“Teen Mom” alum Amber Portwood is pleading for information about fiancé Gary Wayt, who went missing earlier this week shortly after the two reportedly got engaged.
“My fiancé is missing right now, and we don’t know where he is,” the 34-year-old said tearfully Tuesday during a livestream on the Elle Bee YouTube channel. “He is missing. This is a huge deal. His parents, everybody is very worried. I’m worried. … We are very scared right now.”
She described their last conversation before Wayt disappeared as “emotional.”
The Bryson City Police Department in North Carolina posted a missing person alert for Wayt on Tuesday, describing him as a 39-year-old, 6-foot-1 man with brown eyes who was last seen Sunday in the Arlington Avenue area of Bryson City, located more than 60 miles west of Asheville.
According to Us Weekly and E! News, police located Wayt in Oklahoma via video footage.
Bryson City Police Chief Charlie Robinson told local ABC affiliate WLOS News 13 that Wayt and Portwood were visiting from Indiana for Portwood’s brother’s wedding on June 8 and had also recently gotten engaged.
USA TODAY has reached out to Portwood and Bryson Police for comment.
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Amber Portwood hits back at claims she and her fiancé had a ‘blowout fight’
Portwood made her reality TV debut on MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” and went on to star on six seasons of the spinoff show “Teen Mom” – which was later renamed “Teen Mom OG” – from 2009 to 2017. For more than a decade, she has faced legal issues due to domestic violence and drug possession.
The former MTV star claimed people were speculating online that the couple had an explosive argument before Wayt went missing. “There was not a big blowout fight or anything like that, OK?” she said. “I am not what people have been saying about me all of these years. I changed a long time ago.”
She added, “We have not had explosive fights; we are very in love. This man asked me to be with him. This man then asked me to marry him. I have not touched this man in any horrible way. He does not touch me in any horrible way. We do not yell at each other. We have a wonderful relationship.”
Portwood, who called Wayt “the love of my life,” pleaded, “Please don’t just make up stories and think that something happened when it comes to me and him. We have a beautiful relationship. … This is the first time in my life that I’ve had a good man.”
Amber Portwood’s troubles with domestic violence, drug possession
In 2011, Portwood pleaded guilty to domestic battery following an incident involving her partner at the time, Gary Shirley. Shirley is her 15-year-old daughter Leah’s father.
She ultimately served time in prison for violating her probation terms and graduated from the Clean Lifestyle Is Freedom program during her sentence, she told Indiana’s The Herald Bulletin in 2015.
“In any 12-step program, you learn that you have to change your people, places and things. When I got out of prison I stayed with my grandmother for a little while. I needed to change everything. I didn’t hang out with my old friends. I didn’t go to the same places,” she said at the time.
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Then in October 2019, Portwood pleaded guilty to two felony charges of domestic battery and intimidation and was sentenced to probation. Police had claimed several months earlier that she’d swung a machete at boyfriend Andrew Glennon while he was holding their son, James, who was 1 year old at the time.
“This is not about my past. It’s not about the show. It’s about this person is missing. His family is hurting; I am hurting so bad. This is my love,” she said in the Elle Bee livestream on Tuesday. “Don’t worry about me; I am stable. I’ve been stable for years now, OK? I’ve been stable. Do not think the worst.”
Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
