Teen Mom 2: Revelations From Jenelle Evans’ ‘Read Between The Lines’

Published on August 17, 2017. Updated December 16, 2019

In February 2010, MTV fans were first introduced to Jenelle Evans with her dramatic season premiere episode of 16 and Pregnant‘s second season. Since then audiences have followed her endless rollercoaster ride of highs and lows through Teen Mom 2 and there is no denying she has become one of the most talked about and criticized stars of the franchise. In July 2017 Evans released her very first book “Read Between the Lines: From the Diary of a Teenage Mom” which she developed using her childhood diaries in an effort for people to learn more about who is she and why she is the way she is aside from the glimpses of her life they see on TV. Of course, real life is always more dramatic and interesting than anything MTV has shown, so here are 15 of the most shocking revelations from her book:

15. Robert Evans

Those who have followed Jenelle’s story definitely got to know her mom Barbara, but they also know Jenelle rarely if ever speaks about any other aspect of her family, including her father. In her first chapter titled “The F Word,” she opened up about her complicated relationship with her dad, Robert Evans. Barbara and Robert were married for 10 years and had three children Ashleigh, Colin, and Jenelle. According to Jenelle, they were far from the perfect family, and Robert and Barbara had a rocky marriage, as he worked at a recording studio, spent a lot of time away from home and didn’t make enough to pay the bills. In the end, the final straw for Barbara was when Robert fell down a full flight of stairs while holding a young Jenelle and Barbara kicked him out. After that, they saw even less of their father and eventually Barbara went on to have a long relationship with a man named Mike – who appeared on Teen Mom 2 – and also played a part in the last time Jenelle saw her dad. “We were sitting on the porch waiting patiently, Mike standing with us, when our dad’s car pulled down the road. Dad slowed down, looked right at all of us sitting there, then pulled away as if he didn’t know any of us,” she stated in the book. “I would like to think my dad is a great but misunderstood man. I would like to, but he cut me out of his life when I was eleven. It’s hard to draw an opinion of a man who I feel gave up on me… and life in general.”

Source: MTV

14. Siblings

After almost eight years of following Jenelle’s life, it might be surprising for fans to learn that she indeed has siblings because she never talks about them and they have certainly never been featured on the show. “I know why they call it sibling rivalry because I sure fought with my brother and sister a lot. Yet my relationship trouble with the pair of them goes far beyond just healthy competition or natural disagreements,” she wrote of growing up with her older siblings, Ashleigh and Colin. “Growing up I spent a lot of time with my brother, so when he got agitated, I had more patience for him. Not so much for my sister. She was a ball of stress I never really understood. To be fair, all three of us suffer from various emotional problems.” She also explained how her sister ended up becoming “weird” which included dabbling in witchcraft and became known for her “unusual behavior” which reflected back on Jenelle as many people figured she would be just like her sister, which meant when her family moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, Jenelle was the happiest out of all of her siblings. “It was a fresh start for me. Nobody knew my sister so they didn’t have a preconceived notion of how I should act.” The reality star also explained that her sister still lives near their mom, got married, had a baby, got a divorce and then “she ended up having a second kid with her ex-husband’s best friend. I know, right? […] I wish her all the happiness in the world, but I don’t know if she has it in her to be a happy person. Some people live through misery. They are only satisfied when everything, and everyone, around them are broken,” she wrote of her sister now.

Photo by Jen Lowery/SilverHub/REX/Shutterstock

13. The Fire 

Unfortunately, things weren’t any easier for Jenelle’s brother, Colin. While he always had tantrums growing up, in the memoir Jenelle explains that they only got worse as he got older and one day in July of 2000, he accidentally set their house on fire. “Later we learned he set a toy car alight, then tossed it onto his bed, which then caught the entire attic on fire […] God only knows how long the fire was burning before he finally came and told us what he had done.” Although Barbara sent Jenelle to run to the neighbor’s house to call the fire department, by the time they got there half of the house had burned down. Although house insurance covered their needs for repairs and buying replacement possessions as well as their motel stay where they lived for six months, it was Barbara’s breaking point with Colin. “Colin ended up in a special group home in Texas for nearly two years. I don’t blame my mother for sending him away like that. It is a hard decision, yet I would’ve done the same. He still lives in a special group home. Turns out, not only does Colin have the family issue of anxiety, he is also developmentally challenged […] My mother had to make some more hard choices when it came to what was best for him, and one of those was placing him in a permanent group home where he could get the kind of care he needs.”

