It took one alleged beating and one definite killing of a dog for Jenelle Evans to come to her sense:
She has finally filed to divorce David Eason.
"Nobody gets into a marriage expecting it to end but I know that's what is best for me, and for my kids," Evans wrote this week on Instagram, adding that this is not a mere separation:
"Today I've filed papers to start that process."
Sounds rather official, right?
Sounds like this marriage is over for good, doesn't it?
Yes, and yet: You'll forgive our staff if we're a little hesitant to believe Evans here, won't you?
She's proven time and again that she has trouble turning away from David and/or seeing him for the monster he clearly is.
Might she go back on her word? Might this even be some sort of PR trick to get the couple back on reality TV?
Anything, sadly, is possible when it comes to Jenelle and David.
For this reason, we're posing the following question to our The Hollywood Gossip writing team:
IS THIS REALLY IT FOR DAVID EASON AND JENELLE EVANS?
Tragically, No by Tyler Johnson
Remember that scene from Brokeback Mountain where Jake Gyllenhaal says, “I wish I knew how to quit you!” to Heath Ledger?
Imagine that same scene... except Jenelle is Jake, David is Heath, and the whole thing inspires no compassion -- or emotion of any kind -- because instead of gay cowboys, it’s a pair of racist homophobes who seem to enjoy abusing animals and neglecting children.
Now you have some idea of the scene that’s playing out on The Land as we speak.
David has given Jenelle ample cause to file for divorce at least a dozen times in the two years since they tied the knot.
She’s accused him of abuse numerous times — and let’s not forget the time he BEAT, SHOT AND KILLED HER PUPPY!
But each time she’s come running back to him.
Things were bound to get ugly between these two once MTV stopped coming around, and the threat of getting an actual job began to seem real.
It was inevitable that these two would eventually call it quits yet again under those circumstances.
But both of them are hopelessly addicted to bad decisions, so you can bet they’ll be back together in no time.
Unless, of course, Jenelle gets sick of supporting David’s unemployed ass.
She’d never leave him to protect her kids, but she might stick her guns in order to protect her bank account.
No by Emily Trainham
Jenelle lies. A lot.
It’s really one of the biggest parts of her personality, so when she announced that she’s divorcing David, a lot of people had trouble believing it. Which is smart, because she’s probably lying about the whole thing.
Think about it: when has Jenelle ever left a relationship without having another soulmate waiting in the wings?
When has she ever been able to truly admit she was wrong about someone or something like she did in her divorce statement?
Are we supposed to believe that her big meeting with MTV just happened to take place days before the big announcement?
Also, and this one is the kicker, if she was really leaving David, do you think that he’d be posting all that sad, sappy “can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t live without Jenelle” nonsense all over social media?
If their marriage was truly over, then David would be going off like we’ve never seen, and Jenelle wouldn’t be able to maintain her silence
It would be messy and terrifying, some animals would probably get killed, we could see some revenge porn involved … it would be so, so bad.
Nope, what’s probably happening is that Jenelle is staging the breakup to get back on Teen Mom 2 while David goes along with it so they can both get that sweet MTV money flowing again.
She may have moved out, she might even end up filing for divorce – in North Carolina, you have to be physically separated for a year before the actual filing – but until they start attacking each other, it’s not real.
VOTE: Is this really it for Jenelle and David?
Jenelle Evans has filed for divorce. But does this really mean this relationship is over? View Poll »
No by Simon Delott
Jenelle's life is a story of one catastrophically bad decision after another.
That's true for most Teen Mom stars -- otherwise the series would never caught on. Drama sells, right?
But even on a show with Amber Portwood and Farrah Abraham, Jenelle has always stood out as the worst of the lot.
I'm not saying this to be mean, but to remind hopeful fans that Jenelle was a bit of dumpster fire even before she married a dog-murdering ex-con.
David Eason is irredeemably awful, but there's something in Jenelle that has kept her with him for this long, that much is clear.
She stayed with him even after the world heard that 911 call about him allegedly slamming her to the ground and breaking her collarbone. Heck, she went back to him just days after he brutally murdered her dog.
David has been unhinged, online and offline, for a long time now.
He's legitimately scary -- the Columbus County sheriff even once called him "the most dangerous man in two counties."
I sure hope that Jenelle will have the fortitude to see through this divorce, for the sake of her kids, even if their lives are already ruined forever...
... But I'm not going to hold my breath. In a week, she could be singing a different tune.
Yes by Hilton Hater
Look, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that Jenelle makes sound decisions.
Nor will I claim that she can see clearly when it comes to Eason. Very sadly, she has often exhibited all the typical behavior of a victim of abuse, someone with a total lack of self-confidence and self-esteem who likely thinks she deserves to be treated terribly.
It's been easy to joke about for years, but in actuality, it's horrifying and depressing.
This is what I am gonna say, however...
Evans may not always be able to speak in coherent sentences, but she knows that money talks.
And she also knows that all cable networks will walk away from her for as long as she's aligned with Eason.
Yes, as my esteemed colleague mentioned above, drama most definitely sells when it comes to reality television -- but only to a point.
Even MTV producers are unlikely to bring Jenelle back into the fold if she's married to a woman beater who takes innocent pets into the woods and blows their brains out with a shotgun.
Eason is also homophobic and racist.
With that in mind, for the sake of her bank account and her financial future, I actually do think Evans is done with Eason.
There's no material left for any program to navigate when it comes to these two as a couple.
But Jenelle Evans? On her own? As a single mother? Attempting a rehabilitation tour of some kind and maybe even threatening single men in North Carolina by dating again?
You better believe some network will sign on the dotted line to air that series.