Farrah Abraham is no stranger to drama. Amid the Teen Mom star’s $5 million lawsuit against MTV’s parent company, Viacom, it’s been revealed that she was replaced on Teen Mom OG by Mackenzie McKee.
Last year Abraham was cut from the remainder of Teen Mom OG’s seventh season. She claims she was fired due to her decision to continue working in the adult film industry, so she is suing Viacom and the Teen Mom production team. Abraham filed complaints of harassment, wrongful termination based upon gender discrimination, and retaliation based upon gender discrimination.
“I am here to make a change for the LGBT and female community at large, and I’m proud I stay true to my identity as a business entrepreneur, reality star, and single mother,” she told E! News. “I am a businesswoman and female celebrity leader who will not be shamed or discriminated against by Viacom, MTV, my peers, as it’s illegal for me to do the same to them.”
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Viewers were introduced to Abraham in 2009 on MTV’s 16 and Pregnant. She was ultimately cast on the spinoff series, Teen Mom, which premiered that December. She was a 17-year-old cheerleader from Council Bluffs, Iowa, who got pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, Derek Underwood.
Tragically, Underwood was killed in a car accident in December 2008, when she was eight months pregnant. In her book, My Teenage Dream Ended, she wrote that they were broken up at the time of the accident but called him “my first love, my only true love.” Talking with Bethenny Frankel in 2013, Abraham said she would have married Underwood had he not died. “I probably wouldn’t be where I am if I had that life,” she said.
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To say it’s been a bumpy road for Abraham since the show’s premiere would be an understatement.
In 2010, Abraham’s mother, Debra Danielson, was charged with assault for hitting her. Their volatile relationship has been a storyline on the reality show over the years, with the pair being estranged on and off. Abraham starred on each of the show’s four seasons before it ended in 2012. However, she had no intention of fading from the spotlight.
In March 2013, she was arrested for DUI in Nebraska, blowing a .147 during a field sobriety test. Ultimately, she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months of probation and fined $500. The following month, it was reported that a sex tape of Abraham was being shopped around. The sex tape was actually a professionally shot video for Vivid Entertainment that she made with porn star James Deen.
“I have no relationships, and I’m, like, sad sometimes,” she explained to Entertainment Tonight. “So taking all this into consideration, which some find it hard to, that’s what brought me here today. I felt this was my way of embracing my sexuality and being happy for me.”
Abraham made $1 million off her deal with Vivid, and Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom was released that spring. Two months later, she entered rehab for alcohol abuse.
“At this time in my life, I need to stay focused on the positive to get through all of the negative that a DUI has caused in my life,” she said in a July 2013 statement. “I’m 22, and I want to make better choices and ensure I can recognize when I am putting myself in a bad situation next time.”
Abraham was a staple at strip clubs and porn conventions following the release of her tape. During this time, she said she surrounded herself with the “wrong type of people” while making these promotional appearances that she claims put her in unsafe situations.
“I was drugged and raped more than once. It was a dark time,” she told In Touch in 2014. She later named James Deen as being one of these men.
Abraham claimed the two had a casual relationship, but that he was “abusive, pushy, and manipulative” throughout.
“James Deen raped me for his benefit of fame. He conspired against me with others that I thought were my friends at the time, and that was very hurtful,” she told the Daily Mail in 2015. Abraham came forward after more than a dozen women accused Deen of rape and alleged he drugged her at some point during a sexual encounter. “I don’t know if he just drugged women to take advantage of them or what was going on. I experienced extreme anger problems and abusive behavior from Deen. … He treated me like he wanted to break me and ruin my career as a reality star-celebrity, as many witnessed. I no longer wanted to be around him.” (Deen has denied all claims against him.)
Abraham was not deterred from that world, however. She had a stint working at Austin strip club Palazio Gentlemen’s Club, where she claimed to be doing “research.”
“In the same way Jennifer Aniston researched her role as a stripper, that’s what I’m doing. It’s how I get the information to write my books and do my movies,” she told E! News. Abraham released an erotic trilogy series as well as a line of sex toys. She also found a way to stay on TV. She starred on Celebrity Big Brother and Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars Family Edition before coming home to MTV in 2015 on Teen Mom OG. That run has clearly come to an end.
It remains to be seen what will come of her lawsuit, but as always, it never seems we’ve heard the last from Farrah Abraham.