For years, Chelsea Houska was the most popular member of the Teen Mom franchise.
When Chelsea announced that she would be stepping away from the show that made her famous, fans reacted with shock and dismay.
But much to their delight, it turned out that Houska and husband Cole DeBoer had much bigger projects on the horizon.
Chelsea and Cole have landed their own HGTV home improvement show, which is currently filming.
The Houskas have now obtained the sort of mainstream, legitimate stardom that most reality stars only dream of.
The news has led many fans to reflect on just how far Chelsea has come since her early days on MTV.
When we first met her, Chelsea was still entangled with Adam Lind, the father of her eldest daughter Aubree.
Chelsea and Adam’s might have been the most toxic relationship in Teen Mom history, which is really saying something.
Lind subjected Houska to constant threats and verbal abuse, and there was a time when Chelsea’s scenes were the saddest on the show.
At that point, it was difficult to imagine that she would be able to get out of that situation and turn things around.
But that’s exactly what Chelsea did, and a clip that resurfaced on TikTok this week serves as a powerful reminder of how bleak her situation once was.
The scene found Lind berating Houska via text message after finding out that she left their daughter with a babysitter and went out with friends for a few hours one night.
“Heard you went out. Way to be a good mom,” Lind began.
“I want you to feel like the most worthless stupid sh-t in the world,” he continued.
From there, he resorted to one of his favorite tactics, insulting Chelsea’s appearance.
“You better believe it’s so over for the rest of our lives, ya fat stretch mark b-tch,” he wrote.
“Tell me where and when to sign the papers for that mistake.”
On TikTok there was an outpouring of love and support for Chelsea, with many fans stating that they’d never realized how awful her situation had been.
“I really felt for Chelsea when I saw this episode, she didn’t deserve that,” one person wrote.
“Adam never wanted to change his lifestyle for his daughter. He is deflecting his own actions by insulting Chelsea,” another added.
“Adam wins misogynistic king of the world,” a third chimed in.
“So much worse than I remember,” a fourth remarked.
“Poor Aubree. She will inevitably come across this clip one day (if she hasn’t already) and that is going to HURT,” yet another commenter speculated.
These days, Lind has signed over his parental rights, meaning that Chelsea and Cole have sole physical custody of Aubree.
It’s a happy ending for everyone who deserves one (frankly, no one knows or cares what became of Adam), and it’s easy to forget how unlikely it seemed at one point.
Just a few short years ago, Chelsea’a situation seemed rather bleak indeed.
These days, she’s unquestionably the most successful of all the Teen Moms.
It’s no wonder that so many viewers find her story to be a source of inspiration.
