Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and June “Mama June” Shannon reveal how they’re keeping Anna Cardwell’s memory alive more than one year after her death during an exclusive interview with In Touch.
“We talk about her every day,” June, 45, exclusively tells In Touch about her late daughter, Anna, who died at the age of 29 in December 2023 following her cancer battle.
Alana, 19, adds that “every little thing we do honors her.” The college student continues, “Just, like, me being in nursing school, like, honors her ’cause that’s what she wanted for me. And I mean, we all have her in our house and we have pictures of her.”
“I feel like everything reminds me of her. Like, I’ll just look at a green wall and I’m like, ‘OK,’” Alana shares, adding that her older sister loved the color army green that is featured on the walls of her home. “Her little urn, or whatever, is sitting, like, on the green wall. I’m like, ‘Anna, you look beautiful.’”
June then points out that Alana and Anna share a birthday of August 28, which helps them feel connected to her. “People don’t realize that either,” she says. “That’s another thing, you know?”
“When you walk into my house and the new house, you see her right there at the front door,” June explains of her decoration plans for the house she just moved into. “And we’re gonna make, like, a picture wall of, like, all pictures throughout the year of like her and the kids and everybody.”
June adds that it’s “especially” important to remember Anna since her daughter Kaitlyn, 12, currently lives with June and her husband, Justin Stroud.
“It is very hard to even, like, try and look back on pictures of, like. when she was younger,” Alana continues. “When she first had Kailyn and stuff. But I do think it’s good, like, sometimes when we sit around and, like, do it with Kaitlyn because … it’s just showing her the memories that she does have with her mom.”
After Anna died following her cancer battle, June battled Anna’s ex-husband, Michael Cardwell, in court over who should have custody of her eldest daughter. Kaitlyn initially lived with June and Justin, though Michael filed a separate case demanding primary custody of Kaitlyn.
A Georgia judge ultimately rules that June would have primary custody of Kaitlyn in September 2024.
In addition to Kaitlyn, Anna also shared daughter Kylee, 9, with Michael, whom she was married to from 2014 until 2017. Michael – who is not Kaitlyn’s biological father but helped raise her during their marriage – currently has custody of Kylee.
June Shannon, Alana Thompson
While speaking to In Touch, June also shares an update about how Kaitlyn is doing now that her custody has been sorted. “She’s doing very good,” June says. “She just started a new school three months ago and we just moved into a new house.”
Mama June: Family Crisis season 7 is currently airing on WeTV on Fridays at 8 pm ET.
