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'NOTHING BUT LIES!'
TEEN Mom Jenelle Evans' rarely-seen ex-boyfriend Andrew Lewis has broken down in tears over his son Jace in his first-ever interview.
Speaking exclusively to The U.S. Sun, Andrew pleaded to Jenelle, 31- who was granted full custody of Jace last month from her mother Barbara- to see the growing 13-year-old for the first time in years.
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Andrew, now 38, who hasn't seen or spoken to his son since he was just six months old, spoke directly into the camera while he addressed Jenelle and Barbara.
"Jenelle, Barbara, just let me see him, let me see Jace.
"Let me talk to him. Give me something.
"This is no more MTV bull****, this is reality," he pleaded.
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"Stop living on cloud nine and fall the f*** down to reality, because that's where you've been living, I'm not trying to be rude to you," said the distraught dad, who fans first met over a decade ago on MTV's 16 & Pregnant during the Teen Mom star's pregnancy journey.
"Please let me see Jace. That's all I ever wanted.
"Not just me- my family, my cousin, my nephew, my niece, my sister. Just let me see Jace."
Andrew said he has attempted to connect with Jenelle about their son over the years to no avail.
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When asked how he feels about Barbara having had custody of Jace all these years, he said: "How can I feel? I had no contact.
"Nothing but lies. Like, 'Oh yeah, definitely Andrew, you can definitely see your son. Please keep in contact.' F***ing liars. So, how can I feel?"
"When they go on MTV and they said this and that about me, like 'He's never going to talk to us.' You know what, I've tried."
"It makes them look good but not me.
"I'm here to clear my name because there's a lot of s*** that people are judging me, like I'm this crackhead and this piece of s*** guy. No, I'm not.
" It really does bother me. And it's been bothering me for years upon years."
Andrew also slammed MTV and Barbara for her on-camera claims he never showed up to their meeting in NYC to discuss seeing Jace in 2019.
"I went to Florida because my dad had passed away," he claimed, insisting he told MTV producers ahead of time that he would be unable to meet up with Barbara.
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Jace's grandmother, Diana, also spoke to The U.S. Sun about her own attempts to connect with the child over the years.
Diana said she was in touch with Barbara as recently as a few years ago, and that she was told there was a possibility that she could speak with her grandson.
"She told me that she would send me pictures of him and we could have phone calls together. And I thought that was really great.
"I gave her my phone number and address and, well, that was the end of that. I never heard from her.
"I just can't as a grandparent understand. Why would they hold something against me?
"His grandfather went to his grave wanting to see Jace and when Andrew called Jenelle and told her that his daddy had passed away, she got very… I don't even know what the word would be.
"He would have to tell you, and it hurts," Diana said, as Andrew began sobbing over the memory.
He continued: "It still hurts," as he wiped away his tears in the heartwrenching video interview.
Diana continued: "He wants to be part of his life. Everybody does, and they don't want us to and I don't understand. I'm being upfront and honest with you, it hurts."
Andrew said he didn't find out that Barbara no longer had custody of Jace until this week after receiving a court notice about a change in custody tied to his child support.
Despite Andrew's pain and frustration over not being able to see Jace, he said the only thing that truly matters is his son's happiness.
"As long as my son is happy. That's all I care about. That's all that matters, period. If Jace is happy with Jenelle, that's cool."
JENELLE GETS CUSTODY
Last month the former Teen Mom star said: "My mom and I decided together to grant full custody back to me because we want to build our relationship back as mother and daughter."
“Also, my mother agrees it’s time for Jace to be back with his siblings and living with a mother and father."
Jace will live with his mom and her current husband, David Eason, 34.
The Teen Mom star continued: “She also thinks it’s important for Jace to be around a father figure to learn ‘boy things’ and have ‘men talk.’ She has seen the way David parents my children and she knows we’re able to handle it."
"We want to all get along for the sake of the children, and like I said before, building back our relationship as mother and daughter. We have officially signed the papers on Thursday, March 16 at the courthouse, it’s a done deal!”
Jenelle gave Jace's custody rights up to her mom shortly after his birth in 2009, after she was charged with marijuana possession and breaking and entering.
The ex-reality TV star was 17 at the time.
She is also the mother to her son Kaiser, eight, whom she shares with her ex, Nathan Griffith.
Her daughter, Ensley, six, is the only child she shares with David, whom she married in 2017.
Jenelle is a stepmom to his daughter Maryssa, 15.
BATTLE WITH BARBARA
The MTV star and her mother Barbara entered a fierce legal battle in 2016 as she tried to regain custody of her son.
She was very vocal about Jace's "out of control behavior" and often said that Barbara was unfit to take care of the child.
In April 2021, The U.S. Sun exclusively obtained North Carolina court papers that stated Jenelle's son set fire to his grandmother's home and has "out of control behavior."
According to the custody filing, Jenelle claimed there had been a “substantial change in circumstances affecting the welfare of the minor child” that warrants a change in the custody agreement.
The former Teen Mom 2 star claimed Jace is “at risk of bodily injury” in the care of his grandmother.
That incident later caused her to file for emergency custody.
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Jenelle claimed Jace has had “increasingly worse behavior problems that cause him to be physically aggressive, out of control and unsafe.”
The YouTuber claimed Barbara told her she “cannot control the minor child’s behaviors.”
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