Congratulations to former Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant mom Lexi Tatman as she announces she officially completed her nail tech certification!
“2020 was the wrong year to get my life together,” Lexi began a caption to her Instagram announcement on Sunday (included below). “TOTALLY KIDDING!” she continues. “I’m proud to say that I have completed nail school and officially am a certified nail tech.”
Lexi then warns the caption readers that “this is my graduation speech” before adding a laughing emoji and advising those that want to skip her speech to just give the post a like and move on.
Here’s Lexi’s “graduation speech:”
This year has been crazy, this is for everyone who is finished or finishing their last year of schooling, congratulations to everyone.
I chose before COVID to not walk for various reasons, mainly because I just wanted to get out of the school I was in 😂 I know this has been a hard, scary and dismal [time]. I know that the seniors have waited all their school life to walk across the stage and get their diploma, I know the students who have gone to colleges, unis couldn’t wait to get degrees on their graduation day, and I know I only went to a Technical school, but I want everyone to know that I’m with you in spirit and we can all relate to this unfortunate series of events.
However, the biggest and best part of all this craziness is that we did it. We completed one of our biggest accomplishments and we did it while being at home. So from me to all of you, congratulations! 🍻🎊 In the words of Louise Belcher, “NAILED IT.”
Thanks everybody 💛
Lexi mentions in her “speech” that 2020 has been crazy, but the craziness for her started a few years ago. In late 2017 she was 17 and pregnant when she was cast by MTV for the newest installment in the Teen Mom franchise.
Lexi remained on the show for two seasons (or two halves of one season using MTV’s official records), along with her son Tobias and boyfriend Kyler. While filming for Season 2, producers reportedly decided to drop Lexi from the show. “MTV basically felt that her story wasn’t interesting enough to continue with,” a source told The Ashley at the time.
Being thrust into the national spotlight by appearing on a very popular nationally televised reality show before, during, and after giving birth as a teen was just the beginning of the craziness for Lexi!
Young and Pregnant fans will recall Lexi’s desire to become a funeral director, and she enrolled in college courses in hopes of reaching that goal. However, a personal tragedy would later make Lexi realize that being a funeral director was not what she wanted, and she shifted her career trajectory towards being a nail tech.
In addition to the personal tragedy that motivated Lexi to abandon her dream of becoming a funeral director, her decision may have also been influenced by the fact that her funeral director mentor was the target of an F.B.I. investigation into an organ and tissue harvesting scheme.
The allegations against Megan Hess and her mother and their Sunset Mesa Funeral Home included sending concrete in lieu of cremated remains, embalming without permission, selling decedents’ body parts without permission, and more. Lexi and her family were victims themselves after using Megan’s funeral home to handle Lexi’s grandfather’s cremation.
#TeenMom #YoungAndPregnant @lexi_tatman's former funeral home mentor Megan Hess arrested for alleged organ & body harvesting scheme. Read the full indictment & the US Attorney's statement. Plus, Lexi answers questions. https://t.co/ibv2Rw0VUl pic.twitter.com/AlBdl4fbVi
— Starcasm (@starcasm) March 18, 2020
In March of 2019, Megan Hess and her mother Shirley Koch were arrested for illegally selling body parts or entire bodies without the consent of the family of the deceased.
From the grand jury indictment:
In at least dozens of instances, Hess and Koch did not follow family wishes, and neither discussed nor obtained authorization for Donor Services to transfer decedents’ bodies or body parts to third parties. In the few instances where families agreed to donation, Hess and Koch sold the remains of those decedents beyond what was authorized by the family, which was often limited to small tissue samples, tumors, or portions of skin. Hess and Koch also delivered cremains to families with the representation that the cremains were that of the deceased when, frequently, that was not the case.
Hess and Koch would also ship bodies and body parts that tested positive for, or belonging to people who had died from, infectious diseases, including Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, after certifying to buyers that the remains were disease free. These shipments would be through the mail or on commercial air flights in violation of Department of Transportation regulations regarding the transportation of hazardous materials.
After getting booted from Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant and learning that her mentor had been named in a horrific federal organ harvesting investigation that included her deceased grandfather, Lexi and Kyler welcomed their second child together!
Congratulations to #TeenMom #YoungAndPregnant's @lexi_tatman as she and @CyberTheWarrior welcome their second child, a baby boy named Jay, after somehow managing to keep her pregnancy a secret! 👏👏👏https://t.co/8pPscIxFXG
— Starcasm (@starcasm) August 27, 2019
In an amazing feat in this day and age of social media, Lexi and Kyler managed to keep here pregnancy a complete secret. The couple surprised fans and the media when they announced the arrival of their son Jay Wolfe on August 26! “Me and Kyler chose to keep our pregnancy off social media to enjoy it and the birth,” Lexi explained at the time of the announcement. “We wanted to enjoy everything without putting it out on social media ❤️,” she added. “Thank you all for understanding.”
Just a few moths after their son Jay arrived, Lexi revealed her career path change. “I have decided to pursue a career as a Nail Technician (which I had originally planned to attend before I had Tobias),” Lexi wrote on Instagram. “I’m extremely excited to start this career and education. I have been doing my own nails for quite some time now and learned a lot from self teaching but it’s time to learn how to perfect this profession.”
#TeenMom #YoungAndPregnant @Lexi_Tatman no longer wants to be a funeral director after her mentor was named in an FBI organ harvesting investigation! (It's unclear if that was the actual reason) Plus, see a recent photo of her & Kyler's 3-mo-old son Jay! https://t.co/AeusFynEKx
— Starcasm (@starcasm) December 7, 2019
Congratulations again to Lexi! I’ve always admired her drive and her positivity in the face of so much negativity. I’m proud of her raising two children and still managing to get her nail tech certification in the middle of a pandemic! I wish the MTV cameras had been there to capture all of it!
Here is Lexi’s full post, which includes a little song performed in her honor:
For those wondering what the lyrics to my moms song was “congratulations Lexi, the votech was a wreck, but in the end we know you’ll be a great nail tech”
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
