VIDEOS Teen Mom Maci Bookout speaks at Clarion University, interviewed by campus TV

Maci Bookout is currently in college working on a degree in communication with hopes of eventually pursuing a career in television or radio. To help get some experience talking in front of audiences the pseudo single mom (C’mon Kyle! Your knee has healed up enough for proposin’ by now!) has made herself available for speaking engagements – talking about teen pregnancy, being on the show, and her experiences being a teenage mother.

Monday night Maci took to the stage at Clarion University in Clarion, Pennsylvania and part of her talk was captured on cell phone video by an audience member. Here’s Maci sharing her story about how difficult it was telling her mom she was pregnant:

Maci’s pretty good! That was a humorous story that she told well, and I thought her comic timing was great! For those of you unable to watch Youtube clips for whatever reason, here’s what she said:

I promise I really tried, like, really hard to tell her, but literally the words would not come out of my mouth. It was like there was a roadblock and – it was almost like I forgot how to talk. So, I decided to text her, and this is how the conversation went:

I said, “Mom.”

And she said, “What?”

I said, “I have to tell you something.”

She said, “I hate when you do this.”

And then I never texted her back. [laughter]

She said, like twenty minutes later, “Well?”

And then it was like another twenty minutes go by. And I had typed out “I’m pregnant” on my phone, but I couldn’t send it.

I finally sent it and she texted me back and said, “Now what am I supposed to say to that? Oh sh!t or ha ha?” [laughter]

And I said, “Well I wasn’t really expecting either.”

And she said, “If this is a joke then it’s not funny, and if this is serious we’ll talk when you get home.”

Prior to going on stage Maci sat down for an interview with CU-TV’s Britt Cihal and Zachary Hays. (Let me just say that these two are AWESOME! Zachary was like an even more enthusiastic version of Andy Cohen, and Britt was the wonderfully stoic counterpart. I want these two interviewing more celebrities! They would have to keep that wood paneling background though.)

Anyways, here is the interview followed by some of the bullet points:

When Maci was asked if she and Bentley had any plans for Halloween she replied, “We’re definitely going trick or treating – he’s going to be a train conductor.” She then said that Bentley’s birthday is on the 27th and they are having a Thomas the Tank Engine themed costume birthday party for him then as well.

Maci was asked about the possibility of getting back with Ryan, to which she gave the wonderful response of, “I can’t say that it would never happen, but it’s not going to happen.” She goes on to add, “We weren’t meant to be together. We’re not partners. We were first loves for each other…”

B & Z: How are Kyle and Ryan getting along. Do they see each other often?

Maci: They see each other when there are Bentley pick ups and hand offs and things like that. They’re not friends. They don’t ‘hang out’ with each other, but they’re definitely civil and there’s no tension there.

Maci talks about the first time Kyle and Bentley met when she was visiting her friends at their dorm in Nashville and how Bentley hid in the corner for about five minutes before warming up to Kyle.

B & Z: I have one final question for you. What message would you like to send out to other young people in a situation similar to yours?

Maci: Just to remember that you have to be independent and strong, and you can’t let the bad things get you down. You just have to remember the good things that you have because if you dwell on the bad things then you’re never going to succeed.

Maci expressed her gratitude to the great audience and to Clarion for having her speak on Twitter, but only after initially expressing her nervousness:

Congrats Maci! It appears as though you floored ’em up in PA!