Jenelle Evans Shares Update on Her Kids After Breakup From “Emotionally Abusive” David Eason

Jenelle Evans is getting vulnerable. 

Following her separation from husband David Eason in March, the MTV star—who is mom to sons Jace, 14, and Kaiser, 9, from previous relationships, as well as daughter Ensley, 7, with David—shared an update on how her children are faring.

"They're doing a lot better now that we've separated," she said while chatting with fellow cast member Briana DeJesus during the June 13 episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter. And while she noted she got "full custody" of Jace last year, she admitted, "We did have ups and downs."

And one of those low points was Jace running away from home towards the end of last summer, which Jenelle addressed in the episode. 

"Once CPS got involved and Jace ended up at the hospital," she told Briana, "Jace was like, ‘David strangled me.' And then Jace was allowed to come home, but there's criminal charges on David for strangulation and child abuse. So then I was like, ‘David, he's coming home and you've got to leave. I'm sorry.' This was all a blessing in disguise because it put a no contact order between David and Jace."

In January of this year, David was indicted by a grand jury on child abuse charges stemming from the September incident between him and Jace, which he's denied in posts on social media. The case is still pending. 

Then in May, Jenelle obtained a restraining order against David—the process for which she detailed in the episode.

"I had to write a whole statement," she explained to Briana. "He would throw objects, put holes in walls, emotionally abusive, saying, ‘Jenelle, go kill yourself, your mother doesn't even love you. Cry yourself to sleep, bitch.'"

And in a separate voiceover, the 32-year-old further described the relationship between her and David.

"I felt like I was walking on eggshells," she said. "I felt like I was being reprimanded like a child all the time. I just feel like he didn't treat me like I was his wife. He belittled me a lot. I was sick of it. Mentally abusive, not happy at all."

When asked for comment, David told E! News, "I can not elaborate on any of that at this time but I can tell you that those things did not happen. When the truth does come out you will all be very, very surprised!"

But while Jenelle, as she told E! News in a recent interview, "was over" her relationship "for a long time," there was one specific catalyst that got her to finally walk away from David—gaining full custody of Jace from her mom Barbara Evans in March 2023.

"I didn't want anything, anything to come in between that," Jenelle explained, adding of David, "So for him to come in between that, it was just a real breaking point for me as well. I've been at the battle for Jace for years, and it's like, he's finally here. So I'm not messing that up." 

And instead, Jenelle is only looking forward—and is ready to leave her life in North Carolina behind.

"I feel like so much stuff has happened here," she added to E!, "that it's like, 'I've got to get out and relocate and get that fresh start, leave all the bad memories behind.'"

As for her kids, they're on board. "I can tell their anxiety has gone down a lot, and so has mine," Jenelle told E!. "And they're a lot calmer. I feel like they're not walking on eggshells anymore."

And for more of Jenelle with her kids, keep reading. 

Jenelle Evans celebrated Easter 2023 with her kids Jace, Kaiser and Ensley, as well as now-estranged husband David Eason and his daughter Maryssa.

The Teen Mom alum was joined by her own mother, Barbara Evans, for a Mother's Day celebration in May 2023.

Jenelle hit the slopes with her kids and stepdaughter Maryssa.

Jenelle and her son Jace, who she shares with ex Andrew Lewis, took a dip in the local lake.

Kaiser, whose dad is Jenelle's ex Nathan Griffith, enjoyed the day at the WonderWorks amusement park with mom.

For Halloween 2022, Ensley—who Jenelle shares with her ex David—dressed up as the titular heroine of the 2009 flick Coraline. Meanwhile, Kaiser went trick-or-treating as Freddy Krueger.

The entire family—including Jenelle's mom Barbara and stepdaughter Maryssa—had a blast vacationing in Puerto Rico.

Jenelle captioned this photo with her three kids, "All of momma's ducks in a row."

"He's almost taller than me," Jenelle captioned this mother-son snap with Jace on Instagram. "#GrowingUp."

Jenelle rang in Christmas with Kaiser and Ensley in December 2022.

David and Jenelle celebrated Ensley's 6th birthday in January 2023,.

Jenelle took Kaiser and Ensley to Medieval Times.

Jenelle and David had some fun in the sun with the kids at the beach in August 2022.

In 2022, the family spent Fourth of July hiking North Carolina's Beacon Heights Trail, where David proposed to Jenelle back in 2016. The former MTV star wrote on Instagram, "So happy to share this view/experience with our kids!"

"Wonder where she gets all her sass from," Jenelle joked of her look-alike daughter Ensley. "#Twinning."

"#HappyBirthday to Jace!" Jenelle wrote on Instagram in August 2023. "You're growing into a such polite young man. I'm happy as long as you're happy!"

Jenelle sent her kids back to school in August 2023.