Amber Portwood and Matt Baier recently opened up to Brandi GlanvilleĀ on her Unfiltered podcast, where they defended their reputations and their relationship and discussed their complicated feelings about Teen Mom OG.Ā
Brandi begins by gushing that Amber is a āgangsta!ā and marvelsĀ that sheāsĀ been on TV for a decade yetĀ stillĀ stays ārelatable.ā Amber takes issues with the word relatable, because most people do not haveĀ a ātelescopeā on theirĀ deeply personal issues. Amber explains that she spends so much time filming āon the couchā because, āI donāt feel comfortable going out into a public place and talking about  ⦠cause in my life some issues I feel are very personal. For other people to just be listening or eavesdropping,Ā it makes me uncomfortable and Iāll shut myself [down]. I want to be truthful.ā
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Amber and MattĀ complain about āhow hardā realityĀ TV is.
āWe live in a world where people are very judgmental. All the internet terrorists who can say what they want behind a cloud of anonymity,ā describesĀ Matt. Amber interrupts to clarify that she lovesĀ her fans for always defending her and jokes that she doesnāt alwaysĀ deserve their loyalty. āThese people, no matter what, theyāre there for me.ā
To clear up the constant misconceptions about his life,Ā Matt decided to write a tell-all called You Have No Fāking Idea: The Naked Truth About My Life. āIām gonna tell you the truth if you can accept it, then Iām not talking about it again.ā
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MattĀ was apparently too āhonestāĀ because āMTV slashed 15,000 wordsā from the final copy to conceal the realitiesĀ about the show, etc. āItās called the truth ā the truth got slashed,ā co-signsĀ Amber.
Brandi loves the title of Mattās book and the word fāk in general ā something she really has in common with Amber. āNow I feel like everyoneās using it and itās not genuine,ā sheĀ grumbles. Amber doesnātĀ cuss in front of Leah, but Brandi canāt contain herself inĀ front of her sons. She recounts a story of her then three-year-old copying her by dropping the f-bomb. Brandi and Matt swap tales of lecturing theirĀ kids about appropriate behavior and language. I canāt even.
Amber is celebrating five years being sober.Ā āI donāt know my actual date of when I got sober, because itās when I went to jail.āĀ Her addiction wasĀ so bad, Amber describes, āI would walk in to do a pee test with literally a Fentanyl patch on my cheek.ā
Amber hadnāt seen Leah in two months at the time of her sentencing. She realized, then, how ādisgustingā her life had become.
Amber isĀ still emotional about it, but prisonĀ gave her direction because she started teaching self-help, addiction, and anger management classes to other inmates, and it taught her how to deal.Ā āI do have a little bit of wisdom because of some things. When I was in prison, I didnāt just sit in there. I taught 150 women.ā
On being successful and making money from reality TV while keeping it honest, Amber says, āThe glam comes with it after a while, but you earned it. Iāve earned the messages I get [from fans] because people donāt know what I go through being in this.ā
āI think we want people to learn from our mistakes, not just our success,ā says Matt, who sharesĀ that Amber is deeply connected toĀ āprivatelyā helpingĀ fans dealing with drugs, prison, suicide, depression, etc ā something she doesnāt broadcast.Ā āI just feel there is a reason why I went to prison; there is a reason why I was away from my kid for that long,ā explainsĀ a tearful Amber.
Brandi wonders how Amber handles the responsibility:Ā āThe worldās on your shoulders and you keep it there. And you cry a little bit here and there; youāre a woman ā thatās what you do.ā
āI would like to show people you can be the lowest of the low, and bring yourself back on topĀ and not have to die and not have to be another statistic as a teen mother. Thatās the goal here,ā declares Amber. āThe message is getting lost, though, on this show. Iām having a really hard time right now.ā
āThis was a docs-series when we started. The difference between 16 And Pregnant and Teen Mom in the beginning and now ā complete difference. Two different shows. Itās like theyāre trying to make us into Real Housewives,ā sighs Amber. Brandi thinks thatās disappointing becauseĀ Teen Mom shouldĀ have a real message, whereas Housewives are about āglitz and glam and conflict.ā
Amber and Matt are both frustrated with how theyāre portrayed in the media and on TV.Ā āPeople can change,ā defendsĀ Matt. āWeāre walking, talking examples of people who have a past thatĀ have come out on the other side. Thereās hope for a lot of people.ā
āI feel so bad for this guy,āĀ Amber laughs about the bad rap Matt gets. āThereās a reason why weāre together. First of all because heās a bad-ass mother fāker! Nobody knows this. Me? Cāmon now ā everything Iāve been through, you think Iām naive? I get that all the time. Weāve broken up I donāt know how many damn times; heās gone back to Massachusetts a coupleĀ times and came back because we love each other and it aināt nothin! We get through it. You move on because somebody did something in their past, or you stay with them. AndĀ Iām proud of him.ā
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āWeāre true life partners,ā Matt agrees. Brandi gushes that she can see the love theyĀ have for each other.
