“Growing up, I had seen girls with baby bellies and babies and I'd always think, 'How is that girl going to go to school with a baby?'” Kail remembers. “So that's how I felt when I got pregnant... Like, 'how am I going to continue my education?'” For months, the nervous teen tried to hide her pregnancy from friends and family. When Jo eventually told his parents, “Janet sat me down on the bed and told me, 'It's OK if you want to get an abortion, because you guys are so young,'” she recalls. “She was basically telling me to get an abortion. I still have resentment for that.” The exchange wasn't mentioned in Kail's 16 and Pregnant episode, though Janet appears in one scene expressing her feeling that they were too young to handle a baby.
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“Janet sat me down on the bed and told me, 'It's OK if you want to get an abortion, because you guys are so young,' She was basically telling me to get an abortion. I still have resentment for that.”
- KAIL LOWRY
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The news didn't go over any better at Kail's house. Fearing the worst, she never even told her mother about the pregnancy. “I always grew up saying that my mom would never know her grandchildren,” she explains. “I just kind of felt that she didn't deserve to know... But she had a feeling because she would drive me to school and I'd always make her pull over so I could throw up. She found out by hearing it around town I guess. When she finally did confront me about being pregnant, she was piss drunk and I just didn't respond at all.”
But Suzi's boyfriend did. He promptly kicked Kail out of the house, as her mother, whose name was on the lease, looked on, offering no support. “She just said 'You're going to be on your own,'” Kail remembers. “She never offered to help me or anything.” For the second time in her life, Kail found herself essentially homeless. When Jo's family agreed to take her in, Suzi was quick to sign over custody for the second time in three years. “His parents weren't thrilled but they knew the situation with my mom and figured this was for the best,” Kail says.
After settling into Jo's room at the Rivera family's nearly 4,000 square foot house, Kail began to take stock of her options. Abortion was never a consideration, she says. But adoption was. Ultimately Kail decided to keep her baby - mainly because she believed that Jo and his family “would always be there financially to support the baby.”
Kail Gets Her Close Up
During her first trimester, Kail - like so many other young girls - went online and found a casting notice for 16 and Pregnant. “I wanted to do [the show] because there were six girls on the first season, and five of them had their parents behind them and supporting them - all of them except Catelynn,” she says. “I didn't have that. I didn't have a dad. My mom was a crazy addict, so I thought people could benefit from my story since it wasn't like the rest of the girls'.”
Within weeks, casting directors from MTV and 11th Street Productions came calling. Surprisingly, Suzi agreed to show up for the first round of interviews and offered her blessing. She wasn't, however, required to sign any of the official paperwork, because the Riveras were now Kail's legal guardians. Three months later, a six-man production crew was on their doorstep. “I don't think people actually knew I was pregnant,” Kail says. They might have just thought I was fat.”
Cameras trailed the usually shy mother-to-be all around town as she shopped for baggy clothes to hide her quickly growing baby bump. But the local Board of Education wouldn't allow MTV crews past the front door of her high school. As word of the production spread, people who had never spoken to Kail before were suddenly trying to become her new best friend. “People definitely treated me different because I was on the show,” she says. “To this day I still feel like they do.”
Reconnecting with Dad
As Kail coped with her newfound fame at school, she decided to make one last attempt to smooth things over with her father, who had since resurfaced back in Texas. Prior to being officially selected for the show, she was contacted through Facebook by an aunt she hadn't seen in more than a dozen years. After several conversations, Kail agreed to fly south in November 2009 to meet a handful of extended family members, and reconnect with the man who turned his back on her years earlier. MTV sent its camera crew along to document the emotional and awkward reunion. Kail hoped the trip would make her father want to be the parent she never had. Unfortunately, that's not how it played out.
