Just as things look to be falling apart for Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Eason, her sister Ashleigh appears to be getting her life back on track — with a little help from her mom.
The last time we checked in with Ashleigh was back in May, just after she had officially lost custody of her three-year-old son Atlas. Ashleigh and Atlas’s father Lee have had a very acrimonious custody battle over Atlas since he was born, including multiple accusations of kidnapping and a high-speed police chase. Lee now lives in New Jersey and has primary custody.
Right after Ashleigh received the bad news in court, she posted a video with Barbara from the parking lot. “My daughter Ash has done nothing wrong, but take care of her child” Barbara said. “The baby’s being neglected, and nobody cares. But we will fight this, and fight it until the end.”
Ashleigh’s older son Gabriel, who looks to be a little younger than Jace, was living with Barbara, Jace, and Barbara’s son Colin at the time. It’s unclear if Ashleigh was also living with them.
A little less than four months after the court hearing, Ashleigh revealed that she was going to be buying her own home in Jacksonville, North Carolina with the help of her mother. She posted the following photo on Facebook on August 30 and wrote: “This is our beautiful house that my mom help me buy I’m so happy!! ❤️”
Amazingly, Hurricane Florence’s nearby landfall in Wrightsville Beach on September 14 didn’t seem to affect Ashleigh (and Barbara’s) home buying plans. Ashleigh got the keys for the house on October 3. “Today I picked up my contract for the house!!” Ashleigh wrote, along with a Facebook gallery of images of the empty interior of the house. “It’s all ours, we can move in today. Brand new carpet, ADT alarm system, bathrooms, updated kitchen with new floors. With a little bit of paint and imagination my boys and I are going to make this house a home!”
Ashleigh followed through with those plans and posted another gallery of images on Facebook earlier this week showing off the work she had done:
My beautiful house!! Thank you everyone for helping me during hurricane Florence and finding me cool furniture with odds…
Posted by Ashleigh Elizabeth Wilson on Sunday, February 17, 2019
Ashley mentions that her two boys have separate rooms in the house, and on the same day that she posted the gallery, she shared a photo of her sons Gabriel and Atlas together in the new house:
You will notice that the photo looks to have been taken around Christmas time, which matches up with a photo posted by Barbara on Instagram of herself and Ashleigh in New Jersey in December. I assume the two drove there together to pick Atlas up for a visitation:
Ashleigh hasn’t shared any additional details about her custody battle for Atlas, but it appears as though his father still has custody and Atlas continues to live with him in New Jersey.
Congratulations to Ashleigh on the new house! As crazy as Jenelle’s life seems, it might pale in comparison to Ashleigh’s — especially given that Ashleigh is not making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from MTV. (I genuinely forget sometimes just how much Barbara has to deal with day to day! And remember, in addition to Jenelle and Ashleigh, she also has their brother Colin!)
Speaking of not getting hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from MTV, Ashleigh has always seemed to have a strong work ethic. Every time I have checked in on her she is working at least two jobs — sometimes three. When she lost her job(s) just after Hurricane Florence, she got a job cleaning up debris — which could not have been easy! Here are some of her updates from between the time the house was under contract and the closing:
September 3
Sometimes being a single mom gives you so much strength that you never thought you would even have. You just do what you got do you and you keep moving and you keep pushing a matter how hard it is you always figure it out.For whatever reason I don’t know how I’m doing it, I just keep pushing through even if I choose to work three jobs for a while longer❤️❤️September 8
Throughout my life, I was constantly reminded to not to air my dirty laundry. Part of why domestic violence is allowed to continue is because there is often an unwritten rule in many families of abuse: Don’t ask. Don’t tell. Keeping quiet does no good. I found sharing my story liberated myself to freedom. There is power in storytelling and, in that, healing. Owning my truth also empowered me. I will no longer be manipulated or controlled by guilt or shame. I will NEVER let anyone treat me like a rag doll or put their hands in me ever again. I will never let anyone manipulate me or emotionally abuse me ever again.
For those of you curious why Ashleigh has not been on Teen Mom 2, that is reportedly because of the animosity between her and her sister Jenelle. (The two siblings have a long history of unpleasantries.) Ashleigh did make an appearance on MTV for the “Being Barbara” special in 2016. That special did not include Jenelle, so I assume she did not have any sort of power of veto where Ashleigh was concerned.
If you want to know more about Ashleigh’s history with Jenelle, here is a timeline of our coverage from our previous (VERY lengthy) post about Ashleigh’s custody woes:
July, 2012 – Jenelle and Ashleigh have a huge falling out after Jenelle reportedly took money given to Ashleigh by Barbara so that she could move to California. “My sister got beat in the face and I left at 3am from her house becuz her husband was coming home I was scared,” Jenelle said of the incident, adding: “My mom gave me $500 cash for the trip and when I heard her husband was going to be around I dipped out.” Jenelle shared a rather gruesome photo of Ashleigh with an injured face as evidence of her first husband’s violent nature.
July, 2012 – Ashleigh says the abuse photo was fake. Jenelle was incredulous: “If it was fake then she lied to my entire family and the government.”
August, 2012 – Jenelle posts a video on YouTube that features a woman screaming at her son and alleges that it is Ashleigh and her son Gabriel. There is also a text message from Barbara that suggests Ashleigh is in possession of a Jenelle Evans sex tape with two other guys?!
January, 2015 – Jenelle and Ashleigh’s feud reignites online as Jenelle interprets Ashleigh’s pregnancy announcement as her sister trying to ruin her vacation with Nathan. (You just have to read the post.)
July, 2016 – After Ashleigh’s appearance on Being Barbara, we checked in and caught everyone up on the drama in her life since the Jenelle pregnancy vacation debacle. It covers her happy days with Lee in January of 2015, the alleged kidnapping in early 2016, and everything right up until the date of the post.
August, 2016 – Ashleigh denounces Jenelle after she finally confirms she is pregnant with Ensley. Ashleigh explains her decision to pack up her kids and move to New Jersey to give Lee another chance.
November, 2016 – Ashleigh’s trip to New Jersey DOES NOT GO WELL. She hurls all sorts of allegations of abuse at Lee, and his family responds with accusations that Ashleigh was a prostitute (with a photo receipt). Lee REALLY goes off on Ashleigh on Facebook as he posts her phone number and declares “Trust me if I didn’t have kids and a family and a good job I’d beat her ass until there’s no tomorrow.” He concludes his tirade by referring to Ashleigh, Jenelle, and Barbara as “nasty hillbilly ‘MTV’ superstars.”
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
