Does Tyler Baltierra’s sister Amber have a drug problem? She and Tyler respond to Teen Mom OG scenes
On Monday night’s episode of Teen Mom OG there was a conversation between Tyler Baltierra and his dad Butch Baltierra in which it is implied that Tyler’s sister Amber Elkins may have a drug problem. Later in the episode there is a scene at Amber’s house in which she looks quite rough as Butch packs his bags by candlelight because the power is turned off. The house is a mess, and the kids are seemingly out of control — Amber’s daughter be seen walking on the kitchen counter at one point.
Obviously, the episode had many viewers speculating that Amber is struggling with some sort of drug problem, and both she and Tyler took to social media to respond. Here is Tyler’s response, which came in the form of a tweet:
So for everyone commenting on my sister’s situation.
1) Remember my father is a drug addict who has mastered the art of manipulation.
2) The bill was getting transferred from my dads name into hers & the power was out for literally 4 hours.
3) Her kids are fed & taken care of FYI
Amber responded to the allegations that she is using drugs — meth specifically — by uploading a video to Instagram using a face- and voice-distorting filter. I can’t make out some of what she says, but here is the clip followed by some of what I could make out:
“Just because I clean up well doesn’t mean I woke up like that!” Amber says in the beginning of the clip. She later addresses the drug accusations and explains that it was just a result of MTV editing. “So, for everybody that thinks I’m on crystal meth [laughing], I feel so bad for you. I really do. I really feel bad for you that you’re that, um, naive to the fact of MTV and their editing.”
Amber defended herself further in the comments section:
COMMENTER: Omg!!!!!!! Girl you nailed it, your so damn f**king amazing. Haters going to hate!!!!!
AMBER: hell yeah there gonna hate lmao like everyone in my family has bags under there eyes ?? aye negative or positive there talking ?????? like oh excuse me for wanting to get to my mothers and relax and tell her everything that just happened. It’s just hilarious to me how these people have so many bad things to say about my father but the second he says some sh*t about me based on the previous scene OMFG HE IS SO RIGHT. Now there’s no way Butch could of just made that up ?? like if these people think I will go out of my way to prove I was talking to my brother the whole time about my dad whole living there and I was apart of everything there crazy lmao matter of fact I would just drive over there and be like dudeeee. Like they make it look like my brother gets so irritated when nova cries and he is the calmest person out of everyone and had patience like crazy… but no. That’s not the truth BECAUSE THATS NOT WHAT TV SAYS ?? I just love it. Honestly lmao like I got past my responding to these f**ktards and defending my brother years ago. Which is why I said yes when MTV said lets us work with you. Y’all think I wasn’t asked YEAS AGO? GTFOH ?
AMBER: I’m not ashamed to admit I’m on food stamps and have been.. that will hold up in a court over my father claiming what he claimed. So like I said. Believe what you want. It’s fine it really is. I know the truth and what paperwork I can get to back it up. Everyone else’s perception is irrelevant TBH
COMMENTER: I love how people are so quick to put you down. People have had hard times and shit happens. But they all be talking like they haven’t made any mistakes in their f**king pathetic life’s. I have since so many different things of Facebook and stood up for you. Because they don’t know they f**king truth. It’s fun they all can say what they want but not a single one is paying your bills so no room to F**king talk.
AMBER: yes exactly and I was busting a** work. I had Christmas money saved and could of paid my dads bill for the lights to never get shut off but then have my kids suffer?? F**k that. My dad was in rehab on thanksgiving. I used MY BRIDGE CARD to have thanksgiving dinner with my mother and Brother. This was maybe a week before thanksgiving that last nights episode was aired. It’s just whatever. This is why I got my girls and fans like you to be honest… like thank you so much. At least someone gets me
If you missed the episode, Tyler Baltierra is having a conversation with his dad Butch Baltierra about Butch going to rehab. During their talk, Butch deflects the conversation to Tyler’s sister Amber Baltierra, who is living with Butch in Tyler and Catelynn’s old house.
“That’s not even on my mind,” Butch says in response to being asked if he is nervous about rehab. “The main thing is your sister has got me kind of worried.”
“Worried about what?” Tyler asks.
“About her. About her being her. She lives with me and I see a whole lot that nobody else sees.”
“I know, I know, I know,” Tyler repeats. “There’s only so much we can do as human beings. Just like there’s only so much I can do for you, which is send you into rehab. I can’t do anything more than that. That’s about it.”
Later in the episode, Tyler arrives at the house to pick up Butch, but he is running late and is still packing. Amber is sitting on the front porch wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants and smoking a cigarette when Tyler arrives. After expressing her frustration at Butch taking such a long time, Amber, Tyler, and Amber’s daughter and son eventually go in the house to get Butch, who is packing by candlelight because the electricity has been shut off. (As explained in the episode, and as Tyler iterated in his tweet, the power outage was due to it being switched from Butch’s name into Amber’s name.)
As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, the house appears to be a mess, and Tyler even says at one point that he hates being there because of the chaos. I tried to get a screen cap of Amber’s daughter walking on the kitchen counter, and I think I see a huge hole in the ceiling?
As far as whether or not Amber has a drug problem, I have no idea. I certainly wish Amber had done a better job of explaining what kind of editing MTV did in those scenes, though. Perhaps they cheduled Butch’s pick up during the narrow window of time that the power was out? Is that something they could have even planned for? I don’t know.
One piece of advice I would offer to Amber — and to anyone else in a similar situation: if you are defending yourself against accusations of drug abuse, you shouldn’t use a Sméagol filter if you want people to take you seriously. If you really don’t care what people think, then go right ahead — but I would question why you would even make a response video in the first place.
When I first saw that Amber had posted about the episode I was really hoping that she had really nailed a straight-forward response. Perhaps Amber and the commenter are right in that haters are going to hate regardless of what she said, but I certainly don’t count myself among the haters, and I had my ears and mind open to what she had to say. It was really disappointing that it was so flippant and non-specific. In contrast, I thought Tyler’s response was perfectly short, serious, and specific.
Looking forward — I wonder if Butch’s comments about Amber were a hint that we will see more about her situation on the show? I suppose we’ll all have to tune in and find out. New episodes of Teen Mom OG air Monday nights at 9/8c on MTV.
