Meet Kayla J, One of the New Moms on Season 3 of ‘Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant’

MTV’s Teen Mom franchise has been on air since December 2009, and over the years, it’s added new spinoffs and new teen moms that fans tune in to watch so they can either root for them or sit back and soak up the drama.

On one of the franchise's newest spinoffs, Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant, we get to know even more young moms as they navigate their new roles as parents. And Season 3 introduces us to Kayla J, a mom to a 2-year-old girl who she co-parents with her high school sweetheart.

Young mothers have a lot of challenges ahead of them between learning on the job as parents, juggling work and school, and the drama that hits their personal lives. When MTV first ran 16 & Pregnant, its very first in the franchise, it was clear people loved tuning into the storylines. And many of those moms and their kids have been documented for several seasons.

Now, it’s Kayla J’s turn after joining Season 3 of Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant. And from what we already know about her, we can imagine her storyline will be one many will hope to follow for seasons and seasons.

According to her bio on MTV’s page sharing details about the new moms on Season 3, 22-year-old Kayla is struggling a lot with the father of her baby. And the two are having challenges with finding themselves on the same page.

“Kayla J is struggling to deal with her on and off relationship with her best friend and child’s father, Makel,” the bio reads. “While she understands why he needs to ‘do him’ right now and date other people, [Kayla] becomes enraged when Makel keeps bringing new girlfriends around their daughter, Mecca.”

Mecca is Kayla J and Makel’s daughter, who will turn three in November 2021. Kayla currently considers herself single after breaking things off with Makel, with whom she entered into a relationship when they met in high school.

"When I met Makel, Makel was still female, and then in the midst of us dating, Makel transitioned to a male," Kayla explains in an MTV sneak peek preview video. The two dated for two years and had a very close relationship.

When Kayla turned 18, the two got engaged and made the decision to have a baby together, with the help of a sperm bank. And their entrance into parenthood wasn’t as easy as they had hoped.

"But having a baby so young was harder than we expected,” Kayla shared, “and Makel soon decided he wanted to start dating other people.” And since breaking up, Kayla and Makel decided not to live together anymore, and it seems like their communication skills are still struggling.

However, both Kayla and Makel seem very committed to working together for the benefit of their daughter, Mecca. And the love is still very much there between them.

"I do love Makel very strongly, very, very strongly," Kayla says, adding that she really wants to have a happy family where they can all be together. And Makel is committed too.

"I felt really alone my whole life, and I don't want a child to go through that, let alone my own kid," he tells Kayla. "I wasn't raised with [nuturing] parents."

Teen Mom: Young & Pregnant airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on MTV.