Ready for some good news from the world of Teen Mom 2? Leah Messer Calvert has quit smoking! Yup, the mother of three says she's officially tobacco-free as of this week, and she couldn't be happier.
We're pleased as punch that the young mom has kicked the cancer sticks, but we have to admit we're a little confused. Why didn't we know Leah smoked? She's the star of a reality show that supposedly showed us her life -- warts and all. Did MTV edit out Leah puffing away on those ciggies?
It's entirely possible.
Leah is not the only Teen Mom with a smoking problem; when I watched Couples Therapy last season, I noted with surprise that Catelynn Lowell was a smoker.
I couldn't recall seeing her smoke on Teen Mom either, and when I asked some other fans of the show to test their memories, none could recall seeing either Catelynn or Leah light up onscreen.
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Now, one could say MTV is just trying to prevent kids from being enticed to smoke at the sight of cigarettes on TV. Study after study has shown that's bad for kids.
Laudable, but odd when you consider the show didn't edit out Jenelle Evans' drug use ... or really any of the myriad bad decisions being made by kids on-screen. It's a show about teenage pregnancy, for crying out loud! The whole point is to show kids this is NOT the path to follow!
So what gives?
No one is naive enough to think that reality TV is truly "reality." But it's more than a little odd when a reality star admits she's a smoker ... and it actually surprises people who have been watching her life on-screen for years.
Either way, kudos to Leah for quitting. This is good news for her AND for her little girls.