Sometimes the only thing a show needs to succeed is a set of eccentric stars and lots of drama. This is exactly the case of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”, which showed us the adventures of the Shannon family, and their simple but often unconventional lifestyle.
Though “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” aired for only four seasons, the show’s popularity is still astronomical to this day. However, fame doesn’t always come alone, and a series of controversies starring the clan’s matriarch Mama June, ended up causing the show’s downfall and the family’s estrangement.
So whatever happened to Mama June? What is she doing nowadays? Does she keep in contact with her daughters, and who is her actual partner? Keep with us to know all details about June Shannon’s current life as well as getting an exclusive insight into her scandals.
Where Is She Now?
Fortunately for everyone who has loved Mama June Shannon since her TV debut in 2011, she’s still pretty much active in the entertainment world nowadays, though her path hasn’t been an easy one.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNIZQIbhrLY/
After her show “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” was cancelled in August 2014 due to her involvement with sex-offenders partners, Mama June was given another shot on TV by starring in “Mama June: From Not to Hot”, in addition to making several appearances in reality shows such as “Marriage Boot Camp” and “Dancing With The Stars”.
In 2021 Mama June celebrated the 10th anniversary of her debut as a reality star, by appearing in the “Masked Singer” competition, in which her and her daughter Alana’s identity as the Beach Ball was supposedly a secret. Though their first performance was so downvoted that they were unmasked right away, Mama June thanked everyone for the support received in her career on TV: ‘It’s been amazing fans like all of y’all out there that support us in every and each project that we do’.
If you want to keep up to date on Mama June’s whereabouts, her Instagram and TikTok accounts are very actively updated, with her personal, quirky posts.
Is She Married Now?
Though June Shannon’s personality was one of her major attractive points back when she debuted on TV, her romantic relationships have always been a subject people are very keen to talk about.
While Mama June isn’t married nowadays, and used to state her lack of interest in going through such a legal process in her early TV years, her recent interest in tying the knot was revealed when on a 2018 Instagram post, she said ‘looking to take that next step’ in her relationship with her then boyfriend Geno Doak, but whom she described as being ‘scared’ of the commitment.
June and Geno were together for five years until 2021, when media outlets reported that the couple was no longer together, apparently due to his addiction problems. The break-up took a toll on Geno, eventually landing him in a 120 days-long rehab program by the end of September that year.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=348805726614660&set=pb.100044557051026.-2207520000..&type=3
Although June was rumored to be dating the young TikToker Jordan McCollum after her latest split, her next confirmed relationship was with Justin Stroud, a mechanic from Alabama who was arrested for burglary and felony in years prior. Nonetheless, everyone wishes for Mama June to finally have found the one for her.
Is She Still In Contact With Her Daughters?
Though Mama June is still in contact with her daughters, the happy times when the Shannon family lived happily together have unfortunately been left far behind.
For starters, Mama June’s relationship with her eldest daughter Anna hit rock bottom in 2015, when the young woman accused her mother of not paying her for her TV appearances, and spending the money which had been saved in trust. Apparently, Anna was owed over $201,800, but June vehemently denied the claims by stating it was a plot created by her own mother, who she described as a ‘a money hungry bitch’.
Prior to it, Anna’s relationship with her mother had already been difficult for a while, due to June’s involvement with Mark McDaniel, who sexually abused Anna in her childhood.
As well, her relationship with her youngest daughter, Alana has been strained since June lost the girl’s custody after being arrested for drug possession in 2019, leaving her third daughter Lauryn as Alana’s legal guardian.
In June 2021 fans of the Shannon family were happy to see June reuniting with her four daughters for Lauryn’s child’s baby shower. Nevertheless, Anna later stated that despite leaving their differences aside for the special occasion, she and June’s ties were still cut.
June’s Problems With Drugs
It’s unfortunately not rare for people in the entertainment world to develop severe addictions to substances, though it was admittedly shocking to find out that Mama June wasn’t an exception to this rule.
As it happens, the first indication of June’s involvement with drugs happened back in 2019, when she was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and illegal substances in an Alabama gas station, following an altercation with her then-boyfriend Geno Doak. The controversial incident raised even more eyebrows when June later revealed that she spent $2,500 per day during her meth addiction peak, which would make around $900,000 per year.
Drugs weren’t new for June, though. As she revealed during her show “Family Crisis”, drug consumption had apparently been an issue in her family for a long time: ‘It wasn’t something that just started. I got high because I wanted to. It’s not the first time I’ve ever done drugs.’
Fortunately, June’s addictions abated following her arrest, but losing custody of her youngest daughter Alana had been a hard hit for the reality star, and is still an upsetting subject for the family, particularly as the girl herself admitted in 2019 to being ‘scared’ to stay with her mom.
Sobriety Journey
Following her arrest for drug possession in March 2019, late that year Mama June was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. The sentence came with certain conditions though, as in exchange for avoiding jail, Mama June agreed to stay sober.
Nonetheless, Mama June was aware that certain sacrifices are necessary to achieve great things. That’s why she entered a rehab program, which proved to be the right thing for her, despite the personal struggles and her poor financial situation at the time: ‘I went into rehab with $1.75 to my name, and came out with nothing’, she told Access Hollywood.
