Teen mom Amber Portwood makes $280,000 per year from MTV

Mug Shot via TMZ

(HMG Celebrity News) – I guess some consider this good TV?  You take teenagers who are already making poor decisions and give them fame and money to live out their trainwreck lives on reality TV shows and guess what happens?  Their lives get worse.

As you’ll recall, ‘Teen Mom’ star Amber Portwood was in court on Thanksgiving to face charges that she assaulted her boyfriend, Gary Shirley while filming the show. That hearing went badly, and the 20-year old mom was arrested facing two felony counts and a misdemeanor for allegedly hitting Gary in three separate incidents between August 2009 and July of this year – all of which were caught on tape by the MTV crew and in the presence of their young daughter.  Police in her home town of Anderson, Indiana then investigated the assault and filed charges. Prosecutors had no choice but to proceed and she was arrested last Monday.  Amber was also served with a ‘No contact’ order, banning her from seeing her 2-year old daughter, Leah, but has since been reunited. Portwood appeared before Madison County magistrate Steven Clase Tuesday via a video feed from jail for her initial hearing of her domestic violence case and was asked to state her salary. Portwood’s lawyer tried to prevent the line of questioning according to the The Herald Bulletin, but was forced to admit she makes a whopping $140,000 for each six month contract with MTV.  Well that money is gonna come in handy for her legal expenses.

Portwood is also accused of felony neglect of a dependent, which means she could lose custody of the couple’s 2-year-old daughter Leah in a court hearing slated for January 19.  She is facing up to three years in jail and a $10,000 fine if convicted on all charges.  And their may be new charges brought up against Amber.  TMZ has an audio recording of Gary Shirley who has a no-contact order with his baby momma, telling another girlfriend named Ashley that Amber attacked him on Dec. 14, but that Ashley should always say “no comment” to the media.   And get this Gary is heard telling Ashley that in return for her silence, “Maybe one day we can start a family.”  Well depending on whether Ashley happens to be a teenager, that might turn out to be a lucrative offer.