Maci Bookout Addresses Backlash After Putting 11-Year-Old Son Bentley On Strict Diet

“Teen Mom OG” star Maci Bookout responded to backlash she received following Tuesday’s new episode of the show, where she was seen focusing on son Bentley’s weight.

Explaining that wrestling has “been a great outlet” for the 11-year-old boy following his father Ryan Edwards’ addiction issues, Maci said that he had to “stick to a diet to make his weight class.”

As Bentley said he was “hungry” after a training session, Maci told him he had to eat a salad. “He weighs like 75, so now he’s on a very strict, good healthy calorie diet,” she explained. “1,000 calories a day,” added Bentley.

She later looked upset when he told her he had a muffin and chocolate milk for breakfast, worrying he would weigh more than 75 pounds and wouldn’t make it into his preferred weight class. However, he weighed in at “72 on the dot,” wrestled with the under-75 group and came in third place.

In Maci’s mind, wrestling is “the one thing he has control of” in his life. “It’s only him on the mat, it’s only him pushing himself in practice, it is the one thing he can control,” she said.

Viewers, however, thought she was being too controlling of his eating habits and setting a bad example. On Twitter, she responded to some of the backlash.

“In reference to tonight’s episode – I have never and will never convince Bentley to ‘cut’ weight,” she tweeted. “After wrestling his first 2 tournaments in the 75lb class weighing in at 72-he came to me & said he wanted to wrestle at 70. I told him that’s fine, but you WILL NOT ‘cut’ weight.”

“I will lay out a healthy scheduled diet for u, u can eat salads, grilled chicken, veggies, good carbs-instead of pizza, doritos & candy bars,” she continued. “Through the season, he decided he didn’t like it-I told him that’s okay! U can go back to usual and wrestle at 75 which is what he did.”

She also said that her brother was a wrestler in college and “grew up around the sport,” giving her “a bit of knowledge in the sport and healthy weight maintenance.”

During the episode, Maci’s ex seemed to agree with many of her social media critics.

“I thought wrestling was about technique … why aren’t you trying to gain weight?” Ryan asked Bentley at one point. “You’re gonna stunt your growth and when it’s time to get bigger, you’re going to be a late bloomer and it’s going to suck for you.”

Speaking with his wife Mackenzie, he added, “I hope he quits cutting weight and just wrestles. He just doesn’t want to do it because there’s a few people that are really good in that weight class.”

While he said Bentley could worry about his weight class in high school and college, Ryan believed “it can’t be healthy” to focus on it now. “Somewhere he’s around somebody like that, that has brainwashed him to make him believe they know everything,” he added.

As Mackenzie said it was a “dangerous” behavior, Ryan added, “I just gotta walk away before I get real upset. It’ll be ugly.”

“Teen Mom OG” airs Tuesdays on MTV.