“Even though he was my dad, he was still a complete stranger to me,” she says. “I had no idea who this person was, so I guess I wanted to meet him because I was curious and I needed closure. When I got there, things were just weird.” Ray, who was full of stories about road kill and kept a lock on his refrigerator to protect his supply of meat, was not exactly the stable father Kail had hoped for. “They didn't show it on camera, but right after I got there, my dad asked me to borrow $20,” she remembers. “That really pissed me off because, come on, I'm a pregnant 16-year-old girl! Why are you asking to borrow money? Supposedly he has like two Associates degrees, but he doesn't have a job and he's a moocher, so I didn't need him in my life. I've been fine without him, but I wanted to meet him to get closure.” Kail has not seen her father since.
Welcoming Isaac
Two months after the trip, Kail went into labor. “Jo and Janet worked in New Jersey, so that morning they had already left by the time my water broke at about 5 AM,” she remembers. “I thought I had peed my bed!” Alone at Jo's house without anyone nearby that she could call, Kail was forced to reach out to her mother for help. Five hours later, Suzi finally arrived. “She came over about 10 am and sat with me and then she realized that I was in labor and took me to the doctor,” Kail says. “If I could go back and do it again I wouldn't have allowed her to have any part in it at all. I got lucky and she was sober when it happened, because she's really crazy and could have been really drunk.”
At the hospital, things get chaotic extremely fast. Her tiny hospital room was packed with family, friends and intrusive cameras. “I remember telling one of the [producers] - who I had just met for the first time - to 'get the fuck out of my face' during one of my contractions,” she says. “I remember everyone talking and wanted to be like six inches from my face. I would have a contraction and I just wanted it to be quiet but it wasn't. When I gave birth there were two camera people, the executive [producer], a production assistant, the doctor, Jo, Janet, my mom, and like four of my friends in the room with me. My friends came in because they figured that there were already so many people there that it didn't matter. So that's like 15 people. It wasn't really a private moment, and it wasn't special, with so many people there it couldn't be.”
Isaac Elliott - whose name was misspelled on Kail's episode - was born on January 18, 2010. After his birth, Jo tried to make up for the way he treated his girlfriend during the pregnancy. “He could be really sweet and caring,” she says. The couple briefly became engaged, but soon encountered a new set of problems -- including a lack of privacy while living with the Riveras. “I felt like sometimes his parents would try to overpower us and raise Isaac the way they wanted him to be raised,” Kail says. “I think [Jo] being so close to his parents and me being used to being so independent caused a lot of problems in our relationship. I wasn't used to having anyone monitoring what I was doing.”
She also wasn't accustomed to having an audience of millions analyzing her relationship and parenting choices on television. The overall experience with her episode of 16 and Pregnant “pissed me off,” she says. “I put my whole life out there, and they can't even bother to spell my son's name right?” Nevertheless, she eventually accepted an offer to continue her story on the spinoff Teen Mom 2. And after a little prodding, a reluctant Jo signed on, too.
The camera crews returned in June 2010, just as Kail and Jo's relationship began to flat line. This time the couple split for good and before long, Kail struck up a romance with coworker Jordan Wenner. That didn't sit well with Jo or Janet, who she once referred to as “a second mother.”
By December 2010, Kail had moved out of the Rivera family basement, where she had been living after she and Jo had broken up, and into an apartment of her own.
“I think Janet was very hurt and upset with how I left,” Kail says. “I think she is still upset about it.” Kail says she felt bad, too, despite the fact that season one episodes of Teen Mom 2 were edited to make it seem like she didn't. That Christmas, Kail wrote Janet a heartfelt letter, thanking her for all she had done. They tried to further smooth things over during the season one reunion special, which was taped in February 2011. But by then, things had gotten so bad with Jo that Kail refused to tell him where she and his son were living. Though viewers didn't get to see most of it, the couple had a huge blowup on stage while taping a segment with Janet and Dr. Drew Pinsky. Eyewitnesses say things got particularly heated when Jo criticized Kail for not telling him that she was dating Jordan, and continuing to hook up with him. Kail, in turn, revealed that Jo had cheated on her while she was pregnant -- with a 25 year old! Janet stepped in, aided by a team of MTV staffers, to try and stop the angry couple from airing any more dirty laundry.