Amber brags that when she met Matt he was an accomplished author and so humble ā far from the deadbeat he plays in the courtsĀ show.Ā āThis man was playing poker making thousands of dollars. That was his job.Ā When he first moved to Indiana it was really hard from him to get a job. And they completely just like bashed him. But that was my fans that did a lot of that.ā Because they were protective of Amber.
Matt denies using Amber or the show for money. She confirms they only negotiated for him to beĀ paid because he was such a huge part of the storyline.Ā āI didnāt get paid from the show until last year. I didnāt ask for anything,ā declaresĀ Matt. āDo I make a good living now? Absolutely, Iām not ashamed of it. I think Iāve earned it ā going into my fourth season, I think Iāve earned it.ā
āWhen I started filming I really didnāt talk about myself a lot, and in doing that the world decided to fill in my background for me,ā heĀ continues. āAgain, Iāve always taken the approach that this show is about those four women and I inadvertently became front and center on this show without asking for any of it. And now that Iām out there and thereās nothing I can do to fightĀ it, Iām just gonna embrace it.Ā If I had a dime for every time somebody said to me after meeting me, āWow ā youāre nothing like I thought youād be.ā I wouldnāt need to be in Hollywood right now.ā
AmberĀ who just called off their wedding ā again ā vehemently defends Matt.Ā āI donāt know how many times Iāve heard this man apologize. Like all of your men you have ever been with are so perfect? Get outta here! Heās got some crazy exes ā girls are trying to extort me for money!ā
MattĀ blames those crazy exes for making up a sordid past about him.āThey invent these skeletons,ā he argues, āand the tabloids, the media ā if they can be called media ā will take anything thatās written about me and Amber, with no validation to it, then put it out there.ā Amber agrees, āThen boom, like three days later, itās debunked.ā
āI know what heās done; he knows what Iāve done.ā Amber defends their volatility, āItās life. Nobodyās beating the crap out of anyone. Yeah we fight.ā But she denies abusingĀ Matt after photos of him with black eye surfaced.Ā āWe have a very normal relationship,ā adds Matt. āIām a regular person.ā
āI love media, I really do ā media can you make you or break you,ā says Amber. āHowever I wish that the people who are reading everything or watching will make up their own minds and understand that theyāre smarter than just to listen.ā Her mom and brother even sometimes believe tabloid stories. She jokes, āIām in Indiana, but in the Hollywood life,ā because people talk about her that donāt truly know her.
āWeāre two of the most honest people youāre ever gonna run across,ā insists Matt. āWe have nothing to hide.ā
Brandi calls Amber āvery groundedā and compares her to Farrah Abraham, who was on Brandiās show last year. āIt was bad. She couldnāt look at me.Ā Sheās seriously fāked up. It was like pulling teeth to interview with her.ā Amber and Brandi jokingly speculate that Farrah was on āheavy medsā that day. Oh dear.
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Amber is of course NOT friends with Farrah, but is legit close with Maci Bookout and Catelynn Lowell. āI adore them,ā she shares. āYou should hear us when there is no camera and no microphones. Theyāre badass bitches for real!ā
Matt asks who Brandi stays in touch with from Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills. āIām friends with Kim, who everyone thinks is the crazy one and sheās not. And Iām friends with Yolanda. And that is about it. Theyāre the ones outside of the cameras, they actually call me and check on me, and we call each other, and they go to my sonās birthday party cause I donāt want to be there alone. Itās like a real friendship and not just letās hang out on TV and when the cameras are down, theyāre gone. Most of those women are like, āCameraās down ā bye!'ā
Amber and Matt also open up about their professional lives ā apparently like theyāre for-real successful.Ā Matt wroteĀ a novel called Guys Donāt Rat On Guys, which was originally self-published a decade earlier under a pen name, but will be re-released with a legit publisher this summer. Amber describes it as āamaaaaaaaaaazingā and Ā shares that āpossiblyā some movie agenciesĀ are considering buying the rights toĀ turn it into a script.Ā āAnd weāre not talking about small, weāre talking about big [companies].ā
AmberāsĀ āhigh-end fashionā boutique and their real estate company are both going well. āPeople say āYou donāt have real jobs,ā but weāre constantly busy and weāre planning for the future,ā insists Matt. Amber adds, āMy daughter ā well sheās gonna work but, my daughterās set for college.ā
Finally Amber weighs in on her relationship with Gary and the possibility of gainingĀ more custody of Leah.
Amber praises Gary and Christina for being such good parents to Leah, and admits Christina has really reached out to her. āWeāre actually co-parenting now. Gary is actually, I think, gonna surprise people this season from what has been going on. But letās see if he actually does it. I believe in change and I get to see my boo boo more and everything. IĀ donāt seeĀ my boo boo as much, but best believe when I have her, this kid worships me.ā
āI think people want us to have animosity,ā gripes Matt. āAt the end of the day, weāre a family as odd and strange as it can be. We have to live with each other once the cameras go off. So that animosityās gonna carry over into real life.ā
Brandi expounds about how what makes good TV and reading, but itās bad for her kids. Now sheās realizing this!?
You can listen to the full show here.
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