“People were like, ‘I saw your mama on the news with a busted tooth, strung out,'” the Mama June: Family Crisis star recalls while also sharing where she stands with her mother now after June spent $35,000 of her money.
Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson is reflecting on Mama June’s battle with substance abuse.
In a wide-ranging interview for People’s latest cover story, the 19-year-old reality star opened up about her mother’s past cocaine addiction, which was documented on the family’s TLC series, and shared where they stand now after Mama June spent $35,000 of her money.
June and her then-boyfriend, Geno Doak, were arrested and charged with felony drug possession in March 2019. The two initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Later, as part of a pair of plea agreements, June was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, while Doak was given 16 months in a Community Corrections program — avoiding time behind bars. The pair later attended rehab, before splitting in 2021.
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Looking back at her mother’s behavior prior to her arrest, Alana said, “I noticed something was off about her.”
“She started locking her doors, which really made me think, ‘Oh, what is she doing?'” she added.
The TLC star said the headlines about her mom’s addiction followed her to school.
“People were like, ‘I saw your mama on the news with a busted tooth, strung out,'” she told People. “I’m like, ‘Great, like I didn’t see that, too.'”
Meanwhile, the last season of Mama June: Family Crisis detailed a financial battle between Alana, along with her older sister, Lauryn “Pumpkin” Elfird, and Mama June, who spent $35,000 of Alana’s money, which she earned from appearing on Dancing with the Stars and The Masked Singer.
Alana revealed to People that while her mother recently returned her money, she claimed Mama June has not apologized.
“There was no, “I’m sorry,'” Alana said, before also claiming that she has never seen a cent from her years appearing on TLC’s Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, which ran for four seasons from 2012 to 2014.
The show followed Alana and her family after her years on the child pageant circuit, which was documented on Toddlers & Tiaras.
However, June, for her part, told People, “I can’t really talk about [the money],” teasing, “That’s part of this season.”
While Mama June’s struggles and substance abuse — and the drama regarding Alana’s finances — led to a years-long strained relationship between the mother and daughter, Alana told People that they have patched things up … for the most part.
“[Forgiveness] was hard, but at the end of the day, she’s my mom. When she was bad in her addiction I just kept thinking about the day she’d recover,” Alana said. “We’re going pretty good. Hopefully it lasts. I just no longer have any expectations for her.”
June — who has been sober for over five years — chimed in, admitting, “I don’t remember who that person was, because I’ve worked so much on myself.”
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Meanwhile, elsewhere in the cover story, Alana opened up about narrating the upcoming Lifetime biopic about her life, I Was Honey Boo Boo.
The film dramatizes the story of her childhood on the pageant circuit, which turned her and her family into reality television stars on TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras. Alana (Vale Cooper) struggles under the pressure from Mama June (Chelsea Larkin), whom Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird (Georgia Small) learns has “spent all the Honey Boo Boo money,” before June faces scandals and legal trouble.
While talking about the film with People, Alana — who describes Mama June’s love as “transactional” in the trailer — alluded that although she doesn’t want the biopic to be overly critical of her mother, she wanted it to be an accurate portrayal.
“I did not want this movie to be throwing punches at my mama and making her out to be the bad guy,” Alana said. “But I didn’t hold back. And if she gets mad, at the end of the day, it’s the truth.”
As for her life now, Alana — who is studying nursing at Regis University in Colorado — will be the first person in her family to get a college degree.
“I just always told myself, you know, that you want to do something better with your life and bigger with your life than just being on TV, 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,” she said, later adding, “I love that I’ve persevered past who people thought I was.”
I Was Honey Boo Boo premieres Saturday, May 17 Lifetime, while Season 7 of Mama June: Family Crisis premieres on May 30 on We TV.
