More than a decade her first appearance on reality TV series Toddlers & Tiaras, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson opens up about her life since the cameras started rolling.
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During a recent interview with People, Thompson said she was “a little nervous” about sharing her life story in the upcoming Lifetime biopic I Was Honey Boo Boo. The film will look back at Thompson’s reality TV start, which led to her show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo in 2012.
The popular and controversial series followed Thompson, her mother, “Mama June” Shannon, her father, Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson, Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, and Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird.
She then explained the point of the film wasn’t to be “throwing punches” at her mother, “Mama June” Shannon, who struggled with addiction and other issues in front and behind the camera.
“I did not want this movie to be throwing punches at my mama and make her out to be the bad guy,” Thompson noted. “But I didn’t hold back, and if she gets mad, at the end of the day, it’s the truth.”
Mama June first began using drugs in 2019, when Alana was a young teen. She ended up becoming addicted to crack cocaine, leading to high-profile struggles within the family.
“I noticed something was off about her,” Alana recalled while talking about her mother’s drug addiction. “She started locking her doors, which really made me think, ‘Oh, what is she doing?'”
That same year, Mama June and her then-boyfriend, Eugene “Geno” Doak, were arrested and charged with felony possession of drugs.
Alana said the kids at her school found out what happened. “People were like, ‘I saw your mama on the news with a busted stoof, strung out,” she recounted. “I’m like, ‘Great, like I didn’t see that too.'”
Alana Thompson Refused to Allow Her Mother’s Addiction and Arrest to Define Her
Despite the situation with her mother, Alana Thompson continued on, refusing to let it define her.
Following Mama June’s arrest, Alana’s older sister, Lauryn, was awarded full custody of her. After moving in with Lauryn, Alana focused on school. She graduated high school in 2023 and is currently studying nursing at Regis University in Colorado.
“I just always told myself, you know, that you want to do something better with your life,” she pointed out. “And bigger with your life than just being on TV.”
She continued, “So you’ve got to get up and go, you’ve got to graduate so you can make it to college and be the nurse that you want to be.”
However, Alana admitted that her struggles with her mother continue. She claimed Mama June stole $35,000 of her earnings for appearing on Dancing With the Stars in 2019. Although the money was eventually returned, Alana said her mother never apologized for her actions.
“There was no, ‘I’m sorry,'” Alana pointed out. She further claimed never received any of the money she earned on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
Alana added that forgiveness was “hard” for her, but at the end of the day, Mama June is still her mother. “When she was bad in her addiction, I just kept thinking about the day she’d recover,” she added. “We’re going pretty good. Hopefully it lasts. I just no longer have any expectations for her.”
I Was Honey Boo Boo will premiere on Saturday.