Jenelle Evans is back on the small screen, and back in the spotlight.
Years after getting fired by MTV, the polarizing reality star returned to the Teen Mom franchise on Thursday night, touching down in Florida on an episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter to spend time with Briana DeJesus.
“I definitely have to get a fresh start and get out of North Carolina, so that’s why I’m here,” Jenelle said at one point, referencing her recent split from David Eason.
Jenelle Evans on Teen Mom: The Next Chapter. (MTV)
Evans made it evident during her visit with DeJesus that she chose to (FINALLY!) walk away from Eason after her oldest son, Jace, ran away from hope last fall.
And then accused Eason of strangling him.
Jenelle cited this incident as a “blessing in disguise” only because it enabled her to get a no-contact order between Eason and Jace, which she hopes will keep the teenager safe.
This alleged confrontation wasn’t the first reported example of Eason acting in a violent manner, of course.
He admitted in 2019 to murdering his family’s pet dog… and Evans told a 911 operator a year prior that her husband had broken her collarbone.
Jenelle Evans shares a laugh during an appearance here on MTV. (MTV)
“We separated for a little bit and I moved to Tennessee,” Jenelle told E! News this week of how she reacted to the dog-killing.
“And then I moved back because I realized that if you just leave your house within a marriage, it’s called abandoning your house. So I didn’t want to do that and I had to come back.”
Why did she stick around for so long, though?
Evans didn’t really have an answer on this latest Teen Mom episode, claiming Eason was “mentally abusive” for a lengthy period of time.
Jenelle Evans opens up to Teen Mom: The Next Chapter viewers. (MTV)
“He would throw objects, put holes in walls,” she told DeJesus, adding that Eason could also be “emotionally abusive, saying, ‘Jenelle, go kill yourself, your mother doesn’t even love you. Cry yourself to sleep, bitch.’”
(In his own statement to E!, Eason simply said: “I can not elaborate on any of that at this time but I can tell you that those things did not happen. When the truth does come out you will all be very, very surprised!”)
Eason, who has alleged infidelity on Jenelle’s part, was indicted in January on a child abuse charge related to his altercation with Jace.
Having at last regained custody of her from her mom Barbara Evans in March 2023 after a decade-long fight, “I didn’t want anything, anything to come in between that,” Jenelle now tells E!.
“So for him to come in between that, it was just a real breaking point for me as well. I’ve been at the battle for Jace for years, and it’s like, he’s finally here. So I’m not messing that up.”
Jenelle Evans and David Eason attend the 2016 MTV Movie Awards at Warner Bros. Studios on April 9, 2016 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for MTV)
Evans says she does plan to file to divorce Eason, and maintains that she also plans to relocate her immediate family, which includes son Jace, 14, with ex Andrew Lewis; son Kaiser, 9, with former fiancé Nathan Griffith; and daughter Ember, 7, with Eason.
Said the MTV personality to DeJesus:
“I feel like so much stuff has happened here that it’s like, ‘I’ve got to get out and relocate and get that fresh start, leave all the bad memories behind.”
Teen Mom: The Next Chapter airs Thursdays at 8/7c on MTV.
Jenelle Evans: THIS is Why I Finally Left David Eason! was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.