But for Kail, the real damage was done long ago. By participating on Teen Mom 2, she has already exposed her most intimate moments to millions of judgmental viewers. She's also watched her private life - including reports Jo gave her a sexually transmitted disease, accusations she smoked marijuana during pregnancy, and rumors about multiple lesbian affairs in high school -- play out in tabloid headlines. So it's no wonder Kail was concerned that Javi might be nervous about putting his life on public display, too.
“At first I think he was a little apprehensive about dating me and being on the show,” she admits. Kail also reveals that MTV tried to make it look as if they were set up by mutual friends at a bowling alley, but their introduction really came while she was working at a retail clothing store called Buckle in the Lehigh Valley Mall. “Javi and his brother come in. I assume his older brother is his dad and that gets us laughing,” she recounts on her personal website. “Javi lies to me about what he was shopping for... I eventually learn that he hates graphic tees. At check out he asks to take me for ice cream and I tell him 'No.' LOL. Hard to see that looking back I turned him down! Anyway, from there he came into Buckle again and we started forming a friendship via Twitter and Buckle visits. Eventually, I gave him my number.” Kail reveals she tried to keep the relationship from MTV producers for months, “but then he started to become such a big part of my life that we couldn't hide it any longer. After a while, I had to tell them about him.”
Kail's relationship with Javi soon became serious, and the couple moved in together in 2012. However, the relationship hit a speed bump in the spring of 2012, when a fight between Kail and Javi escalated. The fight, which started due to a disagreement Kail and Javi were having in regards to filming, resulted in a frustrated Kail screaming and pushing Javi. MTV cameras captured the incident for an episode for the fourth season of Teen Mom 2.
“I felt like so many things were out of control and I didn't know how to handle that,” Kail told Wetpaint.com. “There was a moment where I take Javi's head and I shook it. I had a temper so bad, that I knew I was getting out of control.”
Although Javi quickly forgave her for the incident, Kail says she knew she had to seek help for the mental health issues she had been avoiding facing. Kail had known for a while before the incident that she, like her mother, suffered from bipolar disorder. However Kail had avoided getting treatment for the disorder because she didn't want to believe. After the fight with Javi, Kail knew she had to get help and is now seeing a therapist and taking medication.
When a clip of the incident was shown during the Teen Mom 2 season four trailer, Kail decided to address what had happened.
“Even though Javi and I have moved on from it, I want to say I'm sorry again to him and his family for letting my emotions get the best of me,” she told Starcasm.net in February 2013. “I know how humiliating that is for them and I'm humiliated myself.”
In late 2012, after Kail and Javi had become husband and wife, Javi joined the U.S. Air Force and left for basic training. Kail says she's confident that she's finally found the right partner in Javi. The couple, who briefly reunited in February 2013 when Javi graduated from basic training, will spend more time apart before eventually settling on a military base.
In March 2013, Kail celebrated her 21st birthday by taking a trip to West Virginia to visit Leah. (Chelsea also made the trip.) However, there would be no night of crazy partying and birthday shots to ring in her big day. Just weeks before her birthday, Kail had received the big news that she was pregnant! She had conceived during the weekend of Valentine's Day, when she had flown to Texas to join Javi at his boot camp graduation.
While the pregnancy certainly threw a curveball in the newlywed's future plans, Kail and Javi are ecstatic about their unexpected addition. However, the producers of Teen Mom 2 didn't exactly share the couple's happiness. Having yet another one of its stars become pregnant again didn't, in the producers' eyes, relay the right message of preventing pregnancy in teens and young adults, and they were upset.
Still, Kail, who is due in November 2013, says she refuses to let anyone take away her and her husband's happiness. Instead, she is focusing on enjoying the moment.
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Kail's Not 16 Anymore!
The show is still called Teen Mom 2, but Kail is all grown up. She's married and has a stable living situation. Although many of the show's fans (and apparently its producers) have negative things to say about Kail becoming pregnant again, it's fairly common for couples in the military to have their children at a young age. Plus, Kail's son is getting older and it's likely that she wants to keep all of her children close in age so that they can grow up together.
