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Reality tv stars can make it seem like they are living lavishly. On top of the fame that comes with being on the tv show, they are usually paid. But when it comes to the cast of Teen Mom, the paychecks might not go as far as you would think. According to Farrah Abraham’s mom, the money coming in actually turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing for most of the girls on the show.

Farrah Abraham and Debra Danielsen
Farrah Abraham and Debra Danielsen | Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

How much does the cast of ‘Teen Mom’ make?

Most of the women who appear on Teen Mom started out on 16 and Pregnant. At the time, the girls were not paid that much for appearing on the show. Amber Portwood revealed that she was only paid $5,000 for her episode.

The salaries for Teen Mom cast members vary. Briana DeJesus came onto the show in 2017 and was only paid $20,000 for the season. Her low salary was likely due to the fact that she was a newcomer to the show.  Other more veteran stars of the show earned much more. Court documents revealed that former cast member Jenelle Evans was making $400,000 dollars in her last year on Teen Mom 2.

The stars can’t handle the money

Abraham hasn’t been involved with the Teen Mom franchise since 2017 but her mom Debra Danielsen has had an inside look at how the franchise pays the cast and how the women handle their money.

“I’m not trying to be negative, but I just really feel like the whole show needs to be reformatted,” she told Heavy. “My daughter is the only one who has gone on and who has the vision to do professional development to the point where she can actually go out and be self-sufficient. She’s the only one not continuing to reproduce.”

According to Danielsen, a lot of the women on the show owe the IRS a lot of money.

“They weren’t taught how to handle their money properly,” she said. “I think we need to be more realistic… Because let’s face it, these are women who are almost 30 now. And it’s a different world. It’s more like Real Housewives now.”

Danielsen thinks that the problem lies largely with MTV and the lack of business support the network offers the women.

“When they set up businesses nobody tells them how to take care of their taxes and stuff,” she said.

“I’m not knocking anybody because I love all of these people, so I don’t mean it in a bad way,” she continued. “But I think the cold, hard fact of the matter is they don’t have good counsel from a business perspective.” 

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How much debt are the ‘Teen Mom’ stars in?

Over the past few years, it has come out that several of the big names in the franchise are in a lot of debt with the IRS. In February 2016, Portwood had a federal tax lien filed for $134,919.21, according to Radar Online.

In June, Evans reportedly was pinned with a tax lien of $46,406 to North Carolina for taxes in 2017, according to The Sun. Leah Messer also received a federal tax lien for $123, 841 in July of last year, according to the outlet.

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