A lot of different words come to mind when one is tasked with describing Amber -- some of them complimentary, others not so much.
But from her biggest fans to her most bitter detractors, we're sure everyone would agree that the word which best describes Ms. Portwood is "intense."
Everything Amber does, she does it with intensity.
First and foremost, she loves her kids and her romantic partners intensely.
Unfortunately, when she feels they've betrayed in any way, she becomes intensely angry.
And when that rage turns violent, Amber has been known to grab the nearest weapon and become intensely abusive.
That's what happened last year when Portwood attacked Andrew Glennon while he was holding her 1-year-old son.
Glennon told police that his then-fiancee brandished a machete, and when he took baby James and hid in a bedroom for safety, Amber tried to break down the door.
Somehow, Portwood avoided jail time for her actions, but the couple's custody arrangement is basically subject to Andrew's whims.
On last night's episode of Teen Mom OG, fans learned just how much of a toll the situation has taken on Amber.
She scored a minor legal victory when she was granted visitation rights -- unfortunately, Andrew also filed a motion to take James with him and return to his native California for good.
This would be a problem for Amber, of course, as she has a daughter in Indiana, and would therefore be unable to simply pick up and move to California.
“It just killed me,” she said of Andrew’s motion.
“I’m not going to let that happen.”
Amber later revealed that she called her long-suffering ex, Gary Shirley, because he talked her down the last time she threatened to “do something.”
In case her euphemism is unclear, Amber was hinting that she was contemplating suicide.
“I would hate for something to happen to Amber and it could’ve been prevented,” Gary said during the episode.
We think it's safe to say that everyone would hate that.
Don't get us wrong, Amber is one ot the least well-liked Teen Moms in the history of the franchise.
But no one wants to see her come to any sort of physical harm.
And when she talks about her mental health issues with surprising clarity and self-awareness, it's clear that this is a woman who deserves our sympathy, not our contempt.
“Our son’s going to know one day all the bad shit that happened when I was going through postpartum,” she said through tears during last night's episode.
“Is he going to think ‘Did I do this to Mommy?’”
Fortunately, this story has a somewhat happy ending, as the judge eventually saw things Amber's way and blocked Andrew from moving to California.
Feeling that his son should have a mother in his life, Glennon happily accepted the decision.
Since he's been able to forgive her -- maybe the rest of us should, too?
As for her mental health issues, we hope Amber will seek professional therapy and not continue turning to Gary as her sole means of support.
But in the meantime, it's nice that she has such a reliable support network around her.
Whether she deserves it or not is immaterial.
