Mama June Shannon is celebrating another trip around the sun the only way she knows how!
As June turned 44 on Friday, the Mama June: From Hot to Not star commemorated the occasion with a candid bridal-themed post.
“Happy birthday to me,” read June’s Instagram Story post, which featured a snap of her at her recent wedding with Justin Stroud,. “I’m totally going to try to live life to the fullest this year and start leaving bulls — — right where it starts n leaving negative things and people where they are.”
June added: “I realized that I have to do what right for me at the end of the day.”
June’s big day comes after her daughter Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird opened up to about how she and her sisters worked on mending their relationship with their mother.
“For us, getting to that place took a lot of time and took a lot of effort,” she shared last month. “We had to set boundaries in between that time and we had to go to therapy and really, really work through the issues instead of just bottling them back up.”
Lauryn admitted that she was happy to have her mother back in her life after she and her husband Josh became her sister Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson’s legal guardians amid June’s addiction struggles.
“It is definitely a huge relief having mama back,” she said. “I know for a long time I have been the mom, so it’s nice to give that role back to mama. I feel like it’s a relief for me because I don’t have as much on my plate with already raising five kids.”
The changes June made in her life allowed Lauryn and her sisters to feel comfortable attending June’s wedding to Justin.
The mother of four — who is now sober after struggling with drug addiction — first wed Justin at a courthouse in March 2022 but later held a bigger celebration in Panama City, Florida, in February.
“Throughout the season, I talk a lot about actions speak louder than words, and this time there was a lot more actions than words with her,” Lauryn referring to season 6 of Mama June: From Hot to Not.
“She started coming around more. She started being there for Alana and my kids and Jessica,” she continued. “It just felt like we owed that to her, showing up and being a part of that big day, especially since we weren’t a part of them actually being married at the courthouse.”
“I’m sure that I’m going to make a few mistakes in the future, and I’m sure they will, too,” she shared at the time. “So I’m not going to say that I’m going to be perfect for the rest of their life, and they’re not going to be perfect the rest of my life.”
June also admitted it took “a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, a lot of just arguing, a lot of fighting, a lot of tears” for the family to reach a good place.