Maci Bookout is offering her pal, Amber Portwood, a shoulder to lean on amid her fiancé Gary Wayt’s recent disappearance.
“Maci is planning to go to North Carolina to be with Amber,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “Amber is alone and it’s a difficult situation that she’s been dealing with on her own for the last few days — and she really needs a friend.”
The insider adds that Bookout, 32, “wants to be there” to give Portwood, 34, “support” while the search for Wayt continues.
Bookout has been by Portwood’s side over the years for all her highs and lows. The duo have been friends for years as they both made their reality TV debuts on 16 and Pregnant before starring on Teen Mom together since its 2009 premiere. They remained on the series as it rebranded as Teen Mom OG and its new counterpart Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, which began in 2022.
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Us confirmed on Tuesday, June 11, that Wayt was reported missing out of Bryson City, a small town in North Carolina. According to a source, the couple were in town to celebrate a family wedding.
“They were spending several days in the Smoky Mountains,” the insider shared with Us. “On Sunday, June 9, they had a conversation that turned emotional. Gary left in the car without her and in the process, he left his cell phone behind.”
The source added Portwood has been “beside herself and worried about him” as he “should have been home by now.”
One day later, Portwood broke her silence about Wayt going missing.
“This is a huge deal, his parents, everybody is very worried. I am worried,” Portwood, 34, said in a YouTube stream on internet personality Elle Bee’s channel on Tuesday, June 11. “There was not a big blowout fight or anything like that. He is a missing person right now.”
Worried sick, Portwood jumped in the stream to express her concerns as she’s lost sleep and barely eaten since Wayt disappeared.
“I am not what people have been saying about me all of these years. I changed a long time ago, OK, you have to understand this. Please listen to what I am saying, I am an honest person to you guys,” she said. “We have not had explosive fights. We are very in love, this man asked me to be with him, this man then asked me to marry him.”
Portwood noted that while she was currently “alone,” she has “many people I have made contact with” and was trying her “best to keep it together.”
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Since she went to police to report Wayt missing, Portwood has not left North Carolina and asked if anyone has any information about her fiancé’s whereabouts to come forward.
Portwood’s ex Gary Shirley, with whom she shares 15-year-old daughter Leah, also spoke out to aid in finding Wayt.
“We need to find this man @carolebaskincat @kristina_shirley3,” Shirley, 37, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, while tagging Tiger King’s Carole Baskin and his wife, Kristina. “
Prayers for a safe return. #findgary.”
Anyone with information on Wayt’s whereabouts is asked to call local police at 828-488-2196 and ask for Chief Robinson or Asst. Chief Dover.
With reporting by Andrea Simpson
