Teen Mom alum Tyler Baltierra stepped up to the plate to defend his wife Catelynn Baltierra when she received backlash from fans after sharing an emotional update about being denied a visit with her daughter, Carly. The couple gave Carly up for adoption when she was born in 2009.
“That choice does not come without a natural human cost,” Tyler, 32, wrote in a message he shared to his Instagram Stories on Friday, May 10. “Most will never know the pain of what it takes to fight against the most powerful, biological and instinctual nature that’s required to make that choice. Most will never know what it’s like to grow, nurture, love & carry such a beautiful perfect innocence like your own baby … only to painfully relinquish that natural bond to another to do what you know you can’t for the sake of your baby.”
The reality TV star continued, “It’s a pain that’s equal to death & I don’t wish it upon my worst enemy. At least with death, there’s a tragic finality to it … tragic yes, but it’s final. There’s no guessing, there’s no false hope, and there’s nothing you can do to bring them back or change it. But grieving your child while they still live is truly an unexplainable pain in so many ways, I won’t even attempt to put it into words.”
Tyler asked fans to “be gentle and compassionate” toward Catelynn, 32, and said that they “all could use some more grace & understanding towards one another.”
Tyler and Catelynn have regularly visited Carly, meetings they coordinated through her adoptive parents, Brandon and Teresa Davis, but this year the meetup couldn’t happen. Catelynn expressed her disappointment via her Instagram Stories on Thursday, May 9.
“Adoption is wild … Being at the mercy of someone that can say no … (I know I chose this no need to tell me!)” Catelynn wrote. “I will never understand how you say you can ‘love’ us and will always be blessed for ‘us’ … BUT you can’t take TWO days out of your entire year to just meet up for dinner and do a park or something small? ESPECIALLY when we said we would travel to YALL?!”
Tensions between Catelynn and Tyler and Carly’s adoptive parents have been strained for years. In February, Tyler revealed he was dipping his toe into OnlyFans. A user on X asked Tyler how “he expected Teresa and Brandon to respond” to his decision.
“As far as B [and] T go, I couldn’t please them or get their approval if I was damn Mother Teresa [sic] herself lol,” Tyler replied. “Besides, I refuse to live my life trying to live up to anyone’s expectations besides my own!”
Another tense moment occurred during an episode of Teen Mom OG in April 2015 when Brandon and Teresa denied Tyler’s request to put photos of Carly on social media.
“We have a platform to speak on adoption from an adoptive parent perspective that nobody else has.” Teresa explained. “The baby biologically is yours, but in every other way, she is our child, and you have to trust our decisions.”
