Can you believe it’s been almost ten whole years since Teen Mom 2 first premiered?
Yep, in January of 2011, the first episode aired, and since then, we’ve been following these ladies through marriages, divorces, so many babies …
They’ve put almost everything that’s happened in their lives on television, and it’s been a truly remarkable ride, to say the least.
The show has just returned for its 10th season, and that calls for some celebration, right?
So let’s take a few moments to look back at the first time we met these ladies … and to see where they are now!
Hey Ladies!
There they are — the original cast of Teen Mom 2. A few changes have been made over the years, but let’s start with these moms, sound good?
It’s Kailyn!
First up, there’s Kailyn Lowry. Here’s a photo of her when she was pregnant with her first child, Isaac, when she was just 17 years old.
Wow
When we first met her, she was living with her boyfriend, Jo Rivera, and his parents. Her father had left when she was a baby, and her mother was barely around thanks to alcoholism.
Making the Best of It
She kept trying to work things out with her parents — we saw her shopping for baby stuff with her mom, and she even went to Texas to meet her dad, but like, Jo’s parents had official custody, so obviously things were seriously strained, to say the least.
Sad
Look how young she was … it was tough to see her go through so much at such a young age, right?
Such a Transformation
That was Kailyn then … and this is her now!
Mom of Four
A lot of things have changed since then — for one, she has four kids now.
Not Meant to Be
She split with Jo shortly after Isaac was born because they were both just way too immature to handle such a serious relationship — which is fair, they were seniors in high school.
Here Comes Javi
Her next serious relationship was with Javi Marroquin, who she ended up marrying, and that’s when she had her second child, Lincoln. They stayed together for a few years, but the got divorced after a heartbreaking miscarriage and allegations of cheating.
Making Moves
But while they were married, Kailyn went back to school, and that’s where she met Chris Lopez, who would become the father of her last two children, Lux and Creed.
Hooray!
That’s all very messy, but she did get her bachelor’s degree in communications, so that’s good!
Working Hard
These days, Kail is busy tending to her kids, including one-month-old Creed, doing her podcast, working on her haircare line, and of course filming the show.
Leah!
Next up, let’s talk about Leah Messer! When we first met her, she was 17 years old and pregnant with twins. So, you know, that’s a lot.
Memories
The father was Corey Simms, and as Leah put it, he gave her a ride home from a party one night and one thing led to another. She was on birth control, but it wasn’t up to date, and that’s how pregnancies happen.
What a Struggle
They really did seem to love each other, but it was definitely hard — Leah, like Kailyn, was a senior in high school, and it was very hard on her physically to carry the twins, especially because she’s so small. Meanwhile, Corey worked three jobs, and they still struggled to get everything they needed for the babies.
Here We Go …
That was Leah when she made her television debut …
Oh Hey Girl!
… And this is her now!
Impressive
Leah has come so, so far from where she was, but before she started to thrive, she really had to go through some rough times.
Oh No
First, her relationship with Corey started falling apart. She went back to her ex-boyfriend, Robbie, for a bit, then she and Corey got back together and they even got married. But Robbie’s siren call was too difficult to ignore, and she cheated on Corey with him, which led to their divorce.
Enter Jeremy
Shortly after the divorce, she started dating Jeremy Calvert, and she got pregnant pretty fast. So fast that, as she revealed in her tell-all this year, she got an abortion because she was still thinking that she might want to get back with Corey. She lied and told Jeremy it was a miscarriage, but she got pregnant again a little bit later, and that pregnancy resulted in their only child together, Addie.
Hard Times
Unfortunately, she had a very rough time giving birth to Addie, and she was prescribed painkillers. When the pain didn’t go away, she was also prescribed some pretty heavy duty anxiety meds, and when her doctor wouldn’t prescribe her anything else, she began buying the pills on the street.
Heartbreaking
Her addiction became so bad that at one point she contemplated killing herself, but a Teen Mom producer was able to talk her into going to rehab, where she got clean. Around the same time when all of this was happening, she cheated on Jeremy with good ol’ Robbie, which ended up being the straw that broke the camel’s back for him. He left her, and they ended up getting divorced.
Lots of Work
Ever since then, Leah has been doing a lot of work on herself. Sure, she’s had some slips, some of them pretty major, but these days, she seems to be doing pretty well for herself, and what more could we ask for?
Chelsea!
OK, let’s move on to Chelsea Houska now — here’s what she looked like at age 18 when she was pregnant with her first child, Aubree.
So Much Drama
Chelsea had a great home life, and she’s always been especially close to her father, Randy — all her drama then (and most of it now, honestly) came from Adam Lind, Aubree’s father and a terrible human being in general.
Oh Dang
Chelsea went into labor on the first day of her senior year of high school, and she ended up dropping out altogether. It took her a while for her to get her GED because she was too busy trying to get Adam to pay attention to her and Aubree — they had an on-again, off-again relationship for a good few years, but even when they were on, Adam never seemed to like her all that much.
Wait for It …
This was Chelsea back in the day …
A Real Glow Up
… And here’s Chelsea now!
