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‘Teen Mom’ Star Amber Portwood’s Fiancé Gary Wayt Reported Missing, Police Investigating


Amber Portwood‘s fiancé is missing, and police in North Carolina are on the case.

The Teen Mom OG star reported her fiancé, Gary R. Wayt, missing to the Bryson City Police Department on Monday. According to an incident/investigation report obtained by ET, Wayt was last seen on Sunday at around 6 p.m. at a nearby hotel. Portwood, 34, and Wayt, 39, live together in Indianapolis, Indiana, per the incident report. The case remains active.

The Bryson City PD on Tuesday posted photos of Wayt on Facebook in a public plea for his whereabouts. He was last seen driving a gray 2009 Nissan Rogue with Indiana state registration. Anyone with information is asked to call Bryson City PD and ask for Chief Robinson or Assistant Chief Dover.

Portwood and Wayt recently got engaged. Us Weekly reported, citing a source, that the proposal took place “within the last two weeks” and that the engagement ring Wayt used to pop the question was crafted from “a family stone that was reset into a new ring.”

The outlet reported in January that they met on a dating app some four months prior.

Portwood first earned fame after taking part in the MTV docuseries 16 and Pregnant, which chronicled her teen pregnancy with then-boyfriend Gary Shirley. They share 15-year-old daughter, Leah, whose upbringing has also been documented in a number of MTV spinoffs, including Teen Mom (later Teen Mom OG) and Teen Mom: Family Reunion. Shirley would later marry Kristina Anderson in 2015 and they share a daughter, Emilee. Shirley and Anderson were also featured on Teen Mom and they have an amicable relationship with Portwood.

The Bryson City Police Department’s Facebook post announcing Amber Portwood’s fiancé, Gary Wayt, is missing.Bryson City Police Department

The shows also documented Portwood’s struggles with domestic violence, substance abuse, and depression, and she spent time behind bars for nearly two years following a domestic violence incident with Shirley. In January 2021, Portwood told ET that she sat Leah down and had a tough conversation with her about her her past.

“She’s very smart, straight A student. I’m very proud of her,” Portwood said at the time. “She’s had many questions, and I’ve answered as many as I can that I feel is appropriate for her age.”  

Portwood would welcome a second child, 6-year-old son James, with her ex, Andrew Glennon, in May 2018. The relationship also proved to be tumultuous, resulting in Portwood’s arrest for domestic battery in July 2019, when he claimed she came at him with a machete. Portwood denied the allegations.

Following the alleged incident, Glennon moved with James to Malibu after she lost custody.

“I’ll never stop fighting for my children who I love more than anything,” Portwood said in a statement following the judge’s ruling in the contentious custody case. “I’ve been living a nightmare for so long, trying to prove myself. I wouldn’t wish this unbearable pain on any mother or father.”

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