Bristol says she feels like a "punching bag" during an explosive fight with her husband.
When Bristol Palin told her family and friends that her life is "frickin' not perfect at all" during her "Teen Mom OG" debut, she meant it.
With Farrah Abraham out of the MTV series over her connections to the adult entertainment industry, Sarah Palin's daughter -- who welcomed her first child shortly after her 18th birthday -- was picked to take her slot in the new season. And as Monday's premiere made clear, it's not smooth sailing for her on the home front.
To catch you up: Palin welcomed her first child, Tripp, with ex Levi Johnston in 2008. That relationship didn't work out, but beginning in 2014, she began seeing former Marine Dakota Meyer. They welcomed daughter Sailor in 2015, married in 2016 and had a second kid together, daughter Atlee, in 2017.
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View StoryThough the two got divorced earlier this year, they hadn't yet when they started filming the MTV series. This season will clearly show why the two called it quits, as Bristol says right off the bat that her husband's PTSD has been "hard on our marriage." Meyer received the Medal of Honor after 2009's Battle of Ganjgal, where he witnessed the deaths of his entire team.
When the premiere kicked off, the two were on separate getaways. While they lived together in Austin, Bristol was off in Arizona with her mom celebrating her sister Piper's bachelorette party, while Dakota took the kids to see his parents in Kentucky.
"What am I going to tell people when they're like, 'Why are you on the show?'" she asked about doing 'Teen Mom' to her friends. "I life is frickin' not perfect at all. My shit stinks up and down, sideways, whatever." She said she hopes her story "resignates" with viewers at home. Her word, not ours.
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View StorySpeaking with his father and the show's producers, Dakota talked about joining the Marines. "When I joined it was 110% that you will be going to war soon," he said. "Joining, I could have never knew what I was getting into. You can say, 'Yeah, I'm ready to get shot at,' but you're talking at a 17 year old kid."
"We got in a big gunfight and everybody with me is dead," he continued. "When I first came home, train wreck is not even, that's an understatement. Anxiety got me real bad." He added that his kids are the "reason I get up every day," saying they "add to the quality of life, they're everything."
When the two finally reunited in Austin, things were very tense between them. "I can tell something is bothering Dakota, he seems quiet and agitated," she said in a confessional.
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View StoryAfter she asked what was wrong, he laid it all out, as their kids sat in the backseat of the car. "My anxiety has been going nuts, it's been crushing me, I've been having nightmares," he told her. "I've tried to tell you over and over and asked you for help a thousand times. All you want to do is tell me all the things that are wrong with me and all the things I do wrong when I have anxiety."
"It's hard for me to have compassion in these situations because you keep pulling the rug from underneath me," Brisol replied.
Dakota explained he was frustrated she'd ask what was wrong when she already knows the answer, adding that he's been "seeing my dead guys every morning when I wake up." Speaking with the show's producers later, Bristol said she was frustrated because she understands his anxiety, "but it doesn't justify the things between us."
"What she doesn't understand is it's two years for her, it's been since September, 8 2009 for me," he shot back. "She acts like it's a choice that I live with it, it's a choice I have anxiety. I just need your help in these moments."
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View StoryAcknowledging that he does say "mean things" to his wife, Dakota added, "as soon as I do and I recognize it, I tell her I'm sorry, I tell her it's my anxiety, I tell her I love her."
Bristol, however, said she was tired of being his "punching bag" and questioned whether "this is his service" to blame "or this is just him being a dick." That comment really set off Meyer.
"End of the day, I watched my whole f--king team die on September 8, 2009. There's not one day I don't wake up and I don't see those guys, listening to them screaming on the radios," he said. "I gotta sit here and listen to her saying its a f--king excuse? I don't know what's PTSD or what's not?"
"You wonder why I go off the rails and why it gets amplified and all I want her to do is love me and be there for my scars," he continued. "And I still get up and pay the bills and I still be a good father, and I'm still trying to be a good husband. It's not like I go to hotel rooms and lock myself in for a week and drink or beat my wife."
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View StoryHe then accused her of telling a marriage counselor that sometimes, when he can't sleep at night, she'll "just lay in bed and wait for him to blow his f--king head off." She said that was a false narrative, adding she didn't say it "like that."
"It's a fact that you said it and it's bullshit," he responded. "You worry about my killing myself. It's bullshit!"
The episode ended with him walking out the door.
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View StoryThings weren't going so smoothly for most of the other couples on the show either. Here's what went down:
Maci Bookout, her husband and their kids ended up getting a restraining order against her ex, Ryan Edwards after he allegedly made threatening comments. Their son Bentley wasn't covered under the order, however, so he could still see his own son. "We didn't want to shut the door on Ryan's ability to be a parent," she explained. "If he wants to show up and be a dad, he can. If he doesn't, it's not because we weren't allowing it."
Catelynn Lowell returned to treatment for anxiety and only appeared via Facetime calls with Tyler Baltierra and their daughter Nova. Tyler struggled with being a single father in her absence, explaining to his mother and his therapist that he was "losing sympathy and empathy" for his wife and was starting to feel exhausted.
Amber Portwood, however, was living her best life. She welcomed a baby, son James, with new boyfriend Andrew Glennon at the top of the episode. Everything was also "civil" with her other baby daddy, Gary. She did express regret for not being in as good a place when daughter Leah was born, and credited Andrew with saving her. Andrew revealed he's also been shopping for engagement rings.
"Teen Mom OG" airs Mondays on MTV.