News broke on Monday that Teen Mom OG dad Ryan Edwards was arrested again in his hometown in Tennessee, but details about his arrest were sketchy. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department was inundated with media inquiries about Ryan’s arrest and issued a statement confirming that Ryan was “charged with Simple Possession of Heroin and is currently being held in the Hamilton County Jail under a No Bond.”
Here is the full statement from the HCSD:
Ryan Christopher Edwards Arrested – Held in Hamilton County Jail
Hamilton County, TN – In response to requests for information regarding the arrest of Ryan Edwards from numerous national news outlets, for clarification purposes, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is releasing the following information:
Ryan Christopher Edwards was arrested yesterday, Monday, July 23, 2018, by the Red Bank Police Department in Red Bank, Tennessee.
Edwards was charged with Simple Possession of Heroin and is currently being held in the Hamilton County Jail under a No Bond.
According to arrest information, Edwards is scheduled to appear in Red Bank Court on August 6th, 2018
As Edwards was arrested by the Red Bank Police Department, any questions regarding his arrest or the charges should be directed to them as the arresting agency, this includes requests for his arrest and incident related reports. Edwards’ mugshot is below.
Once again, this release is to clarify the arresting agency, confirm Edwards’ arrest, and that he is currently being held in the Hamilton County Jail.
I believe that the simple possession of heroin charge could mean that Ryan violated his probation from his 2017 heroin possession arrest, essentially re-activating that charge. It’s important not to jump to the conclusion that Ryan was caught in possession of heroin again. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t, but I think it is still unclear exactly why he was arrested.
Unfortunately, the Red Bank Police Department has not issued a statement offering any more information.
It has been an odd experience seeing people’s reactions to Ryan’s arrest and mug shot photo. The majority of comments were about his appearance and how rough he looks compared to just six or seven years ago. That’s understandable, and merited if offered without snark or a snicker. Drug abuse can reek havoc on your body and take years off your life, and anything that brings awareness to that fact is a good thing.
The second most common reaction among fans of the show was the collective schadenfreude mentality directed at Ryan’s pregnant wife Mackenzie Edwards. It is really astonishing just how unlikable Mackenzie seems on screen and on social media — so much so that people are almost joyful about Ryan’s continued struggles. She consistently comes across as smug, condescending, and “high and mighty” about a situation that would better be served with humility and sincere emotion.
Humble and sincere is exactly what viewers have gotten from Ryan’s parents Jen and Larry over the last nine years, and I encourage all of you to think and comment about Ryan’s continued struggle from their perspective instead of Mackenzie’s.
I wrote a lengthy article about how brutally honest some of the Teen Mom OG scenes with Jen and Larry have been, and I really hope you read it. I will just post a little bit of my recap of the scene with them after Ryan got out of rehab:
“How have things been since Ryan’s gotten home?” show producer Jeni asks Larry and Jen after Ryan’s return from rehab.
“They’ve been pretty good,” says Jen, and Larry says at the same time: “Pretty good actually.”
Larry continues: “I love the fact that if [Ryan] calls me or I call him, and he’s on the phone, I can understand every word that he says. I love it. And for the thirty days he was in rehab, it was the best I’ve ever felt because I knew he was gonna be OK. I knew that I wasn’t going to get a call and somebody tell me that I needed to come to the hospital, or whatever.”
As Larry talks, tears begin to flow for him, Jen, the producer, and this writer — yet again. Trying to comprehend the relief of knowing your child was going to be OK after YEARS of not knowing EVERY DAY is pretty much impossible to understand for those of us lucky enough to have not experienced it ourselves, but Larry got me pretty damn close.
Of course, there have been numerous reactions expressing concern for Ryan and his family, like this tweet in response to our post about Ryan’s arrest:
I hope he will recover from this. Drug addiction is bad, sad and just awful. We should give him supportit. Even if he blames Maci at this time. Think it's just a way of processing. I understand Maci though, just wanting to protect her son.
— Wigdis (@wig_ed) July 24, 2018
I should point out that fans don’t seem to “hate” Ryan so much, just Mackenzie. Despite all that he has done (or hasn’t done) over the years, fans generally still have sympathy for him and wish him well. I think a lot of that has to do with how Ryan seems willing to judge himself, and he is not so quick to judge everyone else. Here is part of his recent Instagram post after it was revealed that he and Mackenzie would no longer be filming for Teen Mom OG due to Maci’s concerns over his struggles with addiction playing out for Bentley to see:
I will never stop speaking out against this horrible disease! It consumes your life and turns you into someone even you don’t know. I’m asking you to never give up. Each day is a struggle. I’ve made mistakes and I have really messed up in the past but there is so much hope ahead and it doesn’t mean I can’t change the future. If you or someone you know needs help, please don’t hesitate to go SAMHSA.gov. Help is out there.
We wish Ryan and his family all the best. And we hope that Mackenzie is able to relax her defensiveness to the point where she doesn’t feel like she has to be above everyone all the time. It’s an impossible goal, especially being in the national spotlight, and it erodes the potential for public support.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
