Alana Thompson, better known as Honey Boo Boo, stole our hearts when she first appeared on season five of Toddlers and Tiaras, with fans getting a further glimpse into her turbulent family life with their 2012 reality show. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo ran for four seasons on TLC, and chronicled the life of the young girl with armfuls of sass and a big personality. Now, with Alana celebrating her milestone 20th birthday, join HELLO! as we look back at her incredible growth from child star to hardworking college student.
A turbulent childhood
Alana started as a child beauty pageant contestant on Toddlers and Tiaras when she was just five years old. She quickly became a fan-favorite thanks to her hilarious one liners and larger-than-life personality, before nabbing her own reality show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. The series documented the lives of her and her family, including her mother, June Shannon, and her sisters Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon and Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird.
The show was cancelled two years later in 2014, after it came to light that June had previously been involved with a convicted sex offender. “TLC has canceled the series Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and ended all activities around the series, effective immediately,” the network shared in a statement. “Supporting the health and welfare of these remarkable children is our only priority. TLC is faithfully committed to the children’s ongoing comfort and well-being.”
Back on our screens
Alana returned to our screens in 2017 on a reality show that centered around her mother, titled Mama June: Family Crisis. The show followed June and the family as they grappled with Anna’s cancer diagnosis. She sadly passed away in December 2023. In 2018, Alana joined the cast of Dancing with the Stars: Juniors and partnered with Tristan Ianiero. “Everyone around me was so supportive,” she told People after placing 8th. “Some days I would get super nervous and frustrated, but Artem and Tristan were supportive and told me I was going to be great.”
Seven years later, fans got a glimpse into her chaotic childhood in the Lifetime biopic I Was Honey Boo Boo, which chronicled the darker side of her child stardom and her fraught relationship with her mother, who battled with addiction for years.
A fraught relationship
June lost custody of Alana in 2019 after she was charged with possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, alongside her then-partner. Lauryn became her sister’s legal guardian and later gained sole custody in Alana’s late teen years. The pair went on to reconcile, and each of June’s daughters attended her wedding to Justin Stroud in 2023. Sadly, Alana and June fell out again in 2024 when she accused her mother of stealing $35,000 from her as a child, sharing that she had refused to pay it back.
© WireImageAhead of the release of I Was Honey Boo Boo, Alana shared that while they still had a rocky relationship, she didn’t want to end it altogether. “I did not want this movie to be throwing punches at my mama and making her out to be the bad guy,” she told People. “If she gets mad, at the end of the day, it’s the truth.”
© Getty ImagesMoving forward
Alana graduated from high school in 2023 and went on to begin a degree in neonatal nursing at Regis University in Colorado. “I’m just looking forward to helping people,” she told the publication. “I really want to be a neonatal nurse, so I want to work with little babies. I want to work with little babies, I don’t want to have no babies though. That’s my motto.”
© Getty ImagesThe TV personality raised concern after she began dating Dralin Carswell when she was just 16 years old and he was 21. “I don’t care because at the end of the day, my sister approves, his mom approves, and we’re happy, so what fans got to say or what haters got to say, I don’t really care,” she told Entertainment Tonight in 2022. Despite their age gap, the duo live together in Colorado and appear to be going strong.
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