I've got to hand it to Amber Portwood. She's proven me completely wrong. See, I thought it couldn't get any worse than plastering a (really bad) tattoo of your daughter's face across your stomach. Or getting arrested for beating up baby daddy Gary Shirley. But now the Teen Mom reality star has served up the ultimate embarrassment for daughter Leah.
She posed naked as a jaybird while her friend took photos of her. And then SHE LET RADAR ONLINE HAVE EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO THEM. Good on Radar for biting. If they hadn't, ya know someone else would have. But what in the name of all that is holy was that girl thinking?
Oh right, that she'd get attention. A friend told Radar that Amber posed like a "pin-up girl," but she draped her hands so that she'd leave a little bit to the imagination. How thoughtful of her! Here she could have just kept all of her clothes on and skipped the photo shoot, leaving EVERYTHING to our imagination. But what's the fun in that? Maybe that her daughter might actually have one less mark against her in life.
We hear Amber makes major bank thanks to her starring role on MTV -- that's what she told the courts recently -- so might we suggest she put at least half of it aside in a trust fund marked "Leah's Psychiatrist Bills"? Because this kid is only 2, and she's already been through the wringer.
By making little Leah a witness to the domestic violence in their house, Portwood put her at risk of developmental delays and stress-related illness. By subjecting her to the back and forth between the couple over custody, both parents have stolen the feeling of safety and security that every kid deserves. And then there is that tattoo. That hideous, almost alien tattoo that is supposed to be Leah's face on Mommy's belly.
I have a hard time telling a mom she has to give up her "sexy" just because she's a mom. I'll give Amber her due. She has a great bod, and she's now over 18. She can make all the sexytime she wants with a camera, and there will be no nasty "child porn" charges to add to the rest of her legal troubles.
But there's something too jarring about that tattoo of a baby's face on her naked stomach plastered on the Internet, don't you think? It's just not sexy to look at Leah on her mom's hip. And if I'm uncomfortable, I can't imagine what it will be like for Leah to Google herself in 10 years and find that picture staring back at her. She may need to break into that shrink fund immediately, if not sooner.
Maybe if Amber was just an everyday mom who hadn't made her kid's life a living hell, I'd give her a little leeway. Maybe if she didn't put them on the Internet. She's legally old enough to say what she wants with her body, and we all know what a sexy boudoir shot can do for your self-esteem! But I think Amber needs to start thinking about Leah at some point here. Her mental health comes first.
What about you? Is it fair to expect Amber to keep her clothes on in public to protect Leah? Check out the photos on Radar and tell us if they bother you too.
Image via MTV