Unfortunate
Like we said, she was stuck on Adam for a long time, but she did manage to take the time to get that GED. She went to cosmotology school for a while, then she changed her mind and wanted to become an esthetician, but she eventually completed the training for that, too.
Thank Goodness
It took meeting a good guy to get her to let go of Adam, but she definitely met a good one — in 2014, she started dating Cole DeBoer, who ended up being so great for both her and Aubree.
So Cute
In 2016, they got married, and in 2017, they had their first child together, Watson. In 2018, they welcomed a daughter they named Layne, and Chelsea is currently pregnant with another baby girl. Cole has also been a father figure for Aubree, so much that she now has his last name.
A Happy Ending
She no longer works as an esthetician, but she has collaborated with a few different fashion brands, and she’s also gotten involved with promoting a weight loss program — and of course she still films. All of that, plus the kids, and we’d say she has her hands full, but in the best way possible.
Oh, Jenelle …
There was one more girl on the first season of Teen Mom 2 … Jenelle Evans. And yeah, Jenelle isn’t on the show anymore, but could we honestly do a look back at the show without mentioning her?
What a Time
Jenelle was 17 years old when she made her MTV debut — and she was blonde, too! She was pregnant with Jace, and the father was Andrew Lewis. She said that she’d been with him for three years when she got pregnant, and that they’d be together forever. But as we saw, Andrew split pretty much immediately after Jace was born.
Well …
To be fair, Jenelle split pretty soon after that, too — she never spent much time with Jace, even leaving him alone at night when he was a newborn to go party because, as she believed, he’d be sleeping anyway. That’s how her mom ended up getting custody of him.
Get Ready!
That was Jenelle then …
A Mess
And this is her now (pictured posing with her one true love).
Just. So. Much.
So much has happened with Jenelle since the early days of Teen Mom 2 … after she lost custody of Jace, she started getting arrested a bunch for things like drug possession, assault, and harassment. She also got involved with a string of sketchy guys who also got arrested a bunch.
Yikes
She was married to Courtland Rogers briefly, then she got engaged to Nathan Griffith, who she also had her second child, Kaiser, with.
What a Winner
Right now, she’s married to David Eason. They had one kid together, Ensley, and she’s had her tubes tied, so there shouldn’t be anymore babies coming. That’s a good thing for a lot of reasons, a big one being that Jenelle has accused David of abuse multiple times. It’s also important to note that CPS has investigated them multiple times as well, and they even removed the kids from their care for about six weeks last year.
Tough Break
CPS removed the kids because David shot and killed (and allegedly viciously beat) Jenelle’s dog. That’s also what finally led to Jenelle being let go from Teen Mom 2.
What Now?
Now that she’s no longer on the show, she’s been spending her time doing a wide variety of TikTok dances, releasing really bizarre YouTube videos, and trying to convince everyone that her life isn’t the complete dumpster fire we all know it to be.
Briana!
The cast of Teen Mom 2 has changed a bit since the beginning, so even though she hasn’t been there since the beginning, we definitely have to check out the transformation of Briana DeJesus.
More Struggles
Briana was on a later season of 16 and Pregnant, and later she was featured on the short-lived Teen Mom 3. Her story was memorable in large part because of her family’s situation — she and her sister, Brittany, were pregnant at the same time, but while Briana decided to give birth and raise the baby, Brittany decided to get an abortion.
So Sad
This caused a lot of tension because it became tough for Brittany to hang around while Briana was preparing everything for the baby because it just reminded her of everything that had happened. It was hard to watch, and it wasn’t exactly a picnic to watch Briana try to get her ex, Devoin, involved with the baby, either.
Take a Look!
This was Briana then …
Looking Good!
And this is her now!
Let’s Review
Like we said, Briana appeared in the first and only season of Teen Mom 3 in 2013, and we saw her have a whole lot of problems with Devoin. It seemed like she was essentially raising their daughter, Nova, on her own.
Surprise!
And we MTV made the decision to add her to the cast of Teen Mom 2 in 2017, not a whole lot was different — except that she was pregnant again, this time with some guy named Luis that she hooked up with in a club. After debating adoption and abortion, she ended up having her second daughter, Stella, and she’s been raising her by herself, too.
A Nightmare
One notable part of Briana’s story that doesn’t involve the kids was her brief relationship with Javi Marroquin, which led to a much, much longer feud with Kailyn Lowry.
Cool
Right now, she’s definitely cemented her place on the show, and in addition to filming and caring for her kids, she’s still working her day job at a travel agency, and she’s also opened a salon!
Jade!
Finally, we have the newest Teen Mom 2 cast member, Jade Cline. Jade originally appeared on Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant, but then MTV pulled her to replace Jenelle after she got fired.
Doing Our Best!
Since Jade hasn’t been around that long, her “then and now” transformation isn’t going to be that extreme, but here’s what she looked like shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Kloie …
Awww
And here’s Jade now!
Making Progress
In the short time Jade has been in the spolight, a lot has changed. She got engaged to her boyfriend and the father of her child, Sean. Sean developed a drug problem, they broke up, they got back together, etc. Right now they’re actually together, and Sean is in recovery, which is great.
Goodness Gracious
These ladies have sure come a long way, huh?