Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson’s upcoming Lifetime biopic, I Was Honey Boo Boo, brought some closure to the period in her life where she watched her mom battle drug addiction.
“That was a really hard time for me and I was trying to transition into high school and there was just so much going on in my life at that time,” Thompson, now 19, tells Us Weekly exclusively. “Plus, everything my mom was doing on top of that was very hard for me. So that was probably one of the hardest things to just revisit.”
“But in a way I think it kind of brought me closure just because being able to finally just say it out loud, kind of just let it get off my chest a little bit and in a way it was light closure for sure,” she added.
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo aired on TLC from 2012 to 2017, following the life of Thompson, then a child beauty pageant contestant, and her family, led by mom, June “Mama June” Shannon. When the spinoff series, Mama June: From Not to Hot, started on WeTV, Shannon began struggling with drugs. She and then-boyfriend Geno Doak were arrested in 2019 on felony drug possession just days after her family staged an intervention for her.
Far from reality? Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and her family knew how to stir up controversy on their former show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. The reality series aired on TLC from 2012 to 2014. The family initially became famous after Thompson appeared as a beauty pageant contestant on Toddlers & Tiaras before landing […]
As her mom’s addiction worsened, Thompson noticed a change.
“I just noticed her locking her door and when she locked her bedroom door, it threw me off,” she said. “But when she started locking her bedroom and bathroom door, that threw me off even more. My mom has always had an open door policy and we can come in and talk about anything to her.”
And while Thompson said she never went hungry, she was often left fending for herself for dinner.
“When she got really bad in her addiction, there wasn’t home cooked meals,” she said. “I had to figure it out on my own or I was eating a bowl of cereal or noodles or whatever it was that I could cook at that time.”
Honey Boo Boo‘s rise to fame is a case study in reality television. The 19-year-old TV personality – who became an overnight media sensation thanks to starring on season 5 of TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras – is the subject of VICE’s November 12 episode of Dark Side of Reality TV. “She was interesting to watch. […]
Thompson admitted that for the “first year or two” after her mom got sober, she worried about her relapsing. Now, Shannon has a few years of sobriety under her belt and it’s no longer a worry.
“Now it’s like I don’t think it’s even a thought in my mind just because of how anti-drug she is now,” Thompson explained. “She doesn’t like any drugs. She doesn’t smoke cigarettes, she doesn’t do alcohol, literally nothing. She doesn’t do it. She hates it. So I’m very proud of her and I don’t even think that’s a concern for me anymore.”
“We’re in a really good spot right now,” she added. “I mean, honestly, I can’t put into words how good of a spot we are in right now. It is just perfect. I mean, we don’t talk every single day, but we do make sure to communicate with each other.”
I Was Honey Boo Boo premieres Saturday, May 17 at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
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