Source: Jenelle Evans

12. Teenage Jenelle

In the introduction to “Reading Between the Lines” Jenelle made it clear that she hoped by sharing her personal diary entries from her childhood, Teen Mom 2 fans would better understand her fully, not just the Jenelle Evans she is now. From her early diary entries at 12 and 13 years old, it was clear that Jenelle’s life improved when her family moved to North Carolina because she was popular and a cheerleader, but one of her most interesting observations from the entries was that she was already boy crazy back then. “I think this is the first documented instance of my short attention span when it comes to guys. I clearly enjoyed the chase more than the relationship. Once I got a new guy, I got easily bored and wanted a new one. This is a trend I followed until I learned that relationships are more valuable than the thrill of new love. But that won’t be for a while yet.” At the time of the particular entry in 2004, Jenelle was dating a boy named Don and details in her book how he was the first to ask if she would sleep with him, but she wasn’t ready yet. “We broke up shortly after that. I didn’t need someone in my life that would pressure me for sex. When I was ready for it, I would choose who I wanted and when. What I didn’t know then was when I was finally ready for sex, I would become obsessed with it.”

Photo by Broadimage / Rex Features

11. Turning 14

Although for most of her childhood Jenelle had had a troubled relationship with her mother and was usually grounded, the Jenelle audiences think they know now started to form around 14. When Jenelle was 14 she met her “first, true love,” a 16-year-old boy named William who was her best friend Tori’s cousin. One of her most memorable nights was when she smoked weed for the very first time with William and Tori. “Yeah, I shouldn’t have been smoking pot that young, but the fact remains that this was one of the best nights of my life. We didn’t hurt anyone or anything. We just sat around talking and flirting and getting high. I will always remember it fondly, no matter what others think of me.”

Source: Jenelle Evans

10. Things Getting Worse

Although it started out with Jenelle just smoking pot and hanging out with Tori and Andrew, at 14 she had one of her first major run-ins with the law when she, Tori, and Jenelle’s sister Ashleigh were arrested for shoplifting. Around this time Jenelle also documented in her diary about cutting herself for the “first and last time” and while she says she didn’t cut herself again, more diary entries talk about her wanting to “kill herself and film it” but she wrote it was all a “cry for attention.” Her boyfriend William became the first guy she slept with as well and they quickly became an on-again-off-again couple with William not wanting to deal with her drama, but still wanting sex. “This set the tone for most of the relationships in my life. Instead of getting over him and moving on, I learned to become a doormat for him. I would repeat this scenario over and over throughout my life, letting myself become an extension of some guy’s ego and a tool for them to use. I was always looking for people to complete me because I had a void in my heart that was so empty I would fill that void with anything anyone would give me.”

Source: Jenelle Evans

9. Andrew

After finally getting over William, another one of her diary entries revealed Jenelle had found new love with a good Christian boy named Neil who bought her a bible, but they also had a bad breakup which “sent me careening back into the arms of bad boys. The first one was named Andrew.” Teen Mom 2 fans know that Andrew is the father of Jenelle’s oldest son Jace. Andrew and Jenelle met online when Jenelle was 16, and Andrew was 22, “At sixteen I thought that was so cool. He drank more than he should, and I thought it was so adult and fascinating.” Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the red flags to arise with Andrew, but yet again Jenelle was blinded by “love” and then in “December of 2008 my life took a sharp turn when I missed my first period. A few weeks later I suspected I was pregnant.” When she finally told Andrew, “He was a little surprised but didn’t get upset about it. In truth, I think he didn’t care.” In fact, Jenelle isn’t even sure if Andrew even told his parents she was pregnant. “I never talked to them about it. They never showed any interest in talking to me about it or making any arrangements for their grandchild. When they moved away, I never heard from his parents again.”

Source: MTV

8. Welcoming Jace

Interestingly enough, Jenelle actually never told her mother about the pregnancy, instead “she sort of guessed,” Jenelle wrote. Eventually, she saw the bump and demanded Jenelle take a pregnancy test in front of her, and it was, of course, positive. “She basically said I had messed up, there would be consequences, and I would have to face them. I would have this baby and I would raise it and she would help me. I didn’t know she meant she would take the baby away from me.” While six months pregnant and watching the first season of 16 and Pregnant, Jenelle found the answer to her income problems when she saw they were casting for a new season and she was quickly accepted and MTV started filming in June of 2009. On August 2, 2009, Jenelle welcomed Jace Vahn Evans and after finally getting a hold of Andrew to tell him she was in labor, he showed up. “Andrew arrived at the hospital while I was in labor. Then he left to drink with his friends […] we broke up shortly after that. I was done with Andrew.” Not long after Jace was born, Jenelle then got the call for Teen Mom 2 and she “jumped on it with glee. The money from the first one was such a blessing, and I thought I was getting used to living my life on camera for a few weeks a year.”