Her sobriety journey started for real in early 2020, when in an episode of “Mama June: Family Crisis”, she affirmed to have been sober for three months despite also consuming Xanax ‘to calm her nerves’. After taking a blood test, the TV specialist Dr. Ish determined that no cocaine was found in her system.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNFU9zzB9a1/
All in all, Mama June fell off a couple of times, but kept her word of keeping clean of drugs, and in mid-2021 opened up about her journey to sobriety ‘I always wake up every morning and tell myself I’m gonna stay clean for the next 24 hours’, she told Us Weekly. We can only hope her path keeps bringing her positive things in this regard.
Lawsuit
Mama June doesn’t give-off the impression of being someone who likes to take people to court, but sometimes taking legal action is necessary when things get out of control.
This is exactly what happened between Mama June and the Los Angeles’ dentist Dr. Tom Kalili in mid-2021, from whom she demanded reimbursement of $35,000 for expenses. As it happens, Dr. Kalili had initially offered his dental services in exchange for her tagging his business on social media, but after removing her teeth, he apparently refused to finish the treatment unless she featured him in her show “From Not To Hot”, an agreement which Mama June argues had never been established.
Mama June’s manager, Gina Rodriguez threatened to file a complaint against Dr. Kalili to either make him pay the reimbursement, or finish the treatment: ‘it is inhumane and criminal how he left her. The demand for press after removing her teeth is a form of extortion’, she told Page Six.
Nevertheless, Dr. Kalili’s representative affirmed Mama June requested additional and free procedures from him in a limited time, which were deemed unethical by Dr. Kalili: ‘they were setting up our office for negative publicity, even if it meant putting the patient at risk’.
It’s unknown what the issue’s outcome was, but Mama June eventually re-appeared on her social media, sporting a bright smile and with all her teeth.
What Happened To Her House?
It’s an understatement to say life hasn’t been the easiest for Mama June in recent years. Besides her personal struggles, June Shannon’s financial issues have been a severe problem in her life recently, to the point that it made her sell one precious property in very unfair conditions.
It all comes back to October 2019, when June had no money after spending a fortune on her addiction to drugs. Seeing herself thousands in debt, Mama June sold her house in Georgia for $100,000, which was notably a big loss, as she bought it in 2014 for $156,000.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the investor Mama June sold the property to, put it on the market for $225,000 not long after. Nonetheless, while the conditions of the transaction might not look good, June’s rush to pay her debts seemed to be very urgent, to the point the issue was brought out in a “From Not To Hot” episode, in which she warned her daughters that people who she owed the money to were dangerous to deal with.
Though it’s up for debate as to how genuinely the situation was managed in the show, it’s confirmed that June didn’t tell her family about the house’s sale until later.
Health / Surgeries
Unbeknownst to many, Mama June has been dealing with several health issues for a while.
For starters, she’s a legally blind product of cataracts which were apparently not well treated during her childhood, as June said during an episode of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”.
Later in her adulthood, Mama June was diagnosed with morbid obesity, struggling with it for several years before undergoing gastric sleeve surgery in 2016. After having 85% of her stomach removed by the procedure, June reduced her weight from 460lbs or 200kgs to becoming a size 4 in clothes.
Such an impressive transformation was exclusively revealed to her “From Not To Hot” viewers when the show premiered in 2017. Though prior to it, she was reported to wear disguises to keep the changes secret before the show’s premiere.
As well, June reportedly underwent other procedures, such as skin removal, plastic surgery on her arms and chin, and breast lift, which apparently cost her over $70,000. Even so, June’s huge weight loss is also the result of her own dieting and exercise efforts.
While June notably gained weight afterwards, in 2018 she told PageSix that she felt confident in her new body, as long as she didn’t surpass the 200lbs mark: ‘I feel good right now. If I lose more weight, that’s fine, but I don’t want to be super skinny’.
Her Boyfriend’s Scandals
One of the most eyebrow-raising aspects of Mama June’s personal life is definitely her choice of romantic partners.
Her eldest daughter Anna’s father is David Dunn, a man with whom June maintained a brief relationship, and who served jail time in 1995 for theft, while the father of her third daughter Lauryn is unknown. Jessica Louise’s father is Michael Anthony Ford, who in 2005 was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child, and apparently remains in jail for a different offence nowadays.
Meanwhile, Alana’s father is Mike Thompson, who the audience of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” got to know well through the show. However, many don’t know that Mike spent five years in jail for robbery in the 1990s.
While the aforementioned cases sound bad enough, June’s most scandalous romantic link was with Mark McDaniel, who reportedly abused her daughter Anna when she was eight years old. The incident happened back in 2003 when June and Mark were first dating, but according to Anna, her mother refused to believe her. It was thanks to a school teacher that Anna successfully reported Mark’s abuses, eventually leading to his 10-year sentence for aggravated child molestation.
Nonetheless, Anna’s relationship with her mother was severely strained when June reconnected with Mark in 2014, in another scandalous affair which resulted in their show’s cancellation.
Even if some of Mama June’s personal endeavors have put her career on TV in jeopardy, she’s kept afloat in the entertainment world regardless. Nonetheless, it’s really up to her what her career will be like in the years that follow; be prepared for anything!
