From Anderson, Indiana, she is known for being cast in the reality television series 16 and Pregnant in 2009, which documented the pregnancies and first months of motherhood for several teenage girls.

In March 2015, Portwood, along with Maci McKinney, Catelynn Baltierra, and Farrah Abraham, returned to MTV for the fifth season of the show, renamed Teen Mom OG.

An investigation from the police department of Anderson, Indiana, and that city's branch of the state Child Protective Services was later launched after the authorities were alerted by concerned viewers of the footage upon its broadcast, weeks after the incidents occurred.

On November 18, after an extensive investigation, Portwood was charged with three counts of domestic violence, two of them felonies, in connection with separate incidents of on-camera abuse of Shirley.

[20] The same day, MTV released a statement concerning the charges filed on Portwood: "We are cooperating with all parties and hope for a quick and fair resolution that allows everyone involved to move forward in a positive manner.

[22] In December 2011, Portwood was arrested for the Class D felony of possession of a controlled substance and was later charged with violating her probation on her earlier domestic-violence charges by breaching conditions including behaving well in society, obtaining a GED certificate, completing six months of anger-management training, paying her probation fees, and setting up a $10,000 college fund for Leah.

At the ensuing probation violation hearing, the judge in the case declined to reimpose any portion of the suspended sentence, instead requiring Amber to complete 30 days of daily drug tests.

[23] On June 13, 2012, Portwood began serving her five-year sentence, during which she was expected to attend substance abuse classes and earn her GED.

Portwood said she was working on obtaining a joint custody agreement with her ex-boyfriend Gary Shirley and was trying to focus on being a good mom to her daughter.