Kailyn Lowry Explains Why When It Comes to a Support System for Her Family, 'We Keep It in the House' (Exclusive)

The former reality TV star turned podcaster gets candid about changing her boundaries with the public

• Kailyn Lowry is opening up about managing a family of nine

• Speaking with PEOPLE about her podcasting tour, Lowry explains her decision to shift her boundaries with those outside her household

• The mom of seven explains how she's managed to maintain independence in her relationship with fiancé Elijah Scott
  

Kailyn Lowry has learned to keep her circle small.

The podcasting pro and mom of seven, 32, tells PEOPLE that she's been careful and intentional in taking a different approach to how she shares her life in recent years.

"I try to keep as much of my problems within our four walls of this house or within therapy as I can," she tells PEOPLE.

"Because I just don't think that I need the outside validation of the internet and the podcast for every little thing. And so I really do pick and choose what I share with people, whether it be friends on a personal level or the podcast or anything like that," Lowry explains.

When it comes to leaning on a support system in her chaotic day-to-day life, Lowry says she's learned, "I want to keep things kind of private and deal with it in our household and in therapy and go from there because at the end of the day, I don't know what the support system will look like tomorrow. I don't know if people are going to sell me out to make a quick buck. I truly don't know."

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Related: Kailyn Lowry and Elijah Scott Are Engaged After Welcoming Twins: 'One Day He Just Showed Up with a Ring'

Lowry is proud of the fact that her family "tries to handle it a little better than we have in the past by airing everything out in public."

"I feel like sometimes, when I was younger, I'd tell all my closest friends every single detail. That didn't work, so I don't want to keep making that mistake. So we handle it in our house, and we handle it in therapy."

The issues around trust that have come up because of previous betrayals have made it "very hard for me" to move forward. Lowry, now engaged to partner Elijah Scott, says it was a struggle to be independent and also thrive in a partnership.

"I will admit that it was very hard for me at first to even get into this relationship and then also share about it because I've always maintained my independence, I feel like, since I left Joe back in 2010," she explains.

"So I've really just wanted to keep my independence. Knowing that Elijah is an equal partner and he's not taking anything away from me, but moreso adding to it, has been a really hard thing for me to come to terms with. I absolutely love him and he is so helpful, but I don't know why I was struggling with that independence piece so much."

Lowry is proud of watching Scott "evolve" as both a stepfather to her four older boys — Creed, 4, Lux, 7, Lincoln, 10, and Isaac, 14.

"It's been really cool to watch the relationship evolve and him evolve as a father, not just as a father, but truly as a stepparent, too. Because when he came in, we didn't have kids together and then we did very quickly," she says.

"I think the support from my audiences has helped a lot because they also know who I am and that relationships are not perfect, but also that it doesn't have to be perfect to be good. That support is nice, and that realization is nice, too."

Fans can catch Lowry, along with different co-hosts, on the rest of her Barely F------ Touring podcast tour.

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Read the original article on People.