This week on Teen Mom OG, fans watched Tyler Baltierra talk through some tough childhood trauma with Catelynn and he made sure to tell the world just how much his “rock” and “best friend” means to him.
Tyler, who recently doted on Catelynn for her birthday, retweeted a gif from Teen Mom of his wife Catelynn saying, “I understand that.” The gif referred to a scene in this week’s episode.
Tyler and Catelynn answered some tough questions from Nova about Butch
The couple of 16 years answered some tough questions from their daughter Nova. While the couple was discussing Tyler’s past and his father Butch’s troubles, Nova was listening and had some legitimate questions.
Nova, who is only 6 years old, showed some maturity on her part when she asked her parents some powerful questions. Tyler and Catelynn handled the situation just as maturely by openly and honestly answering their daughter.
At times, Tyler paused before answering Nova, making sure to delicately answer the questions. But he and Cate were upfront and explained Papa Butch’s prior arrests and bad life choices.
They explained what “breaking the law” means to Nova, and in her curious yet innocent mind she replied that it was “stupid” but also “sad.” Nova genuinely felt her father’s pain in the sweet scene.
When Nova asked Tyler if Papa Butch “was a nice person now,” Tyler admitted that he thought his dad has “always been a nice person, he just had a lot of problems.”
He continued to explain, “He just was sick. He had an illness that caused him to make bad decisions.”
When Nova kept pressing for answers, Tyler looked emotionally drained and placed his head in his hand, rubbing his eyes with a sigh.
Catelynn offered Tyler support as he talked through his traumatic past
Later in the episode, Tyler and Catelynn sat down alone on the couch to talk things over. Catelynn listened patiently as Tyler voiced his concerns and she offered some sound advice.
Tyler expressed that he wanted to be emotionally healed as a father to his own children, but holding onto “bitterness” and “anger” stops him from being the “best dad” he could be.
Cate asked if Tyler holds anger and resentment because of his own childhood, and Tyler agreed wholeheartedly. He got louder and upset when he admitted he doesn’t know how to be a perfect dad to his kids because he didn’t have an example from his own father.
He showed exasperation when he admitted he wanted all of the emotional trauma to “just be done.” When he admitted he didn’t know how to put those emotions “to bed,” Cate offered therapy as a solution.
Cate explained that certain mental health experts are trained to deal specifically with his type of trauma. Tyler admitted to doing talk therapy his whole life, but needed something more.
Catelynn calmly asked Tyler if he’d done “legitimate trauma work” and Tyler replied, “No. I don’t know what that means.”
Cate explained that there are trauma therapists who specialize in other forms of talk therapy. Tyler revealed that he feels it’s unfair to his kids to have a “half-wounded parent.”
Catelynn and Tyler each deal with their past trauma in their own ways while still supporting each other
Catelynn has been open about her share of struggles with past trauma and mental illness, so she was a perfect advocate for Tyler. She has attended in-patient therapy three times while Tyler held down the fort at home.
Both Tyler and Catelynn are open about their emotional struggles and post about it on social media. Tyler often uses writing as a form of release and recently shared a piece he wrote about survival.
Last month, Catelynn announced she is pregnant with the couple’s fourth child, a girl who is expected to arrive later this year.
Teen Mom OG airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on MTV.