Kail has always been the most level-headed of the Teen Mom 2 cast, so if she thinks she can handle another baby, more power to her!
Y.O.L.O., Jenelle! Two engagements, eight arrests, a marriage, separation, boob job and who knows how many tattoos…. Baby Jace's pot-smoking, trash-talking mom has already crossed a lifetime's worth of dubious accomplishments off her bucket list - and she just turned 21 in December 2012.
Miss any of the headline-grabbing goodness? Here's a quick recap of Jenelle's most memorable moments:
December 19, 1991: Jenelle is born in Scranton, Pennsylvania to Robert and Barbara Evans. Her dad abandons the family when Jenelle is just three years old. Barbara works two or three jobs at a time to support their three children.
2004: Barbara moves the family from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.
September 26, 2006: Sister Ashleigh is arrested for physically assaulting Barbara and Jenelle. Per the official arrest report: “Ms. Evans reported that her daughter Ashleigh had assaulted her. Ms. Evans said Ashleigh has mental problems and has not been taking her medication. Ashleigh got out of control and assaulted Ms. Evans and her younger sister.”
March 3, 2007: Brother Colin is picked up on two charges: Injury to Personal Property and Injury to Real Property after a fight with Barbara. “Upon receiving a report of a domestic disturbance, I arrived to find Barbara Evans and her son Collin [sic] arguing in the front yard,” the arresting officer wrote. “Ms. Evans stated that Mr. Evans had been in an altercation with her boyfriend [Mike] and punched and kicked [Mike's] truck. [He also] shattered the front glass storm door.” Colin, who reportedly suffers from bipolar disorder, had been living at a group home at the time of the incident.
December 28, 2007: Barbara calls the cops when Jenelle runs away from home. According to the official police report, she said her daughter “became upset after she confronted her about being impaired” and she “did not know where Jenelle was going but stated that she left on foot.” After police canvass the neighborhood, Jenelle is found at the home of her boyfriend, Andrew Lewis.
October 14, 2008: Andrew's mom calls the cops, claiming Jenelle broke into her house. Jenelle is arrested when she refuses to leave. A
ccording to police records, Jenelle “continued to refuse to leave, even after her mother attempted to take her home.” Jenelle is arrested and released with no bail. The report says: “Victim doesn't wish to prosecute, but [Jenelle] must not come to house uninvited and leave at reasonable hour.”
Late 2008: Jenelle, now working at an Irish bar, sleeps with co-worker Stephen Fullwood - who is dating her BFF, Tori Rhyne. Their mutual friend Kaylin Zorich tells Star magazine that Jenelle fears Stephen might be Jace's father, but doesn't want Tori to know they hooked up. Meanwhile, Andrew - Jace's real dad - is in rehab.
August 6, 2009: Jace is born, weighing in at six pounds, four ounces. Jenelle is in labor for 12 hours.
February 16, 2010: Jenelle's episode of 16 and Pregnant kicks off the show's second season.
June 10, 2010: Jenelle signs over primary legal and physical custody of Jace to her mother. (In December 2012, Jenelle revealed on Twitter that Child Protective Services gave her an ultimatum to either sign over custody to her mother, or place Jace in foster care.)
Fall 2010: Jenelle meets Kieffer Delp through mutual friends.
ARREST #1 - Oct. 15, 2010:
Jenelle and Kieffer are arrested for breaking and entering in Oak Island, North Carolina. The house belonged to the mother of one of their friends. Jenelle is also charged with drug possession and possession of paraphernalia. She is released on a $2,000 bond and is eventually sentenced to 12 months of probation and required to submit to monthly drug tests.
November 21, 2010: Barbara commits Jenelle (involuntarily) to Brunswick Community Hospital. Reports say she “was found not to be a threat to herself or anyone else.” Jenelle is released early the next morning.
December 29, 2010: Jenelle's baby daddy, Andrew Lewis, is arrested for not paying $824 in child support.
Teen Mom Confidential: Secrets & Scandals From MTV's Most Controversial Shows Page 8