Inside The Heartbreaking Letter Amber Portwood Wrote To Her Estranged Daughter

In recent months, "Teen Mom" fans have watched sadly as Amber Portwood has struggled to rebuild a relationship with her daughter, Leah, 12. During a recent episode of the MTV series, Portwood admitted that she hasn't spoken to her daughter in months, per Us Weekly. 

"I feel like I'm never going to win," Portwood said on the show. "I wanted us to have a great coparenting family that I thought we had until it became weird." She claimed that Leah's father, Gary Shirley, "just started acting weird and turning on me." Portwood went on to share her heartbreak over the state of her relationship with her daughter. "This is not [Leah]. She does not ignore me like this," she said. "Even if I take responsibility for every single wrongdoing I've ever done, it just feels like it's never enough."

She concluded that all she can do is apologize to Leah for any transgressions and attempt to move forward with their relationship. But she added a caveat: "I can't sit here and have her think things that aren't true about me because I'm her mother." 

Portwood later decided that she wanted to write a letter to Leah to apologize yet again for the mistakes she's made in the past. She then went on to pen an emotional note to her daughter, which she read on camera. "I've written a letter to her explaining how much I want our real relationship back that we used to have," she said. "I'll record it for her to see." 

Portwood then asked Shirley to share the video with their daughter.

People reports that Gary Shirley and his wife, Kristina, did share Amber Portwood's video with Leah. She read the letter through tears on camera: "To my beautiful daughter. I'm so proud of the young lady you've become. I know I've missed some very important times in your life. Times that a mother should not miss, while I was still trying to understand my own life. I am so sorry for the things I did that kept us apart. I never ever wanted to hurt you. I think about you every day. I will never stop trying to mend our relationship no matter what it takes. I will always love you. You are my heart no matter what."

After watching the video, Leah admitted that she didn't know how to respond. "I'm sure we had good memories, but I couldn't tell if the crying was fake so I really don't know what to think of it. I don't know if I can forgive her. Especially not now," Leah told her father. 

"She was making videos and stuff, and I didn't like it," Leah said, referring to an Instagram video in which Portwood called Shirley's wife, Kristina, a "homewrecker." Leah added, "I love Kristina, and she tried to hurt somebody I love. I can't love somebody who tried to hurt somebody I love."

It seems that Portwood has a lot of work to do to mend the rift with Leah, but she's dedicated to trying and has even asked to attend therapy with her oldest child. Only time will tell if mother and daughter will reunite.