Source: MTV

7. Custody Battle Begins

Those who have watched Jenelle’s story from the beginning are well aware of the events that led up to her signing over custody of Jace to Barbara, but one of the most shocking parts of her book is her explanation of what happened. “Raising Jace was proving to be more difficult than I expected. Being a mom was hard work! One night, my mother convinced me to go out with my friends so I could relax. My mother. Wanted me to relax. I should have been suspicious at the time,” she wrote. “That’s the night I met Kieffer, my next love interest and roller-coaster ride. I had fun that night, but at what cost I wouldn’t discover until the next morning.” When Jenelle did get home, Child Protective Services were at the house. “My mother had called them and told them I was out partying all night and left my son at home. She told them I did this pretty much every night, which was a lie. I tried to tell them she told me to go out, but they wouldn’t listen. They gave my mother temporary custody in light of my actions. My mother had set me up and I had fallen hard for it.” She added, “I did what was best for my son at the time, but I didn’t follow through with my plan. I didn’t get a steady job, or finish college, or get a place on my own. I fell into another abusive relationship with another a–hole and lost myself in the process.”

Source: MTV

6. Kieffer

If there is one boyfriend of Jenelle’s that fans will never forget, it is Kieffer Delp. It was because of Kieffer Jenelle had her first of many run-ins with the law, which came when the pair stayed at a friend’s grandmother’s empty house and were arrested for trespassing and BnE and possession. “That started us down that on-again, off-again relationship path. We would see each other for a little while, hook up a few times, then I would get over him again. I might’ve been a pot smoker, but I really didn’t want someone around who was going to get involved in harder drugs. I had a hard enough time keeping Jace in my life as it was.” After Jenelle’s highly publicized front yard brawl with a girl named Brittany, which of course was over Kieffer, her lawyer decided she take a big step in helping herself which was her trip to rehab.

MTV

5. Rehab

In 2011, Jenelle attended Malibu Horizon in California for rehab which at the time was only for a lot of partying and pot-smoking, and her time there prompted her to write a lot in her diary which gives fans an inside look at her time at the facility. Her diary entries about calling her mother to talk to Jace describe the breakdown of their relationship and also revealed a lot of the very high highs and very low lows that Jenelle went through, prompting them to see if she had bipolar disorder. While she didn’t, her mood changes after talking to her mom also made her contact the one person who would only lead her down a darker road after she left rehab, Kieffer. One thing her diary entries revealed was that instead of focusing on her own health and wellness while in rehab, being able to stay in contact with people via phone and social media, meant most of her time was consumed worrying about her relationship with Kieffer, writing, “Tonight I was upset and depressed […] So I ended up calling Kieffer @1am his time and he calmed me down. For that happening I realized I do want to be with him. I love him. So we are back together lol For good this time. I sware! [sic] But other then that next week is my last week here! I’m so happy! I get to go home, see Jace, see Cali, drive my car, go tot he beach, see Kieffer, AND MOVE OUT! I’m very happy.”

MTV

4. Gary

Despite being with Kieffer when she left rehab, things changed when she got home to North Carolina and Kieffer was living in New Jersey “hiding from the police.” When he finally visited her, she talked him into turning himself in which meant she had a chance to cut him out of her life, which is when she met Gary. Gary made a few appearances on Teen Mom 2, and at the time Jenelle also met Conner, a man who hired her but also tried to get her to sleep with him and when she refused, fired her and began spreading rumors about her. Despite not being together long, Gary proposed to Jenelle and she accepted even though they fought all the time, but it all came to an end during one very violent fight. After Gary left Jenelle at home so he could go out clubbing, she figured out he was cheating on her and when she later searched his phone as he slept, he became more violent than ever when he found out. “He started screaming at me and I kept crying. He was yelling at me to stop crying because the neighbors would hear…things escalated pretty quickly after that, and next thing I knew, I couldn’t breathe. Gary had attacked me. He jumped up from the bed, looped his blanket around my throat and pulled it tight […] Just when I thought I was going to pass out, or even outright die, he finally released me.” The fight didn’t end there though. “I immediately turned on him in self-defense. I jumped onto the bed where he sat and punched him in the back. It was the only blow I got in, because he started to wale on me after that. He said if I was going to hit him like a full-grown man, he would hit me back like a full-grown man. He punched me over and over and over and over. I ended up with bruises everywhere. I don’t know how long he would’ve gone on hitting me if the police hadn’t arrived.” Both were arrested, but Jenelle was just happy to be arrested and not dead.

