Ryan Edwards has been in the news a lot lately.
Usually, that’s a bad thing, but this time, the headlines are only mostly negative, instead of entirely negative.
Last month, Teen Mom: Family Reunion therapist Coach B actually sang Ryan’s praises and revealed that he’s been trying to be a better father to his eldest child, Bentley.
It was a rare bit of favorable publicity for Edwards — and then came the inevitable scandal.
Just days after Coach B’s endorsement, Ryan took to Instagram to accuse his wife, Mackenzie Standifer, of cheating on him.
He later withdrew the allegation, but the incident remains a pretty clear sign that all is not well in the Edwards household.
But if there’s anyone who knew all along that Ryan is a crappy parent/partner, it’s every single person who watched Teen Mom OG Maci Bookout.
While Ryan got fired from MTV years ago, Maci is still appearing on the network, and during a recent scene on Teen Mom: Family Reunion, she shared her thoughts on her strained relationship with her baby daddy.
“I do not have a relationship with Ryan right now. We never have co-parented. Co-parenting was done with his parents Jenn and Larry,” she told co-star Cheyenne Floyd.
“When I was still co-parenting with Jenn and Larry and we were all dealing with all the Ryan crap I was in such a place of like unrest because I’m like is it healthy for him to be going over there?” Maci asked, referring to her teenage son, Bentley.
Maci further explored these feelings during an exercise in which Coach B instructed the ladies to walk while wearing a weighted vest — each of the weights representing a source of stress in their lives.
Not surprisingly, Maci’s weights were representative of the constant drama she endures as a result of Ryan.
“My relationship with Jenn and Larry kind of exploded. I keep trying not to think about it,” she said.
“I hope we can get to a better place that’s just genuine but who knows?”
On a previous episode, the ladies were instructed to write their grievances on a hatchet and symbolically bury it in the dirt.
Maci said that her anger is mostly directed at Ryan but not because she harbors any ill will about their past.
Rather, she’s angry on behalf of her son, and angry with herself for allowing Bentley to be mistreated.
“I feel like because of my choices in relationships, it just hurts everybody. Everybody that loves me hurts because of it,” Maci said.
Needless to say, Maci is almost as big on self-blame as Coach B is on heavy-handed symbolism.
But the good news is, these scenes were filmed before Coach B worked with Ryan and gave him a ringing endorsement.
So maybe he’s permanently turned over a new leaf.
We doubt it, but anything is possible!