'Teen Mom' star Tyler Baltierra discusses autism diagnosis, says it was a "big sigh of relief"

Tyler Baltierra, who acted in the 2009 reality TV series Teen Mom, opened up about his autism diagnosis in a recent episode of the Cate & Ty Break It Down podcast.

During the conversation with his wife, Catelynn Lowell, she asked what made him want to go and check if he was on the autism spectrum. Baltierra said it was mainly because of his daughter, Vaeda.

As he was growing up, his mother tried to ensure that he did not have meltdowns. He saw similar behavioral traits in Vaeda. Baltierra remembered that as a young boy, he had changed schools and was even asked by the authorities to get him checked out.

However, he then got the test done, and when the results came out, it was more of an early adult diagnosis, and he scored higher in masking tendencies. Catelynn Lowell asked how he felt when he got the diagnosis, to which Tyler Baltierra said:

“I felt like oh like a big sigh of relief and then I got really sad and I was like, wow. Because I just thought about all the stuff I went through as a kid because I felt so sad for that little kid who just went and just was like, ‘What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? Something's wrong. Why am I not normal? Why is this so easily for other people?’”

Tyler Baltierra said while speaking to the woman who gave him the test results, he said when he was a child, he was confused why certain activities he wanted to do didn’t fit him. For instance, he said he wanted to draw, but his mother insisted that he play baseball.

Tyler Baltierra says he felt sorry for his younger self

Tyler Baltierra said that when he looked back at his childhood, he felt bad for his younger self. As a kid, he often thought something was wrong with him because he didn’t enjoy the same things other kids liked. Instead, he spent a lot of time focusing on body language, watching people in the corner of the room, and paying too much attention to strangers.

He explained that he later realized not everyone thought or acted like that, which surprised him. Catelynn Lowell asked if he was given any therapy suggestions after the diagnosis, and he said:

“They give me a lot of suggestions and stuff to read and that kind of stuff but I'm not diving too deep into it because I know for a fact when told her this. I said, ‘Listen, I've been dealing with this my whole life. I've been in my own brain. It's the only one I've been in.’”

Tyler Baltierra went on:

“It's exhausting. It's draining, but it's all I've known. So, I'm not going to like dive too deep into this. I am who I am.”

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Tyler Baltierra said that he could try many different things, but his brain worked in its own way. Instead of trying to change it, he decided to accept it and live with it. He felt that knowing this about himself helped him understand things better.

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