MTV

3. Heroin

All through her relationship with Gary, Kieffer was still there and in that time got released from jail and before long Jenelle and Kieffer got back together, but this time he lead her down a much darker road. Although she figured out he used heroin pretty early in their relationship, she just told him she wanted nothing to do with it. “Then the inevitable happened. One afternoon through some magic of his double talk, Kieffer convinced me to give it a try. I said yes. It would a yes I would regret to this day.” Jenelle even details her first time using the drug, writing, “My first trip was amazing. I won’t glamorize the drug by going into long details of why people love it so damned much. All I will say is Kieffer was right: it did make me feel good. Good enough to give it another go. And another. And another. Before I knew it, I was shooting up four or five times a day. I was hooked.” After even more drama with Kieffer and the pair moving to New Jersey to stay with his mom, Jenelle had her first blackout from heroin. “That was it for me. I didn’t want to do a drug where blacking out is something that just happens. It also dawned on me that Kieffer didn’t love me. He didn’t even care enough about me to make sure I hadn’t overdosed.” After realizing she needed out, her mom came and got her and Jenelle got off the drug by going cold turkey while her mom watched over her.

Source: MTV

2. Courtland

There are often long gaps between her diary entries and, while she left off quitting heroin, her next diary entry picked up a few months later in December 2012. “My stomach hurts! Living in a moldy ass trailer w/ mice and roaches. I wish I wasn’t living in this situation. I want my own little family in a nice place to live, not here. I got married to Courtland so now I’m Mrs. Rogers.” After getting clean, a friend she knew since she was 14 came back into her life in September 2012, and that friend was Courtland. On their first date he took her to a dealer where she got weed and he got heroin, and although she resisted at first, it didn’t last long. “We started dating in October, and moved in together by November. Courtland was not only taking heroin, he started dealing it too. The money was good, but not good enough to get us a nice place to live. I hated our trailer. I started to hate my life once more.” In the beginning of December, Courtland convinced Jenelle to marry him and shortly after she found out she was pregnant and quit heroin immediately. In January, Courtland’s abuse went from verbal to physical when he found messages from another guy to Jenelle on her phone. “Courtland slapped me around a few times, then started punching me in the gut.” While she was able to get away, the abuse from Courtland caused a miscarriage. “I woke the next morning to a pool of blood between my legs […] they explained to me that I had suffered a miscarriage due to my recent altercation with Courtland.” After another brief fling with Gary, she ended up back with Courtland by April 2013, and after another fight in which Jenelle called the cops, both were arrested and cops found drug paraphernalia, some heroin and a lot of money in Jenelle’s car. Two days later when at the ER because of bronchitis, Jenelle once again found out she was pregnant with Courtland’s baby and decided on an abortion which was documented on Teen Mom 2.

MTV

1. Nathan to David

Although most of Jenelle’s diary entries ended around this time, she decided to continue her story with her life up until now and as fans are well aware by now she first ended up with Nathan, who she began dating in June 2013 after meeting on Tinder. By September they were expecting their son, Kaiser, but all the while their relationship got worse and worse. Fans saw most of Jenelle and Nathan’s toxic relationship and she admitted that by the time they got engaged “we knew we would never get married. It was never going to work.” After welcoming Kaiser in June 2014, the pair officially split in February 2015 and in August she took to Tinder one more time, which is where she met David. They met in person in September and by the beginning of 2016, they moved in together before finding out they were expecting. “We found out we were going to have a child. I was both worried and excited. I loved David so much, but I had also been down this road before. When I told him, he was ecstatic. He had a daughter and was glad to be a father again. He was so different from the other men I had been with. He didn’t hit me. He didn’t yell at me. He didn’t do drugs or cheat on me. I finally snagged a good man.”

Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

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