Catelynn Lowell has found success with reality TV after starring in an episode of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant when she and Tyler Baltierra decided to place their daughter, Carly, up for adoption. Even though Carly would not be present on the show, the pair were then picked to star in the spin-off series Teen Mom OG as one of the only couples to choose adoption for their child after becoming pregnant at a young age. Now they have had their lives documented for almost seven years and they have grown up, stuck together, got married and welcomed another little girl, Novalee, all while on camera. The pair are one of the only couples from the show to stay together after going through a teenage pregnancy, and are very open about all of the ups and downs in their lives including family drama and personal mental health issues. Even though so much is in the open, there is still a lot not known about the Teen Mom OG star, check out 10 things you didn’t know about Catelynn!
10. Smokers
Although MTV does some special editing to avoid showing the stars smoking on-camera as much as possible, it has been caught a few times, but mostly with Jenelle Evans. As it turns out Catelynn and Tyler are both smokers, and more evidence of that was shown in the most recent season of Teen Mom OG; although Catelynn said she had given up both pot and cigarettes when she became pregnant with Novalee, her battle with mental health issues forced the young star to admit she smokes pot at least “twice a day” and images of her smoking a cigarette have not been edited out as heavily. Tyler also was able to give up smoking, but Catelynn picked the habit back up.
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9. Wedding Number One
After so many years together and 2015’s fairytale wedding, many forget that Catelynn and Tyler were supposed to be married a few years ago after they first became engaged. It was Tyler though who ended up calling off their July 13, 2013 wedding and devastating Catelynn. “I thought I was ready, but as the time gets close, I just don’t think so,” Tyler said of his decision. The two participated on a season of VH1’s Couples Therapy which is where Tyler dropped the bomb on Catelynn, but also where they learned to work through it together and not call it quits on their entire relationship. The two were married on Saturday August 22, 2015.
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8. First Meeting
Everyone knows that Catelynn and Tyler have been together since middle school, but more specifically the two met in 7th grade music class. Tyler has said, “I have loved her since the moment I saw her. Her punk rocker hair and attitude matched perfectly for my edgy, hyper personality. I asked her why she fell in love with me and I quote, ‘You could always make me laugh.'” While that is a sweet story of “love at first sight”, Tyler’s reasoning in their book Conquering Chaos was much less adorable. “She’s got bigger tits than any girl in the 7th grade,” he wrote of when he first saw and fell for Catelynn.
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7. Home Life
Over the various seasons of Teen Mom OG fans have been to privy to Catelynn and Tyler’s very complicated and sad home life from when they were children. Catelynn’s mother, April, was a longtime abuser of drugs and alcohol while Tyler’s dad Butch has been in and out of jail for Tyler’s entire life because of drugs. Then of course was the extremely awkward time that Catelynn and Tyler spent not only as boyfriend and girlfriend but also as step-siblings after April and Butch decided to get married. In her book Catelynn wrote of her childhood, “At home it was all parties and drinking. My mom had a different boyfriend every few months, and people were partying and playing music loud. I used to get of bed at night and ask them to turn it down so I could get some sleep before I had to go to school.” She also wrote of the frequency her mother would pass out at the table from drinking and drugs, “I’d have to put pillows under her head and make sure she was okay, then take care of my brother and sister. It was just never stable at all.”
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6. Pro-Life
It probably isn’t too surprising that Cate and Tyler are pro-life as they decided on adoption for their daughter Carly, but it seems they are somewhat forceful about their no abortion stance. Back in 2012 Catelynn tweeted out, “This is so wrong! #chooselife Woman 20 Weeks Pregnant with Twins Has Abortion Last week,” along with a link to a pro-life website.
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5. Future Plans
Now that they have their lives together and are married, Tyler and Catelynn are finally ready for their own family, which they have started with their adorable daughter Novalee. As it turns out Catelynn wants at least three more children, but Tyler isn’t so sure. “I try talking him into giving me four, and he’s like uh-uh after three I am getting chopped.”
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4. Homeowners
One of the biggest steps for both Cate and Tyler was getting out of the trailer park and buying their own house in Michigan. It was a nice, suitable home for a young family, plus Tyler took it upon himself to do renovations to update it. After making a comfortable home for themselves, the pair decided a change was needed yet again and bought a house that needs some serious renovations, but bought it for the property space for their dogs and for Novalee to run around. They then finally found their “dream” farmhouse and once again went hard at work with renovations and creating a barn so Catelynn could bring her horse home.
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3. Net Worth
Although they talked extensively about continuing their education it seems neither Catelynn or Tyler ended up going to college as planned and it is never mentioned if either has a job outside of filming Teen Mom, which leads many to wonder just how much being an MTV Teen Mom star pays. While their net worth is listed at $20,000 it was recently revealed that the stars are now getting $250,000 per season of Teen Mom OG and Teen Mom 2 while there are also reports some of negotiated for closer to $300,000 for the newer seasons. It isn’t clear then if both Tyler and Catelynn make the $250,000 each, but clearly another full time job is not necessary to live a comfortable life.
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2. Teen Life
One of the reasons so many people like Catelynn and Tyler is the fact they were able to make the right decision at the time to give their daughter up for adoption instead of bringing her into their hectic and unstable lives, as well they were able to pull themselves out of and away from the lifestyle. That doesn’t mean however that they didn’t fall into the use of drugs for a short period of time when they were teens. “We messed around with pretty much anything we could get our hands on,” they admitted, adding they smoked pot, chugged cough syrup, snorted pills and huffed air duster to get high. The huffing became a major problem for both, and both had terrifying experiences with Catelynn saying, “Once my friend Sam and I were riding our bikes in the trailer park. I huffed some, and then I got on my bike to ride away. Next thing I knew, I was lying on my back on the street with rain pouring down on me. That freaked me out. I didn’t even know how long I’d been there. I could have been run over!” Tyler’s problems with drugs began getting more severe than Catelynn’s and was beginning to use cocaine but luckily Catelynn quickly put a stop to it.
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1. Abuse
Along with the instability of her household and the influence of drugs and alcohol, Catelynn as well as her mother have discussed how much physical abuse April has gone through in her life, but one time one of April’s boyfriend’s also abused Catelynn. “This man picked me up by the neck, threw me to the ground, and pinned me down on the floor between the toilet and the shower and started chocking me,” she recalled in her book. Catelynn also stated that the boyfriend at the time was very high on crack, and it was Tyler who pulled the guy off and called 911.
Source: Teen Mom Wikia