Watch: Teen Mom’s Amber Portwood Says New Boyfriend Is Her “Anchor” Amid Mental Health Journey
Amber Portwood is embracing her new normal.
The Teen Momalum shared a glimpse into how her boyfriend has supported her through her mental health journey as she navigates her bipolar disorder diagnosis.
“For me, my boyfriend, who I have been with for almost a year now, he’s my anchor,” Portwood said in an Oct. 8 YouTube video. “He’s very calm. Comes from a very sweet Catholic family. They don’t cuss. They don’t do stuff like that.”
The reality starâwho broke up with Gary Wayt in 2024 after he went missing amid their engagementâdescribed her new love as “very different” than her in every way but exactly what she needed in her life.
“It’s like a positive needs a negative to get together and make it,” she added. “Make sure the person you’re with and the people you’re surrounding yourself with understand you because if they don’t, get them the f–k out of there.”
Although Portwoodâwho shares 17-year-old daughter Leah with ex-boyfriend Gary Shirleyâhas yet to name her mystery man, she did reveal in June 2025 that she had been dating someone for “over a month.”
“He’s got a job for 20-something years, same exact job,” she said in a TikTok Live at the time. “He’s got this thick accentâmountain accent because he’s from North Carolinaâand he’s super sweet to me.”
It was an important milestone for Portwood, 36, as she worked through her heartbreak after she and Wayt split. In fact, she previously shared why she ended their relationship for goodafter he disappeared and was ultimately found 900 miles away in Oklahoma.
“I’m more than heartbroken,” she said on Teen Mom: The Next Chapter in February 2025. “I’m f–ked up from what happened, what he did to me. Like, we’re talking trauma.”
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It was especially difficult since she was at the center of speculation regarding Wayt’s whereabouts.
“That day, that man left for no reason,” Amber sobbed while standing outside her psychiatrist’s office during a September 2025 episode. “Why am I getting persecuted? ‘We know Amber killed him.’ I had to deal with that. Do you know how that feels? When people are calling you a murderer about your f–king fiancĂŠ?”
“I’ve had to deal with thinking my fiancĂŠ was dead for three to four days,” she continued. “I had to deal with literally grieving and trying to make sense of why the f–k would somebody do this to me. I am going through something right now.”
For a closer look at what the stars of Teen Mom have shared about their personal lives, keep readingâŚ
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