Teen Mom’s Maci Bookout Opens Up About Co-Parenting Relationship With Ex Ryan Edwards

In an interview with E! News, Bookout shared that the exes have committed themselves to truly co-parenting Bentley, and even getting together for a joint Easter celebration March 31 (above).

“Who would have thought?” Bookout quipped before revealing that the pair have discovered how to have a healthy relationship. “It’s definitely been hard. But I think we have been able to maintain this mutual respect.”

The Teen Mom star credits it to a growth in their communication style, telling the outlet that in the past, a miscommunication could easily lead to a massive fight, now, “If one of us has a question, we are not afraid to call each other and the other pick up the phone.”

She continued, “It’s like, ‘What do you want to do about that? How do you want to handle this?’ The communication is just so much more respectful. And I would say it’s just easier.”

They’ve even gotten to a place where they can be friends, with Bookout telling E! that she, husband Taylor McKinney, Ryan, and his new girlfriend Amanda Conner are almost one big happy family.

“Ryan and I got back to a place where we’re actually just friends,” Bookout explained, before adding that that “mutual respect” they have for one another allows them to care “a bit more about how you talk to somebody or how you handle something.”

“I think that’s been able to really drive the co-parenting because we enter those conversations in a more gentle way, in a more understanding way,” she added.

While they have reached a rhythm when it comes to co-parenting, that doesn’t mean they haven’t hit some bumps in the road.

“Still got a long way to go — don’t get me wrong,” Bookout admitted. “But I can’t believe we’re, like, a year and some months into it and things are still very good. We’ve still got a long way to go for where I think a normal co-parenting relationship could be, but I think naturally it’s moving in a way that works for everybody, especially Bentley.”

That in part, she said, is because everyone in Bentley’s life has committed to following one simple rule: leave Bentley out of the drama. “We actually try and leave Bentley out of a lot of that,” Maci explained of their parental chats.

Although the mother of three has been open with Bentley about Ryan’s issues with addiction and his legal troubles, when it comes to his parents navigating their relationship, she revealed that Bentley would prefer to not be involved.

“Bentley really shared with me that he doesn’t want to know certain things or be asked certain things,” Bookout explained.

“It’s not that I think it was wrong,” she said of involving Bentley more in the past, “it’s just that I didn’t know any better.” Her motto? “He doesn’t need to know anything he doesn’t need to know.”

She continued, “We will definitely be like, ‘Hey, do you want to do this?’ Or, ‘Do you want to go over here?’ Because he’s a teenager, you never know what mood he’s in. But besides that, it’s just really leaving him out of it, letting the adults have the adult conversations.”