Tyler Baltierra and Catelynn Lowell have opted against listening to their biological daughter Carly’s original song.
“We never chose not to listen to the song. We were actually super excited, very touched and couldn’t wait to hear it,” Tyler, 33, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, May 22. “But, this was all thrown onto us out of nowhere with MTV’s setup. … This was all MTV’s idea since their producers were the only ones that our biological daughter’s parents were willing to speak with about all of this.”
He added, “Their original plan was to have MTV film them and their family, as long as MTV didn’t have them talk about the adoption while filming. MTV didn’t think it made sense, so they compromised behind the scenes with this song idea.”
In Thursday’s episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, Dr. Drew Pinsky told Tyler and Catelynn, 33, that he had a video of Carly singing from her parents, Brandon and Teresa Davis, who adopted her in 2009. The MTV stars said that they did not want to hear the footage while filming the show.
“[This was] the first time Cate ever heard her sing prior to this, became a very emotionally intense day. So recognizing this and wanting to prepare ourselves, all we asked was to first give us a moment to listen in private,” Tyler added. “That way we could collect/process ourselves a bit, and then we could listen and play it on camera afterwards, like they wanted.”
During Thursday’s episode, MTV alleged that when Catelynn asked for the link to hear the performance in private, Brandon and Teresa denied the request. (Us Weekly has reached out for comment.)
“It was truly heartbreaking to have something so special just dangled in front of us, to then have it ripped away like that,” Tyler said. “Navigating an open adoption as a birth parent is so difficult, especially with such a constant, imbalanced power dynamic. Birth parents are always at the mercy of the adopters (which is understandable, since we’re the ones who relinquished our baby to them), but that still doesn’t make it any less hard or painful.”
Tyler further noted that he and Catelynn were touched by Brandon and Teresa’s offer.
“It is such a beautiful gift and so meaningful,” he wrote. “We just asked if we could listen to it in private first because it brings a lot of emotions and sadness. For us, it’s so beautiful to listen to her, but it also brings up a lot of feelings.”
Tyler also said that he and his wife were “incredibly sorry” if any of their comments about adoption upset Brandon, Teresa or Carly.
“We will always speak about adoption, share the facts, share adoptees’ great stories and adoptees’ bad stories,” he continued. “We will always speak about adoption, [but] we just won’t speak about our adoption journey moving forward.”
He added, “We’re the adults here and it’s our job to put everything aside for the best interest of Carly, which requires open, honest and transparent communication. So, we hope moving forward, you will participate in that requirement.”
Tyler and Catelynn placed Carly for adoption upon her birth in 2009. While they initially planned to have an open adoption, the 16 and Pregnant alums later claimed that Brandon and Teresa kept pushing back on any involvement. In a March episode, Catelynn also claimed that they were blocked on social media.
“The last time I saw Carly was, like, two years ago,” Catelyn exclusively told Us Weekly in January. “It’s very hard. At the end of the day, I really just want whatever she wants and whatever that looks like for Carly, that’s all that I want. They basically have closed the adoption on us. That’s hard.”
Brandon and Teresa, meanwhile, have never publicly addressed any drama with Tyler and Catelynn, who also share younger daughters Nova, 10, Vaeda, 6, and Rya, 3.
