Teen Mom's Kailyn Gets Candid About Her Baby Daddy Jo's Family
As longtime viewers of Teen Mom 2 know, Kailyn Lowry has always had a back-and-forth — sometimes contentious, sometimes not — relationship with her son Isaac's father, Jonathan "Jo" Rivera. Over the years — on both 16 and Pregnant and TM2 — there have been times when things have gotten pretty rough between the two, including numerous mediation battles and barbed comments. Remember when Jo told Kailyn she didn't deserve to be out enjoying the sunlight and instead should be living in a cave? Yikes-o-rama.
Things were also pretty messy when Kailyn lived with Jo and his family while she was pregnant and after she had Isaac in 2010. In fact, the reality star has opened up about the drama that went down when she was living under Jo's parents' roof, particularly when his parents would get involved in their arguments. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty.
Here's what Kailyn had to say about Jo's family.
Kailyn Lowry divulged that living with Jo's parents was 'killing' her
In Kailyn Lowry's 2014 memoir, Pride Over Pity, she went into great detail about what went down at Jo Rivera's parents' home. She and Jo would get into verbal arguments and his parents would insert themselves into the mix, which quickly became disastrous.
"We were never able to resolve our problems on our own," she wrote in the book, (via Teen Mom Talk Now). "Because we were living under their roof, his parents were involved in every spat. As soon as Jo and I raised our voices, [Jo's parents] Janet and Eddie would be there for better or for worse. They would immediately state who was right or wrong in the argument and choose a side."
It was difficult for Kailyn to give up the independence she had before becoming a mom. Per Radar Online, she had to essentially raise herself, given that her mom was dealing with alcoholism. That's why she went to go live with Jo's family in the first place.
"I wanted to be independent and not rely on anyone, just like I had always been in the past," she wrote in her memoir. "The enclosed environment I was living in was close to killing me." She continued, " ... Although I was so grateful for Jo's parents for the support they had given me, there was a part of me that was deeply frustrated by my dependency on them."
How did Jo Rivera's mom react to Kailyn Lowry's memoir?
After the release of Pride Over Pity, Jo Rivera snapped a photo of his mom reading the book. He uploaded the picture to Twitter, much to fans' delight and curiosity. In the image, Janet leaned back against a pillow as she settled in with the memoir in her hands, seemingly about halfway through the book. In a tweet of her own, Kailyn Lowry thanked Jo's mother for reading the memoir, which went on to become a New York Times bestseller, per MTV.
As RealityTea reported, Janet expressed her own feelings about Pride Over Pity on Twitter in a since-deleted tweet, revealing that she was "truly proud" of Kailyn. "Jo knows im (sic) a huge supporter. I am truly proud of Kail n wish her much love n success," she tweeted, including the loving hashtag, "#always in my heart." Maybe she just hadn't read the part about herself yet? (Kail's discussion about Jo's family comes in Chapter 8, "The Persistent Push").
All kidding aside, Janet probably genuinely appreciated Kail telling her own truth, even if it didn't present her in the best light.
Are Jo Rivera's parents involved in Isaac's life?
On 16 and Pregnant and early seasons of Teen Mom 2, Jo Rivera's mom and dad were depicted as loving grandparents to their grandson, Isaac, and they would often appear on Kailyn Lowry's segments. But as time went on, Kail's storyline began to weave into different territory, following her marriage to then-husband Javi Marroquin, her three sons (with another on the way), and her battles with Jo, sans parents.
With no social media presence anymore, Jo's parents have seemingly left the spotlight of reality television, leaving fans of the franchise to wonder what Isaac's relationship with his paternal grandparents is like. While public photos of Jo's parents, Janet and Eddie, with Isaac are few and far between, according to In Touch Weekly, Kail did post a sweet snap of Janet and Isaac back in September 2017. In fact, Janet had come to Isaac's school to celebrate Grandparents' Day.
As for Isaac's relationship with his maternal grandparents, given the fact that Kail hasn't had a relationship with her mother for years (as seen on the show) and her dad's never been in her life, it's safe to assume that her children don't really have a relationship with Kailyn's parents.