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Fans who have watched MTV star Amber Portwood’s story since she was first introduced in 2009 on 16 & Pregnant know that she has come a very long way, especially when it comes to her battles with drug addiction and mental health.
The 28-year-old mom of two opened up on a recent episode of the “Dopey” podcast about the dark days of her drug addiction which she has also detailed in her book, “Never Too Late.”
“I have really horrible anger problems because I’m bipolar and borderline, which is not an excuse, but at the time I didn’t know it, so I wasn’t really taking care of myself or really understanding why I was feeling certain emotions,” she said. “I’d go party every other day. I’d be a Wednesday, I’m at the f—king bar and whopping ass and s—t, just like getting kicked out of bars or I got kicked out of our Walmart.”
“There’s like pictures of me beating up a girl in iHop,” she continued. “It was just crazy. I don’t know where the hell I was. I was gone. You can blame the drugs for the most part for kind of being impulsive, but it was kind of just me as a person.”
Portwood went on to address the fact that many actually blame MTV for its stars drug problems and while she said she didn’t blame the network, she added “the money didn’t help.”
“When you’re making a lot of money, there’s more drugs,” Portwood explained. “Every time a drug dealer had a new stash, of whatever, they called me first because they knew I’d buy the whole [stash], because I had the money to do it. It’s never helps.”
She continued, “I was a horrible opiate addict. I would probably do 10 to 20 hydros — if they didn’t have hydros it would be oxycontin or oxycodone … any kind of opiate that they had, I would try to take. I think it was that feeling of just kind of not being aware that I liked .. I think back in the day I was probably depressed and s—t. That was my ‘go-to’ thing.”
As fans also know, after many incidents, Portwood eventually chose to quit her court-ordered rehab and instead serve a five-year prison sentence, from which she was released after 17 months. She revealed that it was an overdose at her grandmother’s house on the potentially fatal drug fentanyl that prompted her decision to go to jail.
“Nothing else was working. I had overdosed at my grandma’s house on fentanyl in the bathroom,” she revealed. “It was daylight when I was awake … I woke up on the floor, like, just drooling out of my mouth. It was nighttime, I had no clue how long I had been in there.”
Now, Portwood is sober and along with her 9-year-old daughter Leah has gone on to welcome her first child with boyfriend Andrew Glennon, son James.
Telisa Carter
Telisa enjoys learning and writing about all things entertainment in the world of Hollywood. When she isn't catching up on her favorite TV shows, she likes to read, and obsess over all things football.