Jenelle Evans, one of the stars of MTV's Teen Mom 2, has had a notably tumultuous relationship with her firstborn son, Jace. Evans gave birth to Jace when she was just 18 years old, and was never able to give up her party girl image to take care of him.
Evans constantly relied on her mom Barbara to take care of Jace, and even found herself in and out of jail. Jace's father, Andrew Lewis, was never in the picture, so it was down to Barbara to take care of the little boy.
In 2011, Jenelle signed over full custody of Jace to Barbara. She admitted that she wasn't able to raise Jace herself, and didn't want to go through the courts for a custody battle like Barbara had threatened.
"When you [Barbara] kicked me out, I realized I can't take care of Jace on my own yet because I can't even support myself," Evans admitted. "I am going to start making changes, but I'm just going to sign over custody because I don't want to go through [court hearings] just to get the final decision from a judge."
Jenelle later wrote in her book that Barbara had "tricked" her into giving up custody.
One night my mother convinced me to go out with my friends so I could relax. My mother. Wanted me to relax. I took the bait, however, and went out for the evening with Tori.My mother had called [Child Protective Services] and told them I was out partying all night and left my son at home.
She told them I did this pretty much every night, which was a lie. I tried to tell them she told me to go out, but they wouldn't listen. They gave my mother temporary custody in light of my actions.
My mother had set me up and I had fallen hard for it.
Since giving up custody of Jace, Evans has given birth to two more children. She shares son Kaiser with ex-fiancee Nathan Griffith, and daughter Ensley with husband David Eason. Barbara still holds primary custody of Jace, but the family tries to make it work.
"I make sure that I get Jace every weekend and have Kaiser every other weekend," Evans explained. "During that time, [Jace] is constantly around all the kids and family until he goes back to my mom's on Sunday nights. I have also been trying to take family photos lately of everyone together. I don't want anyone to feel excluded from our family."
But a recent scene from Teen Mom 2 has Evans calling her mom's parenting abilities into question. Barbara and Jace were discussing a recent visit at his mom's house, and Barbara asked Jace about Kaiser.
"They put Kaiser in day care?" Barbara asked. "He couldn't come on the boat? That breaks my heart."
Jace replied, "They're pieces of sh*t. Mommy and David are pieces of sh*t!"
Jace then spat on the ground to emphasize his point.
Evans obviously heard the comments, and tweeted that her mom having custody is what led to Jace's behavior.
If Jace lived with me he wouldn't have ever spoke those words about ANYONE. Thought me and my mom were actually building our relationship lately and now it's two steps back. 🤷ðŸ»"♀ï¸ðŸ˜ž
— Jenelle Eason (@PBandJenelley_1) July 7, 2018
She also responded to a Twitter user who said that you have to "give respect to earn it" and that Evans left her son.
"I never f--king left my child. We treat the children like gold compared to what I grew up with, which Jace is also experiencing. All he sees and hears is everything my mom tells him. Just like Jace being surprised that David actually works and owns a business," Jenelle hit back. "My mom talked so much sh-- about me and David my son doesn't even know me anymore. You can say, 'you and David argue all the time,' but people that know us personally know we are fine, so you can stop repeating rumors."
