Whitney Purvis is dealing with the unimaginable.
After the 16 and Pregnant alum shared that her 16-year-old son Weston Gosa Jr. died on June 2, she opened up about how she’s been navigating grief and heartbreak.
“I can’t distract myself,” Whitney told People in an interview published June 5. “It’s going through my mind constantly. I hate to even pick up my phone.”
“When I’m not crying,” she continued, “I’m just staring at the ceiling. I never wanted to go through something like this. I mean, I know no one does, but you never think it’ll happen to you. And I just can’t even imagine a future now. I can’t imagine going on after this.”
In the moments before learning about the teen’s death, Whitney—who also shares son River, 11, with Weston Gosa—didn’t immediately answer the call from her ex-husband due to a recent disagreement. But upon receiving a “911” text from him in response, she instantly knew something was wrong.
“When I answered the phone, I could hear him crying before he spoke,” she recounted, “and I knew it was going to be bad.”
“He told me, and I was just in shock,” she continued. “He told me everything he knew at that time, and that he would call me back. I just pulled out of the parking lot and drove home and just screamed in my car, just screamed to the top of my lungs.”
While the family is still waiting on autopsy results to determine Weston’s cause of death, Whitney shared that Weston Sr. looked at footage from the house cameras to find that their son was visibly struggling to sleep the night before. And when the morning came, he found his son unresponsive.
“Big Weston said he came in Little Weston’s bedroom at 7 in the morning to wake him up,” Whitney said, “and he wouldn’t wake up. They called 911, and he did CPR until the ambulance got there, and they pronounced him dead at the hospital.”
“I didn’t want it to be real,” she added. “I didn’t understand what happened.”
And since the heartbreaking tragedy, Whitney has been finding it difficult to talk to people while navigating her emotions.
“I’ve kind of wanted to be alone,” she told the outlet. “I just go through so many emotions, like being sad, being mad. It’s just been really, really rough. I’ve never cried this hard in my life, to where my eyeballs are swollen.”
Because when it came to Weston—who Whitney welcomed on the MTV show in 2009—all his friends and family knew him as a shining light in their lives.
“He was shy,” she gushed. “He had an old soul. He loved animals and always made a friend wherever he went. He was a really kind boy. He was a really good boy, and he was so funny and handsome. He was such a good person.”
“He was just a perfect kid,” she added. “You just didn’t have any trouble out of him at all. He was smart, and he was super bashful, and a great big brother.”
For more updates on the families of 16 and Pregnant, keep reading.
Maci Bookout
Now Maci Bookout McKinney, the Chatanooga, Tenn., native started her 16 and Pregnant journey on the MTV series’ first season, which premiered in 2009.
In real life, Maci gave birth to son Bentley on Oct. 8, 2008, and joined the cast of Teen Mom.
Fast-forward into her adulthood and she co-parents the teenager with his dad, her former fiancé Ryan Edwards, and shares daughter Jayde Carter (born May 29, 2015) and son Maverick Reed (May 31, 2016) with husband Taylor McKinney.
Farrah Abraham
While every cast member’s MTV-chronicled story was fraught, Farrah Abraham from season one had the saddest: Her boyfriend Derek Underwood was killed in a car crash before the birth of their daughter, Sophia Laurent Abraham, on Feb. 23, 2009.
Farrah later dabbled in adult entertainment, as well as wrote a best-selling memoir and tried her hand at singing. In addition to Teen Mom, she’s appeared on a number of other series, including Couples Therapy and Celebrity Big Brother.
Amber Portwood
Amber Portwood and then-fiancé Gary Shirley welcomed daughter Leah Leann Shirley on Nov. 12, 2008, with the birth being featured on season one. After they split up in 2011, Gary, now married to Kristina Shirley, was granted custody of Leah.
Amber was engaged to Matt Baier for several years before moving on and having another child with then-boyfriend Andrew Glennon in 2017.
Their son James Andrew Glennon was born May 8, 2018, and Andrew was awarded custody in 2022.
Amber got engaged to Gary Wayt, introduced as her boyfriend on Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, days before he went missing on June 9, 2024. He turned up less than a week later, with North Carolina police saying the case was closed.
Catelynn Lowell Baltierra
After a fraught few months of pregnancy, documented on the first season of 16 and Pregnant, Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra placed daughter Carly for adoption after she was born May 18, 2009.
The Michigan-based Teen Mom stars went on to welcome daughters Novalee “Nova” Reign on Jan. 1, 2015, Vaeda Luma on Feb. 21, 2019, and Rya Rose on Aug. 28, 2021.
The middle school sweethearts tied the knot on Aug. 22, 2015.
