‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ Star Leah Messer Breaks Down Over Daughter Ali’s Muscular Dystrophy Struggles As She Starts High School
Leah Opens Up About Parenting Challenges as Ali Starts High School
Leah Messer is getting real about the emotional challenges of raising a child with muscular dystrophy as her 15-year-old daughter, Ali, embarks on a new chapter — high school.
In the Teen Mom: The Next Chapter season premiere, Leah breaks down in tears after she and Ali have a difficult conversation about Ali’s reluctance to use her wheelchair at school.
Speaking with TooFab ahead of the season premiere, Leah opened up about the struggles of balancing Ali’s independence while ensuring her safety.
“It’s a challenge. Probably one of the hardest things I’ve gone through this far with being a mom and navigating her having muscular dystrophy,” Leah admitted. “And knowing how to keep her safe, and also allowing her to be independent and get around just like everyone else. … There’s really no answers. You get to be safe.”
Finding the Right Balance
Leah, who shares Ali and twin sister Aleeah with ex-husband, Corey Simms, stressed the importance of physical therapy in maintaining Ali’s strength and mobility.
“The reason why we’ve been able to maintain the strength that she has now is through physical therapy. And really keeping everything kind of stabilized with having muscular dystrophy, but she’s also got a voice, and she can use it,” Leah explained. “And we’re finding balance in all of that because I want her to use her voice and been teaching her, you know, to speak up and use your voice.”
Despite the challenges, Leah said they continue to work through things together as a family. “We’re working through it, and we’ll continue to do that,” she added.
Leah Breaks Down Over Emotional Disagreement
A preview clip from the upcoming season captures a tense moment between Leah and Ali after the teen refuses to bring her wheelchair to a high school football game. Leah ultimately drops Ali and Aleeah off at the event but becomes visibly emotional as she drives away. Overcome with frustration, she pulls over and breaks down in tears, venting to the show’s producers.
Since filming that emotional moment, Leah revealed that Ali has grown “more open” and has been using her wheelchair “more often.”
“I think she’s found ways that work for her, and you’ll see that play out in the season,” Leah told TooFab. “At the beginning of the season, at first, she was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ And then she kind of starts opening up, ‘Okay, I will use it for longer distances.’ And that’s all her dad and I were asking of her—to use it for those long distances and to protect her and keep her safe. And she does. She comes around.”
Navigating the Teenage Years
While Leah acknowledges the progress, she admits the journey is still ongoing. “But it’s a challenge,” she reiterated. “And it still is, even to this day. It can be a challenge.”
She then joked, “She has a teenage brain too, right now.”
Ali was diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy in 2014 at just four years old. Muscular dystrophy is a group of genetic disorders that cause progressive muscle weakening over time.
Catch Teen Mom: The Next Chapter when it premieres Thursday, January 30, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
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Olivia Davis is a Staff Writer at All About The Tea. Olivia’s hobbies include binging Netflix series, and watching Housewives on Bravo. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in History.
