the summer of 2012, however in March 2015, she reunited with her former co-stars Maci McKinney, Catelynn Baltierra, and Farrah Abraham, and the group returned to MTV for the fifth season of the show, renamed Teen Mom OG.  She also went on to star in the reality series Marriage Boot Camp in 2017, appearing on the show with her ex-fiance, Matt Baier. In 2020, fans are still following Amber’s journey on ‘Teen Mom OG’ which documents her life as a mom to pre-teen daughter Leah, and toddler James.

Personal Life:

Fans have not only been following Amber’s career over the years, but also her personal life. She was charged with three counts of domestic violence in November 2010 after on and off camera incidents with Gary Shirley, the father of her pre-teen daughter Leah Leann Shirley. Her relationship issues with Gary led to physical violence in front of her child, including an incident where Amber beat Gary so severely, it left permanent scars. In 2011, she was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, and was also found to have violated her probation in the domestic violence incidents. She pled guilty at a January 2012 hearing and was sentenced to five years in prison that February. Her charges not only related to domestic violence issues, she was also faced legal woes over possession of drugs and failing to complete a court-ordered rehab program.

Amber began her jail sentence in June 2012, but was released early, just a year and a half later. After her release, she admitted to drug use during most of her time on the beginning seasons of Teen Mom, and has since been fighting to stay sober and be a good mom to her two kids. She later became engaged to her boyfriend of three years, Matt Baier, before their split in June 2017 when she started dating Marriage Boot Camp crew member Andrew Glennon.

She found herself embroiled in a new legal battle in 2019. The reality star, who has openly struggled with bipolar disorder and depression, was arrested on felony domestic battery charges on July 5. She was hit with three felonies — domestic battery, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and domestic battery in the presence of a child. Amber’s then boyfriend, Andrew, also requested an “emergency hearing” to seek sole custody of their son James.

The repercussions of her fights with Andrew have been extensive. He accused her of striking a door with a machete while he was standing on the other side of the door with their toddler! An audio clip hit the Internet in Sept. 2019, in which a woman (allegedly Amber) could be heard telling a man (allegedly Andrew) “I will f–king kill you.” Then, in Nov. 2019, a separate audio clip leaked of that fight. In it, you can hear Andrew ask if Amber’s “going to get a f–king machete.”

Six months after her split with Andrew, Amber found herself a new man — European-born Dimitri Garcia. The new couple kept things on the down low, opting not to post about each other on Instagram. He did confirm his presence in the United States by posting a photo of a Whole Foods Belgian waffle with the caption: “truly Belgian breakfast this morning. not really but good lol,” in early 2020, however not much is known about her tall, dark and handsome suiter. Fans believed the longtime reality star might be keeping quiet about him because she recently revealed that she’s taking a break from social media in order to “move forward in a positive light.” A source spoke to HollywoodLife exclusively in January 2020 about the status of Amber and her Belgian-born beau’s relationship. “Amber Portwood and Dimitri Garcia are getting to know one another and not seriously dating. She doesn’t consider him her official boyfriend. However, she’s enjoying getting to know him and seeing where it goes.” In the meantime, fans can keep up with Amber on Teen Mom OG.