Teen Mom's Maci Bookout and Leah Messer Share How They Talk to Their Teens About Sex

Let's talk about sex, baby. No, really, Teen Mom stars Maci Bookout McKinney and Leah Messer are talking to their babies about sex. 

With eldest son Bentley set to turn 16 this fall, "I just do it point blank," 16 and Pregnant alum Maci told E! News in an exclusive interview. As in, forget the birds and the bees and get real about birth control. "I feel like honesty is the best policy when it comes to that. You want them to be as prepared to make smart decisions as possible. And you also want them to feel confident in what they know so that they can advocate for themselves." 

Having literally written the book on the topic—touching on everything from from sexual abuse to suicidal thoughts in her unflinching 2020 memoir Hope, Grace, & Faith—Leah is just as frank with her and ex-husband Corey Simms' 14-year-old twins Ali and Aleeah. "If they ask a question," the 32-year-old explained to E! News, "they're old enough to know the answer." 

When it comes to getting behind the wheel, however...

"I mean, driving?" remarked Leah, also mom to 11-year-old Addie with former spouse Jeremy Calvert. Referencing the clip of Maci's teen learning the rules of the road in the current second season of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter (Thursdays, 8 p.m.), she continued, "Bentley was driving and I was like, 'Oh my God, that's really this year.' That's scary." 

Not that she's longing for the days of juggling two newborns and her senior year studies, but, "I'm learning a lot about how my mom was trying to balance teenagers," Leah admitted. "I thought, 'Teenagers are going to be easy.' Pssh."

Though her high schoolers are "great kids," swore Leah, "I don't know, I thought it was going to be a little bit easier than what it is."

Maci agrees that raising teenagers requires more than just a little faith. 

"It's been one of those times in parenting when you have to let go a little bit and really trust that you've done everything you can and hope that they make the right decisions," she said of Bentley, her son with former high school boyfriend Ryan Edwards. "But you know damn good and well that they're going to screw up and you just have to let them deal with it. And just support them in the consequences of it."

It's definitely an easier-said-than-done situation, The Expired Podcast host acknowledged. 

"I just said that like it's easy, it's not," noted Maci, also mom to Jayde, 9, and Maverick, 8, with husband Taylor McKinney. "It's terrifying and it's very difficult." 

Almost on par with the challenge of tending to both a marriage and three very active children. 

Having committed to more date nights during their time on Teen Mom: Family Reunion, "It helped us make the shift into like, 'OK, now we do need to prioritize more time together without the kids and without talking about the kids,'" Maci said of her husband of seven years. "At the same time, we're still parents of three kids and life is life. But we're better at prioritizing time. For sure." 

These days, the Things That Matter co-founders are more apt to take note if a few weeks go by without any one-on-one time. "Then we're like, 'Let's set something for this week,'" Maci said. "Whereas in the past we wouldn't even think about it. So, it's definitely gotten better." 

And they're not the only MTV stars feeling the love these days. Check out where the rest of the cast stands with their partners. 

Viewers watched Catelynn Lowell and now-husband Tyler Baltierra make the difficult choice to place their first daughter, Carly, for adoption, in 2009 on the inaugural season of 16 and Pregnant. After 13 years together, the fan-favorite couple wed in August 2015 and have since had three more daughters: Novalee, Vaeda and Rya.

While the absence of Carly—who lives with her adoptive parents, Brandon and Teresa Davis—still aches 15 years later, the couple live for their meetups. "The girls love her," Catelynn told E! News of her younger daughters' reaction to Carly. "It's pretty awesome to be able to witness it. And we're blessed that we do have an open adoption to be able to witness it. It's truly a blessing to be able to watch all of these things over the years."

Together less than six months when she got pregnant, viewers saw Maci Bookout struggle with an irresponsible Ryan Edwards on 16 and Pregnant. Though they got engaged, the high school sweethearts split less than a year after their son Bentley was born in 2008.

These days they're focused on building a coparenting relationship. "We're in a good place," Maci revealed to E! News in 2023, adding that Ryan is showing up "more consistently now than maybe he ever has before."

Maci found her forever teammate in Texan Taylor McKinney in 2012, the pair soon building up their squad. They welcomed daughter Jayde in May 2015 and son Maverick a year later, then wed in Florida that October. 

Partners in parenting, life and their TTM Lifestyle fashion brand, "He's just my person," she told E! News in 2023. "Even when we've had a rough year together, I think at the end of the day, I still choose him. I like him. And even if I want to punch him in the face sometimes, I'd rather argue with him or have a rough patch with him than never have a rough patch with anybody else." 

Despite moving on with new significant others, the MTV stars, who connected while filming The Challenge, continue to coparent their daughter Ryder together.

"Our biggest thing since day one of Cory coming into Ryder's life was what kind of dad he wanted to be and what kind of parent he wanted to be," Cheyenne explained to E! News in March 2020. "I wasn't going to allow him to be a Disneyland dad or an Instagram dad or just in the moment. He had to be 100 percent. I think from the beginning, he saw my mindset and appreciated it so that's why we coparent so well."

