Maci Bookout has been through an awful lot with Ryan Edwards.
Normally we’d say these two have been through a lot together, but in this case, Ryan has been the one creating 100 percent of the drama, and Maci has been the one coping with the fallout.
As you’ve likely heard by now, Ryan was arrested once again last week after he relapsed and threatened to murder his wife, Mackenzie Standifer.
Making the situation even sadder is the fact that in the weeks before his latest meltdown, Edwards seemed to be making all of the right decisions.
Ryan got fired from Teen Mom OG back in 2021, but he recently returned to the franchise that made him famous.
The segment was filmed over a month ago — well before his life fell apart — but Ryan’s appearance on the most recent Teen Mom reunion special aired earlier this week.
To the surprise of viewers, Ryan and Maci sat and had a civil conversation about their 14-year-old son, Bentley, and the steps that Edwards can take to be a bigger part of the boy’s life.
Revealing that “it’s been a long time” since they last spoke, Maci said that her relationship with Ryan is “kind of nonexistent” these days.
“I’d just like to be able to, for Maci to be okay with me being able to see him. Hell, I haven’t got to spend any time with him, just me, in a long time,” said a tearful Ryan at one point.
“Hell, I just miss him. There’s a lot of times I wasn’t there just to see him play ball, just putting myself first.”
Ryan pled for compassion, noting that he might be able to have a better relationship with his son if he didn’t “have to deal with everything else that I’ve had to in the past, just everyone else in the way.”
“I just looked at him and I could see the pain and honestly I felt like I was staring at Bentley,” Maci responded.
“It’s obviously bittersweet, but I really appreciate the vulnerability and the ownership, where he maybe came up short, what he could have done differently,” she continued.
“Everything he was committing to, it just felt little by little, a breath of fresh air, because it would absolutely make Bentley’s heart so whole.”
Bookout then made it abundantly clear that Bentley’s love for his father remains undiminished.
“Ryan, there’s a part of Bentley that is hurting, he loves you so much and there is only one person who can help that hurt and it’s you,” she said.
“He wants a relationship with you more than anything else.”
Maci was then asked about ways that she might help Ryan improve his relationship with Bentley.
“I think one of them is making sure that I’m keeping Ryan all the way in the loop as it pertains to anything Bentley has going on, so he as the option to support and be there,” she said.
Maci then acknowledged the elephant in the room, noting that she and Ryan have often had “trouble communicating with each other respectfully.”
“I agree, I said some things that were hateful. Yes, I’m sorry for that,” Ryan said.
“I also want to apologize for not putting in more of an effort to understand the battles you were fighting and struggles you were going through,” she chimed in.
“I should have treated you more like a human being and if I could go back and do it different, I definitely would, but I’m going to do it different moving forward and I’m sorry.”
Had it not been for the events of the past week, the segment would have left us feeling hopeful for Ryan’s relationship with Bentley.
As it is, however, the conversation is just a sad reminder of what might have been.
Maci Bookout Begs Ryan Edwards to Be a Better Dad Amid New Abuse Scandal was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.