Yeah, so about Leah Messer’s new book …
What a mess, right?
She’s come a long way in the past few years, just from what we’ve seen on Teen Mom 2, but now that she’s revealing all these things we never knew about her past, we can see that she’s really turned her whole entire life around.
The book comes out on May 5th, but in the past couple of weeks she’s been releasing bits and pieces, little snippets of stories to get people interested.
And boy, did it work.
It actually worked a little too well, because after some stories she’s told about her mother, a lot of people are pretty outraged.
But Leah has a statement to make on that!
Oh, Leah
Leah apparently has lots of stories to tell in her upcoming memoir, but today, let’s just focus on the ones involving her mother, Dawn.
Whoa
Because those sure are some crazy, crazy stories.
Ew
In one excerpt that was released earlier this week, Leah recounted a story of how Dawn once pressured her into having sex with a random boy when she was a young teenager.
Yikes
She said that her mom used to hang out whenever she had friends over, “I think because she never went to high school, or even got to be a normal teenager, there was a part of her that felt like she had missed out on something.”
Oh OK
“She wasn’t even allowed to talk to boys before she met my dad and got pregnant with me, so she liked hanging out with our friends and being around that energy,” she explained.
Uh Oh
During this same time period, Leah said that Dawn had started going to therapy and that while she’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she wouldn’t take her meds, “so she was totally unpredictable. One second she’d be flying high and the next she’d spiral into a dark place.”
Not a Regular Mom!
And on top of that, “I think she also just didn’t know how to handle having teenage daughters, so she’d either be so strict it was embarrassing or she’d want to hang out and act like she was the young cool mom— which was also embarrassing.”
Here We Go
Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? That’s because it was.
A Bad Start
One night, Dawn told Leah and her friends that they could invite some boys over to hang out, and so they did. She wrote that “We were all sitting around the living room, talking and hanging out, when my mom came into the room with an empty wine bottle and said we should play Spin the Bottle.”
Not So Funny
“At first,” she continued, “it was funny; we were all just laughing and not really taking the game seriously.”
Some Details
A boy named Mike spun the bottle, and she said that she was “relieved” that it didn’t land on her, but when it was her turn to spin, it did land on his brother, so she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek “and we all laughed.” So far, so good, right?
The Trouble Starts
“When it was Mike’s turn to go again, the bottle landed in the empty space next to me,” she wrote. “There was an awkward pause and he went to spin it again.â€Â
Gross
But “Before he could, my mom leaned over and pushed the bottle so that it was pointing right at me. I shook my head and said, ‘No way,’ but she started wrestling with me and telling me I had to do it.”
But WHY
“I was laughing, because I thought she was just teasing me, but then she started pushing both of us towards the bedroom I shared with Victoria,” her sister.
Nope Nope Nope
That’s gross enough, but Leah continued with “The next thing I knew I was in the room with Mike and my mom was holding the door shut from the other side so I couldn’t get out.”
So Sad
“I remember feeling cornered, like a trapped animal.”
Heartbreaking
“I didn’t want to kiss Mike, much less have sex with him, but that’s exactly what happened,” she admitted.
So Wrong
It sounds like they didn’t particularly want to have sex, but she said that they both felt pressured by her mother, and “It was easier to just let it happen than to think about why my mom had pushed me into that room in the first place.”
Fair
She called it the “grossest sex” she’s ever had, and “When it was over, I felt totally ashamed of myself, but I knew there was no way I could take back what I had just done.”
Poor Leah
“Coming out of that room was the most humiliating walk of shame,” she added.
Shocking
And Dawn’s reaction? “I remember my mom laughing as we walked out. Then I think she just lost interest because she went to bed shortly after.â€Â
Messed Up
It’s such a disturbing story — Leah wrote elsewhere in the book that she lost her virginity with another boy when she was only 13, so this happened sometime between then and when she got pregnant with the twins at 16.
Ridiculous
And it’s not even the only example of Dawn pressuring her to do something in the book — in another excerpt, Leah said that both Dawn and her grandmother insisted she beat up a girl for talking to her boyfriend.
Makes Sense
Considering everything, it’s definitely understandable why so many Teen Mom fans aren’t too happy with Dawn right now.
So Much Hate
People have called her actions predatory, and many have referred to it as child abuse, which honestly sounds about right.
Not Having It
But neither of these ladies are willing to hear it.
Defending Herself
Dawn has been posting lots of memes on her Instagram lately, just little images that say things about prayer and blessings and how “God knows my heart.”
Hmm
Last week, just a few days before the Spin the Bottle story came out, she posted “Though OUR story is brutal, it’s a reality that it’s going to help and inspire those that have generational cycles that need broken. This story doesn’t come without pain.”
Of Course
“We’re OVERCOMERS of generational cycles!” she added.
That’s Nice
Leah offered her support in the comments of that post, writing “This just made me tear up. I love you!” But after Dawn started getting so much backlash after that story came out, Leah felt the need to make a post of her own.
The Happy (???) Family
She shared some photos of that big Hawaiian vacation they took with Kailyn and her family a while back, and in her caption she wrote “Mom. I love you, we love you and can not wait to go back!”
Checking the Comments
In the comments, someone complained about the people criticizing Dawn, and here’s where Leah really got into her feelings on the matter.
Huh?
She actually called that kind of response “disturbing,” which is just so wild, because the original story was what was disturbing. Like, for sure.
Explaining Things
“What they don’t know is this behavior is passed down,” she said.
Facts
“My mom lived in domestic violence shelter a few times growing up. My mom did her best with what she was taught.”
… Yay?
“I love my mom and always will!!” Leah exclaimed. “People are easy to throw the first stone, but little do they know…. I’ll continue to take a stand for my family and be that support for others overcoming adversity.”
Goodness
We guess it’s good that she doesn’t have any hard feelings for her mom, but at the same time, what Dawn did was really, truly, deeply wrong, and it’s weird to hear Leah shame others for saying that when it’s just the truth.
What Next?!
We imagine that we’ll hear even more horror stories when the book is released … is anyone even ready for that?!