After their romance ended in 2018, the pair decided to give their relationship a second chance. While celebrating her 28th birthday, Cheyenne confirmed on Instagram that she was back with Zach. In May 2021, the couple welcomed their first child together, son Ace, and got married in September 2022. 

"They are very in tune in such a natural way," Maci Bookout told E! News. "They just go together so smoothly and individually, they're awesome to be around but together, they are a blast. And they are always down for anything."

Connecting while filming Ex on the Beach may not sound like the start of a love story, but more than six years and two kids—daughters Mila and Maya—later, Cory and Are You the One? alum Taylor Selfridge are still making waves. 

"We just bought a house," he shared with E! News in 2023, before bringing up that, yes, he's aware that people want to know when they're getting married. "It's definitely being talked about. We have everything but the ring and me just letting her know. Taylor deserves that and it's something that I want and she wants. Right now we're just taking steps to get there."

Testing the limits of for-better-or-for-worse, Ryan checked into rehab not long after he married girlfriend Mackenzie Standifer in May 2017, with her giving birth to their first son Jagger in 2018 while Ryan was still in treatment.

Though the pair would welcome daughter Stella in January 2020, Mackenzie filed for divorce three years later. 

While their very contentious romance came to an end for good in 2013, the couple have since worked out a way to successfully coparent their now-teenage daughter Leah. 

"We have fun together but at a distance," Amber told E! News in January 2022. "But our relationship is good. It's a family now so we treat it as a family more than anything else." 

After several years together, a proposal and one unsuccessful stint on Marriage Boot Camp, Amber and Boston transplant Matt Baier called off their engagement in 2017. 

"Honestly, you just get to a point when you're done hearing things and you just start to not care in a relationship and I think that's what started happening to me and him," Amber revealed on Dr. Drew Pinsky's podcast later that year. "I started not to care anymore about the relationship like you should. I put a wall up so I wouldn't get hurt again pretty much."

Amber did find love while filming Marriage Boot Camp—connecting with crew member Andrew Glennon while on set. The pair made their debut as a couple at the 2017 MTV Movie Awards and in May 2018, Amber gave birth to the couple's first child, James.

But the couple separated not long after Amber was arrested for domestic battery in July 2019. After a contentious court battle, California native Andrew was awarded sole legal and primary physical custody of their son in 2022. 

"I've worked so hard to better myself and improve my relationships with my children," the Teen Mom star told E! News at the time. "While I've always been candid about my past substance abuse and struggles with mental illness, a person should have the chance to redeem themselves and not be tethered to their problems from the past."

Determined not to give up, she added, "If your road has not been perfect, but you've worked hard to become a better, more stable and caring person today, keep moving forward as I will. I'll never stop fighting for my children who I love more than anything."

After meeting Amber on the Internet, Dimitri Garcia made his Teen Mom OG debut in April 2020. "Dimitri is from Belgium. He's 39 so he's 10 years older than me. But he's a very handsome man," Amber shared on the show. "I started opening up to him and we decided we should meet since we like each other."

In April 2021, Amber revealed on the Teen Mom OG reunion special that she was still dating Dimitri. "We've known each other now for 18 months," she explained. "But I haven't seen him in a year though." Though the pair struggled with not being able to physically see each other during the pandemic, they are reportedly still talking. 

Months after Gary and now-wife Kristina Anderson welcomed daughter Emilee in April 2015, they wed in a sweet beach ceremony. 

"You are one of the most beautiful souls I know," Gary wrote in a 2022 Instagram post. "I don’t know how I would do this without you."

The father of Farrah Abraham's daughter Sophia died in an accident two months prior to her birth in December 2008.

Her first serious relationship since the death of her high school boyfriend, Farrah dated real estate agent Simon Saran on and off for over two years.

Though their 2017 split got ugly (as in cease-and-desist ugly), the two gave a stab at trying to remain friends. Sorta.

"I have no hard feelings against Farrah," Simon told E! News at the time. "We are just from two different worlds. She likes the fake life, I want what's real. I wish the best for her and much success in all of her future endeavors."

Jenelle Evans and Andrew Lewis, parents to now-teenage Jace, split not long after his 2009 birth, with the model having no involvement in his son's life. 

“I do feel bad because that’s Jace's dad," Jenelle reflected on a 2019 episode of Teen Mom 2. "But I know how he is, and I don’t want him to disappoint my son. I don’t want [him] to pop back in and then pop back out."

After a one-year marriage to Courtland Rogers, and having her second child, Kaiser, with ex-boyfriend Nathan Griffin in 2014, Jenelle wed David Eason on their North Carolina property in September 2017, eight months after they welcomed their daughter Ensley.

After a particularly rocky stretch saw David charged with a child abuse misdemeanor involving Jace (at the time, Jenelle likened it to a "smear campaign"), Jenelle revealed they had separated. "I would've skipped straight to divorce but I couldn't because in the state of North Carolina, you have to be legally separated for a year," she explained on social media, "and you have to prove you have two separate addresses."

Remember the charmer who asked then-girlfriend Chelsea Houska when he could "sign the papers over for that mistake"?

Completely in the rearview. 