Jenelle Evans
16 and Pregnant’s second season began with the travails of Jenelle Evans, who broke up with her baby’s father, Andrew Lewis, before the child was born.
Son Jace Vahn Evans arrived Aug. 2, 2009, and Jenelle’s mom, BarbaraEvans, stepped in to help, with the series documenting their rocky mother-daughter relationship.
Jennelle—who was fired from Teen Mom 2 in 2019 but returned for Teen Mom: The Next Chapter five years later—also shares son Kaiser Orion “Kai” Griffith (born June 30, 2014) with former fiancé Nathan Griffith and daughter Ensley Jolie Eason (Jan. 24, 2017) with now-estranged husband David Eason.
Since separating from David, she’s rolling the dice on a fresh start in Las Vegas.
Valerie Fairman
Valerie Fairman gave birth to daughter Nevaeh Lynn Fairman on Sept. 14, 2009. Her parents were eventually granted custody, with visitation rights for the child’s father, Matt Pryce.
After various struggles, Valerie died in December 2016.
Chelsea Houska DeBoer
Chelsea Houska from season two gave birth to daughter Aubree Skye Lind five weeks early, on Sept. 7, 2009.
She and Aubree’s father Adam Lind stayed together initially, but their on-and-off relationship finally ended in 2012.
A couple years later, a chance meeting at a gas station proved to be the start of the Teen Mom star’s forever journey with Cole DeBoer. The couple, who wed on Oct. 1, 2016, share son Watson Cole (born Jan. 25, 2017), daughters Layne Ettie (Aug. 29, 2018) and Walker June (Jan. 25, 2021) and their HGTV series Down Home Fab.
Leah Messer
Season two’s Leah Messer and then-boyfriend Cory Simms had only been dating a month when she got pregnant with twins.
Their daughters Aliannah Hope and Aleeah Grace Simms were delivered prematurely Dec. 16, 2009, via emergency C-section. Aliannah was later diagnosed with Titin muscular dystrophy.
The Teen Mom duo tried to make a go of it, marrying in 2010, but they divorced the following year.
In addition to the twins, realtor Leah shares daughter Adalynn Faith (born Feb. 4, 2013) with ex-husband Jeremy Calvert.
Lizzie Mortensen
Lizzie Mortensen from season two gave birth to her and then-boyfriend (now ex-husband) Skylar Sickles‘ daughter Summer Jayde Sickles on Jan. 30, 2010.
Lizzie is now stepmom to husband Dave Mortensen‘s three kids and they share a son who was born June 6, 2018.
Kailyn Lowry
Kailyn Lowry and then-boyfriend Jo Rivera welcomed son Isaac Elliott Rivera on Jan. 18, 2010, with the birth featured on season two. Jo’s family served as surrogate parents for Kailyn who has long been estranged from her own mom, but the young couple broke up not long after Isaac’s birth.
The Teen Mom star welcomed son Lincoln Marshall on Nov. 16, 2013, not long after she married his father, Javi Marroquin, who was in the Air Force. They divorced in 2016.
She also shares sons Lux Russell Lowry, born Aug. 5, 2017, and Creed Romello Lopez, born July 30, 2020, with ex ChrisLopez, as well as three children—son Rio, born in November 2022, and twins Valley and Verse, delivered in November 2023—with fiancé Elijah Scott.
Following the birth of her twins, Kailyn said she “got a tubal,” sharing on her Barely Famous podcast that she was done having kids.
Markai Durham
Markai Durham from season two gave birth to daughter Za’Karia Sanari Worsham with boyfriend James Worsham on Oct. 12, 2009. When she became pregnant again, she decided to have an abortion—as seen on the MTV special No Easy Decision.
She married Christopher Anderson in September 2015, but they separated and she has since reportedly had two more daughters.
Aubrey Wolters
Season two alum Aubrey Wolters shares son Austin Carter Akerill, born Feb. 6, 2010, with now-ex-husband Brandon Akerill.
After their divorce, she went on to have two more sons with a boyfriend.
Autumn Crittendon
Autumn Crittendon gave birth to son Drake LeSeuer Franklin with then-boyfriend Dusty Franklin on Dec. 17, 2013, as chronicled on the fifth season of 16 and Pregnant.
In 2015, Autumn married Bradley Oxley after a whirlwind courtship, but she shared on social media that they were separating later that summer.
She had son Luke in August 2019 and daughter Abigail Ivy Rose, born Nov. 20, 2022.
Sadly, Autumn died on July 20, 2024, at the age of 27, police in Henrico County, Va., confirmed to E! News.
