Catelynn Lowell’s story just keeps getting sadder and sadder — which is saying a lot, if you know how her story began.
From placing her daughter up for adoption to dealing with emotionally abusive addict parents, she and her longtime love, Tyler Baltierra, have been through a lot together.
And it looks like she’s finally getting started on working through all those hard times — she’s already back in rehab for a third time.
If you’re a little confused, don’t worry. It’s a confusing story.
Hard Times Catelynn has always struggled with depression and anxiety, but she also suffered from postpartum depression after giving birth to her daughter Nova. Things got so bad that in March of 2016, she checked into a treatment center for the first time.
Realizations As we saw on Teen Mom OG, her issues became too much for her after purchasing a pet pig on a whim. After bringing it home, she realized how much care he needed, and it proved to be a little too much for her in her current state. The next day, she told an MTV producer that “I just feel like I need help. ‘Cause I wasn’t really feeling good this morning, and I was having a little bit of anxiety last night …I just broke down and I was like, ‘You know what, I’m not OK … I do need mental help, something’s just not right.'”
Off to Rehab (MTV) So she went off to a facility in Arizona to get that help — as she explained in an interview after her treatment was finished, “I went for just mental illness, panic attacks and depression and I was there for 30 days. It went well, they taught me lots of different things, I learned lots of good things.”
More Hard Times Unfortunately, even after coming home from rehab she still struggled a lot with her depression. As we saw on the show, she went back to barely being able to get out of bed some days, and it really put a strain on her marriage.
Looking Up! At some point this year though, things seemed like they were going better for Catelynn. She and Tyler appeared to be more in love than ever, and they even started talking about having another child!
Not So Fast … That brief upswing was why it was so surprising last month when she announced that she’d be heading off to rehab for a second time.
Just Heartbreaking (Getty) On November 17th, she tweeted “Well today I thought of every way to kill myself.. so I’m going to treatment.” She made an additional statement thanking her fans for their support, and the next day she checked into that same treatment center in Arizona.
Love from Tyler (Getty) In the beginning of her stay, Tyler released many updates on how his wife was doing. He shared screenshots of texts between the two of them, he said the most beautiful, encouraging words about her. But as the weeks went on, the updates slowed down.
Hmm … Also in the beginning of her stay, Catelynn was able to use her phone and get on her social media accounts after going through a 48-hour lockdown. She did tweet for a bit around Thanksgiving, but then she went completely silent. Was it because she was back on lockdown? It’s hard to say.
Home for Christmas? We didn’t hear anything for a little while there, but after about three weeks, we heard a report that claimed Catelynn wanted to check out before completing her treatment. According to an insider, she and Tyler “had a group/family session during their visit and Catelynn pretty much said she wanted to go home.”
Not the Best Idea (Getty) The source also revealed that while she was no longer on suicide watch, “her counselors think more time in treatment would be beneficial.” But the issue for her was that she missed her daughter, and she didn’t want to be away from her on Christmas.
Confirmed by Tyler This wasn’t just a random report either — around that same time, Tyler wrote in an Instagram post that “Cate gets out of treatment this Friday & we can’t wait! We have been in Arizona for the past 2 weeks visiting her every Sunday.”
Home! And then that Friday, Tyler put the above photo on Snapchat, which seemed to show Catelynn at home with her family.
… What? Here’s where it starts to get confusing though: she was supposed to come home that Friday, and it looks like she did come home, but the very next day, Tyler was driving around by himself and dedicating depressing songs about suicide to Catelynn on Snapchat.
More Confusion Then, a few days later, Tyler tweeted “My wife is incredibly strong & courageous. She inspires me to just be a better human being all around & I’m honored to share my life with such a selfless soul. I love her so much & can’t wait for her to be home!” WHAT IS HAPPENING?!
Christmas without Cate Tyler hasn’t directly addressed what happened, but he did show us precious little Nova on Christmas morning, and on Instagram he wrote “This is the first Christmas without Cate since I was 14…it’s a little disheartening, but then I get to see this little cutie open some presents & it instantly puts the spirit right back in me! Merry Christmas everyone!”
Finally, an Explanation! Now, thanks to an insider who spoke with Radar Online, we finally know what happened! It turns out that she did leave rehab on December 14th, just before reaching the 30-day mark, but she decided to go back shortly after checking out.
Back to It “Catelynn is back in treatment,” the source says. “She’s back in Arizona, but we don’t know for how much longer.”
Bad News? But don’t worry — she apparently went back because “she decided to complete the full program,” not because she began experiencing suicidal thoughts again. The source says that “She should be finished completely early to mid January. Everyone is very relieved that she’s finishing her stay.”
Congrats, Catelynn! It’s a great sign that she’s taking the time to take care of herself, and we wish her nothing but the best when she comes back home!