Against all odds, the Teen Mom star-turned-HGTV personality has a somewhat copacetic relationship with her high school ex Adam Lind, mom to her eldest daughter Aubree. “There’s no bad vibes and it’s just a very open relationship," she told Us Weekly. "There’s no bad feelings. We see him sometimes and it’s totally fine."

What began as a meet-cute at a gas station in 2014 became forever when the pair wed in October 2016. After welcoming son Watson in 2017 and daughters Layne and Walker in 2018 and 2021, respectively, the pair launched a new joint project: Their HGTV series Down Home Fab. 

"If we were going to come back to TV, I wanted it to be something lighthearted, feel good and be able to show our authentic selves," Chelsea explained to E! News, sharing why this move felt "so right." As she put it, "This was just such a cool opportunity to do that."

Though then-high schooler Leah Messer and Corey Simms fought to turn their friendship into a forever family, the parents to now-teenage twins Aleeah and Aliannah filed for divorce six months after their October 2010 wedding. 

Corey has been married to Miranda Patterson since 2013.

Leah went on to wed pipeliner Jeremy Calvert in 2012, the couple welcoming daughter Adalynn the next year.

Though they split in 2015, they have made an effort to coparent their daughter. "I'm looking at a complete, better version of myself," Leah told E! News of her girls. "And seeing everything that they love and enjoy doing, and being able to support them in their lives and be a part of it is magical. I love it. I love being a mom, especially a girl mama."

By the time Leah went Instagram official with Jaylan Mobley in 2021, the United States Army officer had already charmed her and her daughters. 

The couple announced their engagement in August 2022, but broke up that October. 

"I needed that breakup," the Teen Mom star confessed to E! News a year later. "I've learned a lot from my last breakup and, moving forward, I do feel like my life is just beginning." 

Kailyn Lowry was just 17 when she and high school boyfriend Jo Rivera welcomed their eldest son, Isaac, in 2010.

And though they split a year later, they've since settled into a comfortable coparenting arrangement, Kailyn even hosting her Baby Mamas No Drama podcast with Jo's wife Vee Torres. "We’ve come a long way since we were 18," Kailyn wrote on X after attending Jo and Vee's 2018 wedding. "I couldn’t ask for a better stepmom for isaac." 

Kailyn's second son Lincoln joined the squad in November 2013, roughly a year after the then-star of Teen Mom 2 wed his father Javi Marroquin. 

Splitting in late 2016, their relationship has been rocky at times, with Javi and girlfriend Lauren Comeau—already parents to son Eli—announcing in December 2023 that they were expecting their second child together, a girl.  

Though Kailyn welcomed sons Lux and Creed with boyfriend Chris Lopez during their on-and-off romance, they eventually called it quits for good. 

"Right now, we don't communicate at all," she revealed to E! News in 2020. "I'm hoping that it will get better with time but I don't have a big vision. I don't have anything negative to say. I hope for our kids that everything works itself out in whatever direction that may be." 

With current boyfriend Elijah Scott, Kailyn finally feels she has a strong foundation. "It's been very different from my other partners and my kids' other dads," she told People of Elijah, dad to her son Rio and twins Verse and Valley. "He pours concrete, he gets down and dirty at work. But he's also just a real family man. He's very, very much connected with his own family, with our family, and so he's been a really good partner to me, and I feel like it's a really good match."

But she's not ready to head down the aisle just yet. "He's been pushing for it," admitted Kailyn. "But I've already kind of done marriage once and I f--ked it up royally. So I'm a little hesitant."

Though Indiana-based Jade Cline and Sean Austin had more than their share of ups and down since welcoming daughter Kloie in 2017, in January 2022 Jade teased to fans that they were on the rise. 

"There were some major, major things that happened with our lives and major improvements that happen with Sean's life as well and with his future," she told E! News. "I'm really proud of him and where we are today." Eight months later, the pair announced their engagement, marrying in October 2023. 

"I know for sure my relationship isn't always perfect," Jade told E! News in 2024. "But we love each other and we make it work."

California natives Ashley Jones and Bar Smith wed in 2021—four years after they welcomed daughter Holly. And while the pair has publicly called off their romance several times, they still appear to be together. 

Years after 16 and Pregnant star Briana DeJesus and Devoin Austin II welcomed their daughter Nova in 2011, they flirted with giving their romance another shot. 

These days, however, Briana told E! News in 2024, "I want a man man, I don't want a little boy that I've been so used to dating back in the past."

After starring on the single season of Teen Mom 3, Briana joined the cast of Teen Mom 2 in its eighth season, and gave birth to her second daughter, Stella, with ex-boyfriend Luis Miguel, on July 2017.

Since then, Luis' involvement has been spotty at best. "I think he wants a family with me," Briana explained to Dr. Drew in a December 2019 Teen Mom 2 episode, "and since I'm not giving that to him, he just wants to stay away completely."

Shortly after celebrating their one-year anniversary at a tropical destination in 2019, Briana called it quits with then-boyfriend John Rodriguez. 

To put it bluntly, she shared in an episode of the MTV hit, she simply stopped loving him. "It sucks because I kicked him to the curb," she noted, "but he didn't fight to be with me either. I wanted him to fight for me but he didn't."