Teen Mom alum Jenelle Evans is setting the record straight on her oldest son’s living arrangements.
“He’s back at home with me,” Evans, 33, exclusively shared with Us Weekly before hosting her “I Do, I Did, I’m Done” divorce party at Spearmint Rhino in New York City on Thursday, June 12. “He’s doing good. He has his ups and downs, like regular teenagers, but he’s going through life learning life lessons.”
On Thursday, June 5, reports first surfaced that Jace, 15, was no longer living with his dad, Andrew Lewis, in Florida. The Ashley’s Reality Roundup alleged that the father-son duo weren’t living together for a few weeks.
“Jace is like, ‘I want to be back home’ so Jace is home and he’s doing fine,” Evans explained. “He’s enjoying summer at the house. … The time had to come where he met his dad and he did it, and he sees the true colors that I’ve been saying for years, but Jace didn’t want to believe me and my mom.”
Moving forward, Evans is hoping to keep Jace’s private life out of the spotlight.
“I’ve been trying to keep him very private,” she told Us. “I’m not trying to put a camera in front of his face. I’m not trying to put all his business out there. His business has been out there since he’s been a baby, and he had no choice. So right now, it’s really important for him to just keep to himself.”
Over the years, Evans has been open about her complicated relationship with Jace. In May, the former Teen Mom 2 star explained why she was letting her oldest child move away from her house in Las Vegas to be with his dad in Florida.
“You guys are looking at it as a negative situation, but everyone behind closed doors is looking at it as a positive thing for him,” Evans explained via TikTok on May 13. “You can say all you want. You can say I’m not taking care of my kids. Being a mother is doing the best interest for your child and I am doing the best interest for my child.”
Evans also shared with her followers that she needed some help as Jace continues struggling with his mental health disorders. (He was previously diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 10 and in 2023, he was diagnosed with major depressive disorder.)
“We never wanted to put it in front of the media and explain it because it was Jace’s privacy,” Evans explained. “Now we’ve gotten to the point where it’s happened too many times, multiple incidents for years and years and years. Something had to be done.”
Jace previously made headlines for going missing or running away from home on multiple occasions.
While some fans questioned why Jenelle wouldn’t let her son stay with his grandma Barbara Evans again, the former 16 and Pregnant star claimed her mom “couldn’t handle it anymore.”
“We’ve tried everything we could,” Jenelle — who also shares Kaiser, 10, with ex-boyfriend Nathan Griffith and Ensley, 8, with estranged husband David Eason — said. “Right now, he needs to be in a situation where both households are safe.”
Jenelle also hasn’t had the easiest relationship with Lewis. The pair split after dating for two years and later struggled to build a coparenting relationship.
“He was more interested in partying with his friends and getting drunk than spending time with his pregnant girlfriend,” Evans claimed of Lewis in her 2017 memoir, Between the Lines. “Not to mention he was broker than f*** and didn’t have a job. What in the heck did I ever see in him?”
Today, Evans is single and looking forward to celebrating a new chapter of her life.
“I wanted to throw this divorce party because I am closing a toxic chapter in my life,” she told Us. “I’m opening a new one fresh, and I just want to celebrate being free and finding the calm and safety for my children. And I just feel like this is just going to be the next big chapter of our life.”
