“I’m very thankful for [Pumpkin] … 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,” Mama June said
Mama June Shannon is setting the record straight about the recent custody agreement involving her daughter, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson.
In an interview with Page Six, Mama June provided clarity on the April 11th ruling, in which a Wilkinson County judge granted her older daughter, Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon, sole custody of Alana, 16.
“People don’t understand the custody thing,” Mama June, 42, told the outlet. “It’s not that somebody ‘lost custody.’ In the state of Georgia, you do temporary guardianship every year, and [Alana] had been living with Pumpkin in my addiction.”
“At the age of 12, you’re able to make your choice, so Alana made that choice to stay in that environment,” she continued of her daughter, who turns 17 in August. “It’s not like I don’t see Alana, it’s not that I don’t talk to her because I do see her, I do talk to her, we do communicate.”
“The only difference is that she’s not sitting here right beside me in my home every day,” she added.
The custody documents filed in April stated that Mama June was allowed to contact Alana via telephone every day but visitation rights would be determined by Pumpkin, 22.
The Mama June: Road to Redemption star — who recently wed Justin Stroud, her boyfriend of less than a year — was also ordered to pay Pumpkin $800 per month in child support for the next two years until Alana turns 18 years old.
When asked what she thought about Pumpkin stepping into a motherly role for Alana, Mama June told Page Six, “I’m proud of her. I’m very thankful for her because the situation could’ve been a lot different because Alana doesn’t have that relationship with her father.”
“Pumpkin stepping up, I’m very grateful because it could’ve turned into a bad situation,” she added. “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.”
The custody ruling comes three years after Mama June was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia after she allegedly had crack cocaine and a crack pipe on her.
Her then-boyfriend, Eugene Edward “Geno” Doak, was also arrested at the time and charged with third-degree domestic violence, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, PEOPLE previously reported.
Both were later hit with felony charges for drug possession that year in September 2019. The couple’s attorney entered not guilty pleas on their behalf the following month, a rep for the Macon County District Attorney’s Office confirmed to PEOPLE at the time.
In April 2020, The Blast reported that an Alabama judge had ordered Mama June’s criminal trial to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, all hearings were reportedly pushed to the fall. She later admitted she and Doak had a “$2,500 a day” meth addiction. (Mama June is now 29-months sober.)
Following her mom’s arrest, Alana began living with Pumpkin and her husband Joshua Efird. The couple currently share daughter Ella and son Bentley.
Since then, the sisters have spoken out about the challenges of their familial situation on several occasions.
During the season finale of Mama June: From Not to Hot, which aired in May 2019, Mama June’s family staged an intervention two days prior to her arrest. At one point during the intervention, Alana cried while telling her mother that her decision to live with Pumpkin was “not by choice.”
“I would love to come home and stay with you, tell you about my day, but I can’t do that because I’m scared. I’m scared to stay at your house,” she said, adding later in the episode, “I just want mama back.”
Pumpkin also opened up about caring for Alana in April 2020, admitting that it’s been difficult “for both me and her to adjust.”
“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.’ ”
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