ExclusiveTeen Mom’s Maci Bookout and Taylor McKinney Reveal How ‘Family Reunion’ Helped Their Marriage
Maci Bookout and Taylor McKinney got a lot out of being on Teen Mom: Family Reunion. The couple exclusively tells In Touch about what they learned on season 3 of the show, which focused on the franchise’s couples working on building healthy relationships and healing from the past.
For the longtime MTV stars, a groundbreaking therapy exercise involved stacking blocks in order of what they wanted to prioritize in their relationship. “I appreciated being able to see how we aligned on things with the blocks,” Maci, 32, shares. “Also, I felt like it was such a comforting thing to do where I could put my priorities freely and he was able to do it [too]. I felt like I got to know where his mind was at. He got to see where my mind was at. I just felt like that was a good way for us to see it from each other’s point of view.”
Maci and Taylor, 34, agreed that “communication” was the number one issue they hoped to work on while filming the MTV series. “I feel like even if there were a second and a third [issue], to me, they all kind of tie into communication,” Maci admits. “So I felt like communication was definitely the main one and still has been and probably will be forever.”
Fans have seen Maci and Taylor’s relationship play out on Teen Mom since they first got together in 2012. Taylor stepped in as a stepfather to Maci’s son Bentley, whom she shares with ex Ryan Edwards. The couple went on to have two children – Jayde, 8, and Maverick, 7 – of their own and tied the knot in 2016.
“Everything kind of is always overwhelmed by the kids and what’s going on with the kids and where we have to be for the kids and what we have to do for the kids,” Taylor says. “So I feel like at Family Reunion [viewers] will just see a marriage that’s normal.”
Getting away from the kids also allowed the duo to focus on what they need to work on in their relationship. “With three children, it’s very difficult to be able to tackle those and really have the energy or the capacity to face them at home,” Maci explains. “I would say that’s probably going to be something that [viewers] are like, ‘Oh, s–t, they’re not perfect.’”
Taylor reiterates this, insisting that he and Maci are not the “perfect” couple. “You just don’t see it all,” he shares. “We’re very fortunate that we come from … both of our parents are still married and have been for 30 years … 25-30 years. And they’ve both told us, ‘You don’t hit a point in your marriage where it’s just easygoing. You have to work on it constantly.’ And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Teen Mom: Family Reunion airs on MTV Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
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