Credit: Instagram, MTV
Jenelle Evans‘ son, Jace Evans, has been checked into a mental health facility following a “troubled teen disturbance” on February 22 at the North Carolina home of his grandmother, Barbara Evans, where he’s been living for the past eight months.
As the 34-year-old Teen Mom 2 alum was reportedly enjoying her life in Las Vegas after an apparent reconciliation with her controversial ex-husband, David Eason, 37, in January, seven cops responded to the home. And due to the seriousness of the incident, her 16-year-old son was transferred to treatment shortly thereafter.
According to a March 10 report from TMZ, the incident involved Jace allegedly pulling out a gun and putting it to his head and then threatening to kill himself and his grandma, Barbara.
Barbara was reportedly so disturbed by the incident that she told Jenelle. Barbara then called the cops on February 27 to report the incident. Since this incident, Jace has been placed in a mental health facility with no details on how long he will remain there.
Although Jenelle and Barbara’s custody battle over Jace was a long-running storyline on Teen Mom 2, sources told the outlet that they were on the same page in wanting Jace to get the help he needed.
“At this time, we have no comment on the matter. We’re unable to discuss this issue because it involves confidential personal matters,” a rep for Jenelle told TMZ.
News of Jace being checked into treatment comes on the heels of leaked text messages between him and Jenelle in which he mentioned alleged abuse involving David. While Jenelle insisted at the time that the messages were taken “out of context,” an additional report from The Ashley’s Reality Roundup on Monday has suggested that Jenelle’s reported reunion with David was what prompted the February 22 incident.
After noting that Jenelle had sold the treatment story to TMZ, the outlet reminded readers that David was facing felony criminal charges stemming from potential child abuse and his alleged strangulation of Jace in 2023.
“[Jace was] infuriated to find out that Jenelle was back with David,” an insider told The Ashley on March 9. “When Jace found out from reading it online that his mom was back with David, he flipped out. Jenelle didn’t even tell him herself, he had to read it on the Internet.”
“Jace was very upset, and Barbara called Jenelle about it and told her,” the source continued. “That’s when cops were called and Jace was taken to a local hospital.”
The insider went on to say that Jenelle was up in arms due to Jace’s potential testimony against David.
“Now that Jenelle is back with David she doesn’t want him to end up convicted of the crimes,” the source said. “Jenelle asked that Jace be committed to a facility long-term. She wants Jace to be institutionalized. She is also, as an alternative if long-term commitment can’t happen, trying to get the court to allow her male friend in North Carolina to get Jace. It makes absolutely no sense.”
After noting that Jenelle had allegedly been saying she’s “done with” Jace and “doesn’t want anything to do with him,” the insider confirmed that Jace “doesn’t want anything to do with Jenelle now either.”
Meanwhile, a second source spoke of Jenelle’s life in Las Vegas.
“All this time, Jenelle is portraying that she is just giving Jace ‘his privacy’ and acting involved in his life, but in reality she put him in the hospital and doesn’t want him speaking out. He had every right to get upset that his mom is back with the man she promised Jace and the other kids she’d never go back to,” the insider stated. “While Jace was in the hospital, she was out with David in Vegas, going out to eat, having him take her OnlyFans photos and enjoying life, while the child that gave her fame and everything is suffering. He’s furious and rightfully so.”
In addition to the two sources, Jenelle’s estranged sister, Ashleigh Evans, who remains close to Barbara, spoke out against her on X.
“I’m sick and tired of my sister selling stories with her lowlife friends for cash making lies about my family especially the children drama everyone’s so tired of her. She needs a real reality check,” Ashleigh wrote in one of several messages. “There’s no arguing w/an evil POS sister. I just thought I’d get my point across before the Internet talks badly about my nephew. It really affects him emotionally. It’s not fair to him, if he speaks out, my sister will retaliate like always.”
“This is what she does,” she continued in another post. “She was mad when my mother had her stroke sat in my mother’s driveway for a couple hours cause my nephew Jace did not want to go with her so what did she do? Sell the story [to] TMZ.”
“My nephew wants nothing to do with my sister Jenelle because of what his mother has done to him and betrayed him,” Ashleigh added, confirming that Barbara is “furious right now.”
“Jenelle canceled his medical insurance last year abandoned him refused to do medical treatment for him while [he was] living with my mom,” Ashleigh went on. “Other family has medical insurance for him because Jenelle refuses to step up and be a mom. She abandoned him such a shame.”