Alana Thompson, better known to the world as Honey Boo Boo, has accused her mother of stealing money and selling the family’s home at the height of her drug addiction.
Speaking to People ahead of the release of I Was Honey Boo Boo, her new Lifetime biopic, Thompson, 19, detailed more of the drama between her and her mother, “Mama June” Shannon.
After rising to fame on the fifth season of TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras, Thompson continued to be followed by cameras throughout most of her adolescence and teen years. A few spinoffs followed the family as they endured highs and lows, including the 2023 death of Thompson’s sister, Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, aged 29.
Around 2019, when cameras were rolling on the spinoff Mama June: From Not to Hot — which has since been retitled Mama June: Family Crisis — Thompson noticed “something was off” about her mom.
“She started locking her doors, which really made me think, ‘Oh, what is she doing?’”
Shannon was deep in addiction to crack cocaine, leading to her March 2019 arrest and felony drug possession charge.
Thompson said her peers took note of what was happening at that time. “People were like, ‘I saw your mama on the news with a busted tooth, strung out,’” she recalled. “I’m like, ‘Great, like I didn’t see that too.’”
But Thompson’s woes didn’t end there.
She claimed Shannon sold the family’s home and other belongings during the same time period. Thompson also claimed Shannon stole $35,000 of the teen’s Dancing With the Stars earnings that same year. The funds were recently returned to Thompson, but without an apology.
“There was no, ‘I’m sorry,’” Thompson said. She also claimed she’s never seen a dime from her time on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, which ran from 2012-2014 on TLC.
The Independent has reached out to representatives of Shannon for comment.
When asked by People about the money, Shannon said she couldn’t discuss it. “That’s part of this season,” she added, referring to the seventh season of Mama June: Family Crisis.
Thompson has, for the most part, reconciled with her mother. She said it “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. We’re going pretty good. Hopefully it lasts. I just no longer have any expectations for her.”
