Are MTV’s Teen Moms friends in real life?

The way MTV handles the Teen Mom cast members has always been interesting to me. Unlike the network’s other reality stars, such as those from Jersey Shore, the Teen Moms aren’t invited to attend award shows. Producers also go to great lengths to avoid showing them interacting outside of reunion shows. (If you just watched the show you would never know that some attend their co-stars weddings and have been know to meet up on vacations and other occasions.)

This is likely because MTV still wants to maintain the integrity of the notion that Teen Mom is a docuseries about normal mothers who gave birth as teenagers. Showing them attending glamorous awards shows or flying across the country to attend special events would basically break down that illusion — which would be detrimental to the show, even if we all know it’s a manipulated reality.

So how friendly are the Teen Moms friends in real life?

In her new book Pride Over Pity, Kailyn Lowry shed some light on the dynamics among the ladies of Teen Mom 2. She explained she briefly met them during the 16 & Pregnant reunion for their season, but she still felt uncomfortable in their presences and “instinctively shut down.” The next time she met Jenelle Evans, Leah Calvert and Chelsea Houska was for the first Teen Mom 2 reunion show. That time, they were all able to really connect and get to know each other.

After the reunion, the girls continued to keep in touch via Twitter and “talked frequently outside of the public eye.” She added she’s closest to Leah and they regularly visit outside of Teen Mom publicity events.

The same seems to be true for the women from Teen Mom 3, who were particularly supportive of each other in private and on social media. (Unlike when Teen Mom premiered in December 2009, Twitter was much more prevalent when Teen Mom 2 and Teen Mom 3 rolled around. This seems to have gone a long way in fostering the girls’ relationships with each other.)

Social media also enabled the girls from the different franchises to connect. Maci Bookout is apparently quite close with some of the younger girls, recently referring to Kailyn as her “good friend.”

But, with so many different personalities at play, friendships didn’t form among all the Teen Moms. The best example of inner cast drama probably comes from — no real surprise here — Farrah Abraham and her co-stars. Although they always played nice on reunion shows, Farrah revealed her true feelings last spring by saying Catelynn Lowell had a weight issue and she was never speaking to her again.

More recently, sources reported Amber Portwood, Maci and Catelynn were willing to revive Teen Mom, but only if Farrah is excluded. Farrah responded last week by saying she was “never friends with any of them.”

“Personally I like to keep my life separate,” Farrah explained. “We came in this project separate, and I think it’s best we keep our lives separate.”

All things considered, it’s apparent the Teen Moms are just like the rest of us… Some of them click. Others don’t.