Mama June Shannon is rebuilding her relationship with her children.
The Mama June: Road to Redemption star, who rose to fame alongside her youngest daughter Alana “Honey Boo Boo” in TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras in 2009, is mom to four daughters: Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efrid, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, who died on Dec. 9 after being diagnosed with adrenal carcinoma in January.
After capturing viewers’ interest as a dynamic mother-daughter duo on the pageant series, Alana and Shannon were offered a spin-off show of their own: Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. The show ran from 2012 until 2014, when the family matriarch was reportedly dating a convicted sex offender.
The mom of four then starred in her own weight loss transformation show in 2017, WE tv’s Mama June: From Not to Hot, later rebranded as Mama June: Road to Redemption, as she worked to earn a “second chance” with her family.
The series has chronicled a number of the scandals and controversies the family has weathered in the years since, from Shannon arrest on drug possession charges in 2019 to her losing custody of Alana in April 2022, when Lauryn “Pumpkin” was awarded sole custody of her younger sister after three years of taking care of her.
“Pumpkin stepping up, I’m very grateful because it could’ve turned into a bad situation,” Shannon told Page Six in June 2022. “At the time Alana went to go live with Pumpkin at the beginning, I couldn’t even take care of my own self, more less take care of anybody else.”
Since checking into rehab with then-boyfriend Eugene Edward “Geno” Doak after their arrest, Shannon has documented her sobriety journey, last publicly celebrating 16 months sober on Instagram on June 5, 2021.
More recently, Shannon wed her boyfriend of six months, Justin Stroud, at a Georgia courthouse on March 23, 2022. Nearly a year later, she and Stroud got married for a second time in an “intimate oceanfront ceremony” on Feb. 18, 2023. Shannon’s four daughters were all in attendance for the special occasion.
“This was the first time the family had all been together since 2014,” Shannon told. “So it was really special to get married in a place where my family and I have had so many memories!”
Just one month later, fans learned why the occasion was particularly special for the family. In March 2023, Anna had been diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma back in January.
Alana spoke out on Instagram shortly after the news of Anna’s diagnosis made headlines.
“This is what I mean when I say you never truly know what somebody is going through at home. No matter how famous they are. Yes, I’m very famous, but normal s — — happens to me and my family & y’all need to realize that ASAP,” she wrote.
While promoting the sixth season of what WE tv is now calling Mama June: Family Crisis, the mom-of-four opened up about her parenting pitfalls.
“ Parents or kids don’t come with an instruction manual. I’m sure that I’m going to make a few mistakes in the future, and I’m sure they will, too,” she said in May 2023. “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.”
Here’s everything to know about Mama June’s four daughters, Anna, Jessica, Lauryn and Alana.
Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, 29
Nicknamed “Chickadee,” Anna was the oldest of Shannon’s children. She was born on Aug. 28, 1994, when June was 15. Her father is June’s ex-boyfriend David Dunn, who never joined the family on reality TV.
Anna and June’s relationship had been strained since 2003, when Anna moved out of her mother’s house and in with her grandmother after surviving assault from her mother’s then-boyfriend, registered sex offender Mark McDaniel. In 2014, she told that McDaniel “would try and touch me and all that stuff” when she was 8 years old.
“A week or so after it happened, I talked to Mama and she was upset, crying and saying, ‘I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you, why would you do this to me?’ “ Cardwell told. “And I was like, ‘Mama, he did that to me and I can’t do anything about it. You were never there to see it. You were always at work.’ “
Cardwell moved in with her grandmother afterward, briefly returning to her mom’s home in 2012 ahead of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’s premiere. “Me and Mama realized we needed to put this behind us and get our relationship back on track and that’s what we did and that’s what we have been doing,” Cardwell explained.
Anna was a mom to two children of her own: she welcomed daughter Kaitlyn Elizabeth in 2012. Kaitlyn’s biological father is unknown. Two years after her daughter’s arrival, Anna married her boyfriend Michael Cardwell, in 2014. The pair went on to welcome a daughter together, Kylee Madison, in 2015. Anna and Michael ultimately separated in 2017.
In 2015, Anna sued her mother for allegedly unpaid appearances on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, for which she claimed she and her daughter Kaitlyn were owed $300,000. The mother-daughter pair had remained largely estranged in the years since, though they did reunite for Shannon’s February 2023 nuptials.
“ All four of my girls walked me down to Justin and his mom walked him down the aisle,” Shannon told of the big day.
As of 2023, Anna worked at a car dealership, the Five Star Toyota of Milledgeville, Georgia, which she posted about frequently on Instagram.
On March 30, 2023, Anna had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. According to TMZ, which first reported the news, Anna was diagnosed with adrenal carcinoma in January after cancer was discovered in her liver, kidney and lung.
On Dec. 10, 2023, Shannon announced on Instagram that Anna had died. “With the breaking heart, we are announcing that @annamarie35 is no longer with us,” she began the caption of her post alongside a family photograph. “She passed away in my home last night peacefully at 11:12 PM.”
Shannon continued: “She gave one hell of a fight for 10 months she passed away with her family around her like she won’t and we will will be updating y’all with more information as we get it today.”
Alana followed up the tragic news with an Instagram post of her own, in which she paid tribute to her older sister. “We will all make sure your legacy lives on forever. And i promise to always make sure to celebrate our birthday like you never left! The sky looks a little bit different today. We will always love you Anna,” she wrote.
Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, 27
Shannon’s second oldest daughter, nicknamed “Chubbs” on their reality shows, was born on Oct. 12, 1996, to June and her ex Michael Anthony Ford.
Ford is also a convicted sex offender, who went to jail for the sexual exploitation of minors after being caught on To Catch a Predator in 2005.
Jessica has appeared alongside her family on each of their reality shows, as well as on an episode of Steve Harvey’s Family Feud. She graduated from Wilkinson Country High School in 2015 and graduated college in May 2018. “Y’all I made it👩🎓 It was hard but I pulled thru💕💕,” the new grad captioned a photo of herself in a cap and gown on Instagram.
In February 2020, Jessica and Anna flew from Georgia to Beverly Hills together to undergo full-body makeovers. Jessica revealed to Hollywood Life that the procedures, which totaled over $80,000, included liposuction, a gastric balloon, veneers, highlights and more. She has continued to proudly document her weight loss journey on Instagram in the years since.
“It’s been life changing,” Jessica told the outlet, adding, “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” She explained that before the procedures, she had struggled with feeling deeply self-conscious for years. “Me and my sister would go out and do something and I would change five, six times, because I felt like I couldn’t find something that actually looked decent on me, or I turned around because I [thought] somebody was judging me.”
Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird, 23
June’s third oldest daughter, nicknamed “Pumpkin,” was born on Jan. 7, 2000. Lauryn grew up believing that her biological father was Mark McDaniel, who went to jail for child molestation in 2004.
When Lauryn was 14, June revealed to that her father was not McDaniel, but her ex Michael Anthony Ford. “Jessica and Pumpkin have the same dad, but Jessica’s dad has had nothing to do with her over the years,” Shannon said. “So, why the hell would I open up that can of worms until today? I lied to my family and told them it was somebody else.”
Lauryn has joined her family on all of their reality ventures, from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo to Mama June: Road to Redemption.
In December 2017, Lauryn became a mom for the first time when she and Joshua Efird welcomed daughter Ella Grace together. The following year, the new parents tied the knot in Las Vegas.
The pair expanded their family in July 2021, welcoming their son Bentley. Lauryn’s Winnie-the-Pooh-themed baby shower brought Shannon and her four daughters back together for the first time in years.
In May 2022, Lauryn and Josh welcomed twins: a girl and a boy, whom they’ve shared a few sweet photos of on Instagram.
The following month, Lauryn was officially granted full custody of her younger sister Alana, who has been living with her since Shannon was arrested on drug possession charges in 2019. Shannon also is set to pay Lauryn $800 per month in child support until Alana turns 18.
Lauryn admitted that caring for Alana, in addition to her kids, was a difficult adjustment to make back in 2020.
“My mom has four kids. Three of us are grown and can take care of ourselves and can cook for ourselves and we all pay our own bills. But at the end of the day, Alana’s still 14 and she needs her mom,” Pumpkin told Entertainment Tonight. “It’s been very difficult because… she is younger and she needs her mom. So it’s been very hard for both me and her to adjust to me being her ‘sister mom.’ “
Speaking about where things currently stand with her mom, Lauryn told, “I’m just at a place where I just want to fix things with my mom and move on.”
In July 2023, Lauryn spoke about questioning why her family was on reality TV when her mom was struggling with addiction. “I just felt like, can we just handle this on our own without it being blasted for millions to see?” she said.
She also spoke about dealing with haters, to which Lauryn says that “opinions are like assholes and everybody’s got one.”
Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Shannon, 18
Shannon’s youngest daughter is Alana, who rose to fame on Toddlers & Tiaras as “Honey Boo Boo” thanks to her viral catchphrase on the pageant show. Alana was born on Aug. 28, 2005, to June and her ex Mike Thompson, nicknamed “Sugar Bear.”
Alana has continued to appear in reality shows, from her own TLC spinoff show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, to Dancing with the Stars: Juniors, The Masked Singer and Mama June: Road to Redemption.
Speaking about her motivation for performing on DWTS Junior, she explained, “I wanted to do it because when they asked me, I thought this is something that I’ve never done and it’d be super fun and a great experience. So I figured, let’s do it!” She added that her mom was “so supportive” of the experience.
In 2019, Alana moved in with her half-sister Lauryn, who has legal guardianship of her.
Alana opened up about growing out of her child star persona in an August 2021 interview with Teen Vogue. “My mama did not name me Honey Boo Boo. My name is Alana,” she told the outlet, explaining, “They are completely two different people.”
Reflecting on where she is in life currently, Alana shared that she is proud of herself. “When my mama got real bad with her [drug use], I didn’t know where I was going to end up,” she said. “I’m proud of myself for how far I’ve come.”
Though Alana seemingly shaded her mom’s parenting in an October 2022 TikTok, it appears the two may be on better terms now as Alana joined her sisters in walking Shannon down the aisle at her wedding.
Alana is currently dating 21-year-old Dralin Carswell. “In our relationship, the two most things that everybody is always talking about is our age gap and definitely because he’s Black and I’m white and we’re an interracial couple,” Alana told Entertainment Tonight.
“I don’t care,” she continued. “Because, like, at the end of the day, my sister approves, his mom approves, and we’re happy, so what fans got to say or what haters got to say I don’t really care.”
Carswell was arrested on Feb. 28, 2023, for DUI, fleeing police and outstanding warrants after a three-mile car chase in Monroe County, Georgia. Alana was a passenger in the car during the chase.
According to authorities, an officer eventually used a PIT (precision immobilization technique) maneuver, spinning and disabling Carswell’s vehicle.
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