Why Teen Mom's Leah Messer Was Hesitant to Support Her Dad Through His Detox Journey
Leah Messer is setting her boundaries.
In E! News' exclusive sneak peek at the June 6 episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, the reality star sat down with her sister Victoria and learned their father wanted to attend a detox facility.
In fact, Victoria told Leah their dad had already traveled from Florida to West Virginia to be near his kids and grandkids as he sought help. However, the 16 and Pregnant alum—who shares twins Ali and Aleeah, 14, with ex Corey Simms as well as daughter Addie, 11, with ex Jeremy Calvert—wasn't happy about his arrival.
"What the f--k Victoria?" Leah said in the clip. "Why?"
When asked where their dad was staying, Victoria revealed he was at her house.
"He wants to get help and do detox," she said. "What do I do? Say no?"
And that's exactly how Leah said Victoria should've answered him.
"Yes," the 32-year-old replied. "You tell him to go there."
While Victoria said she couldn't turn their father away, she noted she respected Leah's feelings.
"I can't reject that, and I know that it's going to take longer for you because your experiences are different than mine," she continued. "And I don't want to put you in that situation, so I've kind of just taken it on."
However, Leah urged her sister to be cautious.
"I think you need to be careful," she shared, "because there's a difference in supporting someone through this process and enabling."
Ultimately, Victoria asked Leah—who went through her own sobriety journey—to be there for their dad in whatever way she can.
"If you have some sort of part of you that supports him, I think, one, he needs to know that," she noted. "I accepted him coming here because something did feel different. He's wanting to go straight to detox. There's just a few things that we have to wrap up before he goes into detox. And I think it would be nice that, when you're ready or when you feel good, to step in with whatever type of support that you want to give because you can relate to the stuff that he's going through and what he's going to go through."
And Leah agreed—though she made it clear she's maintaining her boundaries.
"If he commits and follows through, I will meet him at the entrance of the detox facility and walk him through those doors," the Teen Mom 2 star said. "But if he checks out of that detox facility, deuces. I do not have time for that s--t."
Leah wrote about her dad's battle with addiction in her 2020 memoir Hope, Grace & Faith, and fans have gotten glimpses into their relationship throughout her time on TV.
In a recent interview with E! News, she shared that viewers will see her "being a support for my dad and then also allowing him to rebuild a relationship with myself and my daughters" this season.
"I'm excited to see that," she said, "but I'm also nervous because it was a very vulnerable time for me and even filming it was difficult. So reliving it is probably going to be good—like good and bad, like seeing us evolve. But the beginning was very difficult and opening up."
Teen Mom: The Next Chapter airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST on MTV.
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