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Amber Portwood isn’t sorry.
That probably does not come as a huge surprise to anyone who’s been in the Teen Mom fandom for the past … well, ever.
Always fond of playing the victim, Amber’s latest ill-advised TikTok rant takes things one step further.
She says that ex Gary Shirley deserved the domestic violence that she inflicted upon him when they were together.
Amber Portwood blames Gary Shirley for her domestic violence against him
If there is anyone out there who cares about Amber Portwood and whose advice she will take, they should beg her to stop going on TikTok Live.
(But then, when has the former Teen Mom: The Next Chapter villain ever listened to anyone about anything?)
In the latest installment of what many believe to be a mental health cry for help, Amber is lashing out at her first baby daddy, Gary Shirley.
Over a dozen years ago, when Leah was a baby, Amber physically assaulted then-boyfriend Gary.
This happened on camera, and even in the presence of their daughter.
Despite the legal trouble that she got into, this was not the last baby daddy whom she physically attacked.
Fortunately, it does not seem that Amber owned a machete when she and Gary were dating.
Some domestic abusers would at least pretend to feel remorse if they acknowledge their crimes at all. It is how they elicit sympathy, craft a redemption narrative, and lure in their next victim. Amber says that she does not regret abusing Gary.
‘Am I sorry? … Hell, no’
“Honey, you shouldn’t have cheated on me, what do you want me to do?” Amber Portwood taunted on TikTok Live.
“Am I sorry for certain things I did after you cheated on me? Hell no, not at all.”
She continued: “Not one bit. You should not have cheated on me three times.”
To be clear, what Amber is doing here is textbook victim-blaming. No one deserves to be a victim of domestic violence.
“I’m not gonna be sorry about that,” Amber insisted defiantly. “He cheated on me three times when we had a baby, I’m not gonna be sorry. Like, come on now. [That’s] crazy.”
As if she were the good guy in the situation, she added: “And I stuck by [him] with all of that other crap. Come on now!”
Again, nothing could excuse domestic violence. Someone making you angry does not entitle you to hit them. Your partner, your kids, your family will probably make you mad sometimes.
If you respond with violence, you abdicate any pretense of being a good person. Ever.
Why is she like this?
In general, Amber Portwood is one of those people who believes that she is always justified.
So she can repeatedly insist that people should forget her past misdeeds because she has “changed” yet also say, frankly, evil things like blaming her own abuse victim for her actions.
Some of Amber’s defenders and critics alike believe that she needs a different medication or dosage.
But while perhaps that would help her resist blurting things on TikTok, it wouldn’t fix the underlying problem.
Domestic violence is not a mental illness. Being a terrible, irredeemable person is not a mental illness. Doctors cannot prescribe a pill for that.