TEEN Mom alum Jenelle Evans ex Nathan Griffith opened up about his struggles with PTSD which left him on disability after serving in the United States Marine Corps.
The 33-year-old father of two, shared harrowing details of his time serving in Afghanastan and said that because of his post-traumatic stress disorder he is currently not working and he is considered “100% disabled.”
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In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Nathan said: “I guarantee you, most people who had to do what we did in Afghanistan wouldn’t survive.”
The former reality star and father to Kaiser, 7, whom he shares with Jenelle, as well as his daughter Emery from a previous relationship, revealed the traumatic day-to-day situations he and his fellow Marines were faced with during their deployment.
“Who wants to be on the streets of Afghanistan picking up bodies? We were dealing with people who were blown up, and then you have to take these bodies in bags to their family members and say ‘Hey, I’m sorry, your husband, father, brother was a suicide bomber.’”
The former Teen Mom 2 star also called on his former employer to get invested in what troops are going through.
“If MTV really wanted to help people, they should focus the stories of the men and women overseas and what they go through once they come home.”
Nathan, who has dabbled in modeling and body building also said that his time on MTV and the notoriety and exposure that was brought with it made him more vulnerable for run-ins with the law, which exacerbated his condition.
“I was dating Jenelle and I was in the spotlight. I would get pulled over all the time, and I have Traumatic Brain Injury on top of PTSD.”
Nathan said that the police confrontations were triggering.
“I would feel threatened, and any military man out there would feel this way, when someone has a gun, your life feels threatened. Especially when the cop puts his hand on the gun- it’s fight or flight.”
He also believes that the police in North Carolina were more aggressive than they needed to be and lacked a common respect for the people they serve.
“I don’t think a lot of cops do that. I don’t think they respect people as people. And they want people to respect them simply for their authority.”
He also lost a best friend, who was a fellow Marine recently. Nathan said the loss “really took a toll” on him.
Nathan said the recent loss of a friend and fellow Marine also made him reflect on how police treat civilians.
He said his friend had once told him that “he didn’t care about rank or anything like that. He said, ‘You respect me as a man first and then as a Marine.’”
CO-PARENTING BETTER
Nathan is now living in Florida but returns to North Carolina for visits with his children.
He recently told The Sun that his formerly contentious relationship with his reality star ex is in a better place as they navigate co-parenting.
Nathan has been enjoying the visitation schedule that he and Jenelle finally agreed to in an out of court settlement in October of 2020.
Nathan also said the 29-year-old former MTV star has recently been stepping up in her role as a mother.
He said: “Jenelle is actually being a mother and she has been actively involving me in my son’s life.”
Nathan said Jenelle has been “extremely kind” to him, and even sent him Kaiser’s first grade photos and made sure he knew where he could order more pictures from.
Not only are things looking up for the previously volatile exes, but Jenelle’s husband David Eason is also now on good terms with Nathan as well.
“The other day, Kaiser told me out of the blue told me, ‘Daddy, do you know David likes you?’ I was shocked. David actually said that I was a good man.”
“Every time I go to their house, David has done nothing but respect me. Maybe there is bad blood in our history- but I’m not going to let what happened in the past ruin what we have right now. I can’t complain.
“They both have been very very respectful towards me. It’s awesome, I love it,” Nathan added.
As part of their agreement, Nathan gets Kaiser for several weeks at the beginning of the summer, and every other weekend, along with a holiday schedule.
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