Well, Jenelle! 'Teen Mom 2' Alum Jenelle Evans, Mom Barbara's Ups and Downs


She’s seen her with Kieffer! Teen Mom 2 alum Jenelle Evans and her mom, Barbara Evans, have been feuding over custody of Jenelle’s son, Jace — in addition to many other issues — for over a decade. After giving birth to her eldest son in August 2009, Jenelle signed over legal custody of Jace to her mom. The dramatic decision played out on the former MTV personality’s 2010 episode of 16 and Pregnant. At the time, the North Carolina native realized that she needed her mom’s help in raising her son while she partied with friends. (Jace’s father, Andrew Lewis, is not involved in his son’s life.) The frequent and intense drama between the mother-daughter duo was on Teen Mom 2 for years, with Barbara and Jenelle often fighting about Jace, as well as the Wal-Mart employee’s disapproval of the men in her daughter’s life. While Jace has lived with his grandmother since he was born, Jenelle moved out of her mom’s house in the early 2010s and would often get yelled at by her mother for not spending enough time with her son. The Read Between the Lines author, for her part, was also using drugs — often with her then-boyfriend, Kieffer Delp, whom Barbara frequently feuded with (and famously once kicked out of her house, along with Jenelle). “High, high, ya both high!” she screamed at the couple in the now-iconic scene. While Barbara was referring to Jenelle’s marijuana use at the time, the social media influencer soon got into heavier drugs, including heroin. “I think my low point was with my drug issue and the whole heroin thing,” the OnlyFans content creator told E! News in 2017 while reflecting on her substance use. “I almost overdosed and died. I was trying to run away from my problems.” [jwplayer hJ48J0Uf-zhNYySv2] While Jenelle got sober from heroin, she has still dealt with her fair share of relationship issues — leading to even more tension between her and her mom. In 2013, the TV personality began dating Nathan Griffith, with whom she welcomed son Kaiser the following year. Despite getting engaged to the military veteran, the couple soon split amid an array of issues, including Griffith’s arrest for domestic violence in March 2015 and Jenelle’s own arrest on domestic violence charges that May. Later that year, Jenelle began a relationship with her now-husband, David Eason. The couple — whose own rocky relationship has made headlines for years — welcomed daughter Ensley in January 2017. They tied the knot in September of that year. Barbara, who previously called Eason “the worst boyfriend [Jenelle’s] ever had” during an episode of TM2, was not invited to the wedding due to the drama over Jace. “She’s very upset. I know she is and she … makes side comments here and there saying, ‘Well, you’re not inviting me to your wedding, so I don’t even want to talk about it,’” Jenelle exclusively told Us Weekly one month prior to her and Eason's nuptials. “And I’m like, ‘I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, I’m just telling you this is what I need to do to get ready’ … I can’t forgive someone that’s just not going to give me back my son, so, and it’s still going on. It hasn’t been resolved. And if I had custody of him now maybe I would have invited her, but I’m not at the moment.” Despite occasional moments of reconciliation, Barbara and Jenelle have only kept feuding about custody of Jace in the years since. Keep scrolling to see their biggest ups and downs over the years:

After welcoming son Jace in September 2009, her relationship with her mom — which was already on shaky ground — went south once Barbara started picking up the slack to care for the little one while Jenelle partied.

After Jenelle’s split from Delp, Barbara and Griffith also butted heads, with Griffith even accusing Jenelle’s mom of getting her daughter “hooked on heroin” during an episode of Teen Mom 2. Barbara, for her part, fired back, “I didn’t put a needle in her arm."

Barbara and Jenelle’s relationship only grew more strained as the mom of three began using heroin. Barbara accused Jenelle of stealing her credit cards and sobbed while trying to help her daughter with her addiction while the Teen Mom 2 cameras rolled.

The mother-daughter duo appeared to be on good terms at the 2015 MTV VMAs as Jenelle brought her mom as her date to the awards show.

Barbara called Eason “the worst boyfriend” her daughter’s ever had while on an episode of TM2 after he slammed a door in her face amid a fight.

Jenelle exclusively revealed to Us why her mom wasn’t invited to her September 2017 nuptials with Eason. “I can’t forgive someone that’s just not going to give me back my son, so, and it’s still going on. It hasn’t been resolved,” the YouTube personality said. “And if I had custody of him now maybe I would have invited her, but I’m not at the moment.”

Another reconciliation? Jenelle and Barbara drank wine and laughed together while live on social media. Although fans were happy to see the mother and daughter getting along, they were unamused with Barbara’s joke about wanting to “kill” their TM2 costar, Kailyn Lowry.

Amid even more custody drama — Kaiser and Ensley were temporarily removed from Jenelle and Eason’s North Carolina home after he shot and killed their dog Nugget — Jenelle exclusively told Us outside of the courthouse that she felt “like my relationship with my mom is destroyed at this point.”

She continued: “This isn’t a way a mother should be treating her daughter. She fights so hard for my sister and my brother when they are the ones with major issues, not me.”

Barbara, for her part — who gained temporary custody of Ensley at the time — said in a video obtained by TMZ that Jenelle only insisted on hugging her little girl to look good on TV. “It’s only for the cameras,” she claimed. (Jenelle told Us that she has “no idea” why her mom would say such a thing.)

After getting back together with Eason — the two briefly split in late 2019 after Eason killed their dog and Janelle accused him of abuse — things once again grew worse with Barbara. While they were initially “on good terms” after Jenelle moved back from Tennessee (where she was living amid her split from Eason), the mom and daughter soon hit their “breaking point” when it came to drama over Jace.

“Jace is back with my mom, and I have filed to go to court and make the case private,” Jenelle exclusively told Us at the time. “I did that for Jace’s protection because … he is old enough now to where, if it’s in the news, I don’t need him reading that or getting upset.”

She and Barbara were “currently not on talking terms,” she shared with Us, revealing they were only communicating when it came to picking up and dropping off Jace at the Easons' house on the weekends.

Jenelle made headlines when she took to social media to share her disappointment about her relationship with her mom. "It sucks when none of your accomplishments are acknowledged ... especially by your own mom 💔," she penned via TikTok at the time.

The post came after fans pointed out to Jenelle that Barbara told Teen Mom franchise star Kayla Sessler to “not get sucked into this fame and do not … blow your money,” implying that that’s what her daughter did in an Instagram Live shared by Sessler at the time.

When Barbara attempted to share an anecdote about Kaiser on an episode of Teen Mom: Girls Night In, fans found the story concerning.

“The other day, last week, Jenelle says to me, ‘Guess what Kaiser did?’ I said, ‘What?’ She said, ‘He called 911 and then they answered the phone,” she told Farrah Abraham’s mom, Debra Danielsen, at the time.

“You know what he said?” Barbara asked. “He said, ‘Go suck my d—k.'”

Barbara and Jenelle had a court date on February 20, Us confirmed amid rumors that their custody arrangement over Jace was changing.

Barbara gave custody of Jace to Jenelle. "My mom and I decided together to grant full custody back to me because we want to build our relationship back as mother and daughter," Jenelle, 31, exclusively told Us Weekly in a statement on Saturday, March 18. "She also thinks it's important for Jace to be around a father figure to learn 'boy things' and have 'men talk'. She has seen the way David parents my children and she knows we're able to handle it. We want to all get along for the sake of the children and like I said before, building back our relationship as mother and daughter."