For years, now, Alana Thompson and Lauryn Shannon have been doing their own thing without Mama June.
Yes, she’s their mother.
But June’s personal troubles and catastrophic decisions have meant that she has not fulfilled that role for them in some time. Not even for Alana, who is still a minor. Lauryn stepped in.
They have not forgotten. And Alana and Lauryn are both publicly shading June for it.
On Sunday, October 16, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson took to TikTok with a new video.
While Soulja Boy’s “Pretty Boy Swag” plays (as is the nature of this algorithmic nightmare app), the 17-year-old danced goofily.
“Sister who needed a momma,” reads the text during Alana’s segment of the video. Then, the camera shifts.
The TikTok video then shows Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon, doing her own goofy dance.
“The sister that came in clutch and raised her,” the new text reads.
If you want to see just how silly these sisters became during their TikTok video, see our GIF:
Alana and Lauryn took things even further, writing a caption alongside their TikTok post.
“If you mad keep scrolling,” the sisters instructed. “‘Cause yep it’s about you.”
As of Tuesday morning, the TikTok has enjoyed a massive audience of over 16.4 million views and well over 2 million likes.
Obviously, this post is and could only ever have been directed at Mama June Shannon.
June failed all of her children in some ways, but she very specifically failed Alana during this crucial time in her adolescence.
Lauryn stepped up. And while some TikTok commenters have expressed surprise, having no idea what went down, most of us remember all too well.
Alana is now 17 years old. Late next summer, she will turn 18 and officially become an adult.
But she was still a child — a young teen, sure, but a child nonetheless — back in March of 2019.
That was when she came to live with Lauryn, her now 22-year-old sister, and her husband, Josh Efird.
In early 2019, June and then-boyfriend Geno Doak ended up in handcuffs after an alarming altercation.
Police arrested Geno for alleged domestic violence towards June. Their search of him found both drugs.
According to June, an angry Geno then told police that June had drugs on her person, as well.
For many, this would have been a wakeup call. Unfortunately, that is not how things went for June.
What followed was months and months of alarming behavior.
June and Geno damaged her once-nice home and sold off numerous possessions, including things that did not actually belong to June.
Long before June sold her large, upper middle class house, it had already become unsafe for Alana.
(Eyewitnesses who toured the home to buy furniture for cash photographed syringes and garbage strewn about the home)
Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson is categorically unfit as a parent. Alana instead went to live with Lauryn and Josh.
Obviously, this was a lot for Lauryn to deal with.
She was already a teen mom (in lower case, not from the MTV franchise) and suddenly found herself the guardian of a fellow teen.
That is a tall order, especially given the traumatic circumstances. June’s downward spiral went on for months.
Additionally, lawyers quickly drew up documents to prevent June from accessing Alana’s money.
That is clearly the only thing that prevented June from bleeding Alana dry when she destroyed her own finances.
Truth be told, many of us believed that June’s troubled behavior would end in her death.
But, in 2020, June and Geno sought help. With the assistance of the production company behind their show, they entered rehab.
Since then, June has broken up with Geno. She has apologized to Alana. And she undergoes regular drug screenings.
But none of that changes what she put Alana through. Lauryn stepped up. And neither daughter has forgotten — nor should they.