other end of the spectrum, there are plenty of moms who force people to use hand sanitizer before letting them near their kids. That’s just not my thing.
Of course, I never had the option of shielding myself from all parental criticism. Not that anyone should be completely shielded from criticism. But I was on TV, and you sure as hell can’t hide there.
***
After 16 & Pregnant ended, I was asked to continue filming for the spinoff series Teen Mom . It was a tough decision. Obviously, being on MTV completely changed my life. No one expected 16 & Pregnant to be as big as it was. No one expected a one-off documentary on teen pregnancy to turn into what it did. I didn’t realize, and I’m sure the other girls didn’t either, that the show would be the start of several years of pretty intense media coverage. A few talk shows are one thing. But crazy headlines in tabloid magazines? Paparazzi showing up in our towns? Thousands and thousands of viewers weighing in on our lives through social media and comments sections? None of that ever entered my mind as a possibility. But that was what happened.
As an introverted person, I wasn’t happy to realize that all of these people suddenly thought of me as Maci from MTV. It felt like losing control of my ability to make my own impression on people. After I became such a public figure, I had to come to terms with the fact that almost everyone I met had already formed their own opinions of me. More specifically, a lot of them felt like they knew me. That’s a double-edged sword if ever there was one. On one hand, the entire reason I embraced my place on Teen Mom was because I wanted to connect with others who were in my shoes, and more importantly to connect with young girls who could avoid being in my shoes. And the entire point of being the subject of a documentary is to give people a chance to know you and understand you. On the other hand, it was hard to navigate a lot of the interactions I had with people who had certain expectations of me based on what they’d seen, when for me the reality was obviously much more complex than a well-edited TV series could ever show.
It was humbling and awkward at the same time to realize that I had fans. When people approached me to introduce themselves or ask for photos, I never knew how to react. I felt like if I was super bubbly and happy to be approached, it would come off as a kind of snobbiness or a silly attitude about my own status. But I didn’t want to seem unfriendly or unappreciative, either. It was hard to be graceful and humble. Then there was the fact that sometimes I was just trying to get through my day like a normal person. When you’re in the supermarket with a one-year-old and you’re exhausted and trying to finish shopping so you can get home and wrap up your day, it’s hard to deal with strangers approaching you to talk about your life and your relationships. But I always tried to be as nice as I could. I’d be an idiot not to know that if it wasn’t for those fans, I would never have had the opportunity to do the show or the platform to share my experience as a teen mom.
Plus, the positive responses have always meant the world to me. One of the biggest things that kept me going with the show was when moms in their thirties and forties would come up to me to say, “I have a thirteen year old kid and if it wasn’t for your show coming on every week, I would never have had such a good chance to talk to them about birth control.” I often heard that the show made it easier to talk to their kids about sex, pregnancy, and protection without it being as awkward as it often can be.
Then there was the other side. There were other times when I met people who said things like, “I wish that show would have been around when I got pregnant,” or “If I’d known I could have been on it!” They weren’t saying they wanted to get pregnant to get on TV, but they had a distorted idea of what it really
Of course, I never had the option of shielding myself from all parental criticism. Not that anyone should be completely shielded from criticism. But I was on TV, and you sure as hell can’t hide there.
***
After 16 & Pregnant ended, I was asked to continue filming for the spinoff series Teen Mom . It was a tough decision. Obviously, being on MTV completely changed my life. No one expected 16 & Pregnant to be as big as it was. No one expected a one-off documentary on teen pregnancy to turn into what it did. I didn’t realize, and I’m sure the other girls didn’t either, that the show would be the start of several years of pretty intense media coverage. A few talk shows are one thing. But crazy headlines in tabloid magazines? Paparazzi showing up in our towns? Thousands and thousands of viewers weighing in on our lives through social media and comments sections? None of that ever entered my mind as a possibility. But that was what happened.
As an introverted person, I wasn’t happy to realize that all of these people suddenly thought of me as Maci from MTV. It felt like losing control of my ability to make my own impression on people. After I became such a public figure, I had to come to terms with the fact that almost everyone I met had already formed their own opinions of me. More specifically, a lot of them felt like they knew me. That’s a double-edged sword if ever there was one. On one hand, the entire reason I embraced my place on Teen Mom was because I wanted to connect with others who were in my shoes, and more importantly to connect with young girls who could avoid being in my shoes. And the entire point of being the subject of a documentary is to give people a chance to know you and understand you. On the other hand, it was hard to navigate a lot of the interactions I had with people who had certain expectations of me based on what they’d seen, when for me the reality was obviously much more complex than a well-edited TV series could ever show.
It was humbling and awkward at the same time to realize that I had fans. When people approached me to introduce themselves or ask for photos, I never knew how to react. I felt like if I was super bubbly and happy to be approached, it would come off as a kind of snobbiness or a silly attitude about my own status. But I didn’t want to seem unfriendly or unappreciative, either. It was hard to be graceful and humble. Then there was the fact that sometimes I was just trying to get through my day like a normal person. When you’re in the supermarket with a one-year-old and you’re exhausted and trying to finish shopping so you can get home and wrap up your day, it’s hard to deal with strangers approaching you to talk about your life and your relationships. But I always tried to be as nice as I could. I’d be an idiot not to know that if it wasn’t for those fans, I would never have had the opportunity to do the show or the platform to share my experience as a teen mom.
Plus, the positive responses have always meant the world to me. One of the biggest things that kept me going with the show was when moms in their thirties and forties would come up to me to say, “I have a thirteen year old kid and if it wasn’t for your show coming on every week, I would never have had such a good chance to talk to them about birth control.” I often heard that the show made it easier to talk to their kids about sex, pregnancy, and protection without it being as awkward as it often can be.
Then there was the other side. There were other times when I met people who said things like, “I wish that show would have been around when I got pregnant,” or “If I’d known I could have been on it!” They weren’t saying they wanted to get pregnant to get on TV, but they had a distorted idea of what it really
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