Thompson family is one of the most interesting and unusual in the world. Their reality show, named “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”, gathered more than 2 million viewers near the screen, when its pilot episode was on the air. Often Thompsons are compared with the Kardashians, who rose to fame due to the reality show too. Although the two families are complete opposites (The Kardashians are perfectly fit and rich, while the Thompsons are prone to obesity and poor), they both managed to create the most popular reality TV series in the world. Let’s look a little closer at the unusual members of this family!
Who are Alana Thompson parents?
June Shannon (mother)
photo instagram / mamajune
Date of birth: August 10, 1979
Alana’s mother, June Shannon is named one of the most famous plump women in the USA. The woman, who had neither money nor beauty, managed to become a star due to her strong desire and doubtless faith.
She was born in McIntyre, a small town in Georgia. When the girl turned 2, her mother Sandra split from her father Melvin Shannon. Thus, June and her older sister Joanne lived in poverty with a single parent. By the way, Joanne makes occasional appearances on the reality show.
June had never been a brilliant student. She dropped out of school at the age of 15. At that age, she had already got pregnant with an occasional boyfriend and soon welcomed her first daughter Anna.
photo instagram / mamajune
After that, the woman’s personal life reminded a carousel. She dated numerous men and welcomed three more daughters – each of them had a different father. One of June’s boyfriends, Mark McDaniel, sexually molested her kid Anna, when the girl was just 8. She opened up about it at Dr. Phil’s show. If that’s not enough, Mrs. Shannon told, that she was in a relationship not just with men, but also with women.
So, June, who is almost blind due to cataracts, spent too much time, looking for new boyfriends. At the same time, she had no time for work, which led their family to poverty. To feed her kids, the woman cut discount coupons from newspapers and bought cheap products. Unhealthy food made June and her daughters gain weight. Not long ago she appeared in another reality show, were tried to get rid of extra kilos with the help of a professional trainer and nutritionist. As for now, she boasts more than 60 kg of weight loss. To achieve her aim, she passed through a number of surgeries, too.
The weight-loss show is not the first one, where a woman is featured as an actress. For the first time, she appeared on the screen with her daughter Alana, who tried to get the title of the most beautiful girl in the show “Toddlers & Tiaras”, arranged by TLC. The plump blonde girl Alana didn’t look classically beautiful but was so unusual, that managed to gain a large fan base. The girl’s popularity was so overwhelming, those producers decided to create a reality show, centered on her. Thus, the Thompson family turned into reality stars of the show “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”, which was on air for two seasons and ended in 2014. That very year Mama June split from Alana’s dad.
Mike Thompson (father)
Date of birth: December 13, 1971
One of the reasons for June’s decision to lose weight was her separation from long-term partner Mike Thompson. Although they have never been married officially, two sweethearts arranged a great wedding ceremony in one episode of their show. But then they parted ways, naming infidelity as a reason. But each of them blamed another one for being unfaithful.
Mike Thompson was born in Georgia. He has two brothers – Billy and Poodle, the last of them are HIV positive. Their mother died from the disease.
In 1998 Mike had law issues. He was sued for 5 years for robbery. In 2004 she started to communicate with an online friend June. Soon they met, fell in love, and moved together.
In 2005 the couple welcomed only one common daughter Alana. The girl became popular due to a child beauty contest she participated in. In 2012 Alana, nicknamed Honey Boo Boo, became the main heroine of the family reality show. Mike Thompson was also featured there. He was nicknamed “Sugar Bear”.
In spite of their sudden popularity, his relationship with June gradually deteriorated. He blamed his partner for cheating on him. At the same time, the man confessed in public, that he “arranged sexual experiments with guys”.
After his split from Mama June, the man started dating another Georgian girl – Jennifer Lamb. In January 2017 they tied the knot.
In her interviews, June accused her ex of physical abuse. “He beat me and my kids”, the woman told me.
Nowadays Mike Thompson seems to be quite happy, in spite of the health issues he has. The man is diagnosed with diabetes. Previously he had a mental disorder.
In 2022 he underwent plastic and dental replacement surgery. After that, he confessed to his fans that he feels very confident to open up his mouth.
Alana Thompson siblings
Anna Shannon Cardwell (older half-sister)
Date of birth: August 28, 1994
Anna is the first child of Mama June, whom she welcomed at the age of 15. The girl is nicknamed Chickadee in the family circle. Alana and Anna share the same birthday. She rose to fame mostly as a member of the Thompson family, who started in a number of reality series. The woman herself starred in one episode of Dr. Phil’s show, where she shared with the viewers, that she had a very complicated relationship with her mother, who took cash from their common account without permission and couldn’t defend her daughter from the boyfriend. He touched the kid in an appropriate way.
As for now, Anna is married to Michael Cardwell. They have already welcomed a daughter Kylee. She has a daughter Kaitlyn from her previous relationship.
Jessica Shannon (older half-sister)
photo instagram / _october_12_
Date of birth: October 12, 1996
Like her other family members, she turned into a reality TV star after the release of the series featuring Honey Boo Boo. Her family nickname is Chubbs. Her father’s name is David Ford.
Lauryn Shannon Efird (older half-sister)
photo instagram / lauryn_shannon7
Date of birth: January 7, 2000
Another older half-sister of Alana Thompson was born in Georgia in 2000. She is nicknamed Pumpkin. Together with her mother, a girl opened up, that she was bisexual. Lauryn rose to fame due to the family show “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”.
Like her mother, Lauryn gave birth to her first baby at a very early age. At 17 years old she welcomed a daughter Ella Grace Efird with her boyfriend Joshua Efird. She wedded the father of her kid in May 2018. Pumpkin wanted to study at a beauty school.
She welcomed 3 more kids with her husband Joshua. In July 2021 they became parents of a cute boy Bentley Jameson Efird. On May 19, 2022, Lauryn and Joshua had twins Sylus and Stella.
Interesting and fun facts
On November, 29 Alana was featured on the Dumb Blonde podcast with her sister Lauryn. Once again, the siblings shared their experience as reality TV stars and admitted that after the 4th season of their family show “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” some problems and conflicts appeared within their tight circle. That’s caused the show cancellation.
In September 2021 Alana confirmed, that she has been in a relationship with a man for 5 years her senior since she was 15. His name is Dralin Carswell. That caused a wave of hatred among Alana’s fans, especially taking into consideration the fact that her partner was arrested and accused of a kid’s rape in 2019.
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