To those who have been publicly voicing their anger about the Brown family skipping out on a reunion with Ami’s mother, Discovery has heard your cry. Discovery decided to address the issue indirectly today on the Alaskan Bush People Facebook page.
About 11:00 am CST, the Alaskan Bush People Facebook page posted a video titled, “The Story of Ami and Billy’s Past.” The video starts out with Billy stating that he noticed something was wrong when he first met Ami, because she didn’t have any family involvement. Ami then goes on to share that her family is a group of alcoholics.
“I come from a family of alcoholism. My dad was an alcoholic and it tore our family apart. As a child, you know, watching these things, you learn from it. That is the reason why I don’t let them know where physically I am.”
Everyone’s got a story #AlaskanBushPeople https://t.co/OARpYYqjcL
— Alaskan Bush People (@AlaskanBushPPL) July 6, 2016
Social media lashed out this week after they learned the stars of Alaskan Bush People skipped town and missed the opportunity to have a reunion with Ami’s 83-year-old mother, Earlene Branson. Two weeks ago, Earlene’s son, Les Branson, did an interview with Radar Online and shared that it was his mother’s last wish to reunite with Ami before she passed away.
Earlene’s great-nephew, Chuck Gilbert, decided to make her wish a reality, and started the ball rolling for a 7,000-mile round trip journey to Alaska. Chuck planned to film the trip and share the adventure with Alaskan Bush People fans on a Facebook page called “Memaw’s Trip to Alaska” as well as a YouTube channel by the same title.
https://www.facebook.com/1745926088988496/photos/pcb.1748692938711811/1748692775378494/?type=3&theater
The family states they made multiple attempts to ensure that Ami and the Brown family knew that they were coming. Les shared that he tried to contact them via letter, but they never received a reply. Les also shared a press release on social media in an effort to alert the Browns, or at the very least the Discovery crew, of their plans to travel from Texas to Alaska.
Earlene and her traveling companions arrived in Alaska on June 28 only to discover the Alaskan Bush People wolfpack was no longer there. Not long after, a photo surfaced of three of the Brown children, Rain, Snowbird, and Noah, in Maui, Hawaii.
Memaw’s Trip to Alaska posted on their facebook page yesterday, July 5, that it was their final day in Alaska and they would be headed back to Texas. Unfortunately for Earlene, the reunion with Ami never happened.
Social media can’t decide who is to blame for the missed reunion. Some want to blame the Browns and say they took steps to ensure they would not be in Alaska while Ami’s mother was in town. Others believe the Browns never knew Ami’s mother was coming, and they can’t be to blame for not being in the state when she arrived.
The video Discovery posted to the Alaskan Bush People Facebook page also included a quote from Ami that managed to both claim she desired to have a relationship with her family, and also bash her family in the same sentence.
“For years I wished that amends could be made so our children could have a family, but there are many people out there that are more family than them. “
Since it seems Ami’s beef was with her father for being an alcoholic and not her mother, it’s not clear why Ami made no effort to honor her mother’s last wish. One thing is for sure, the whole fiasco of Earlene’s trip has turned many Alaskan Bush People fans off.
What do you think about the video Discovery shared today about Ami’s past? Do you think that was a legitimate reason to skip out on the reunion with her mother? Leave your feedback in the comments below and tune in the for the next episode of Alaskan Bush People on Friday at 9/8c on Discovery.
[Image via Twitter ]