How Mama June And Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell Reconnected After Her Cancer Diagnosis
When "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" star Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell passed away in December 2023, it was June "Mama June" Shannon who shared the sad news with the world. "With the breaking heart, we are announcing that [Anna] is no longer with us. She passed away in my home last night peacefully at 11:12 PM" the reality TV star wrote on Instagram.
The world was first introduced to the family when Shannon's youngest daughter, Alanna "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, showed off her precocious spirit in the hit TLC show "Toddlers and Tiaras." An immediate fan favorite, Thompson was later gifted her own spinoff series, "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," which focused on the then 7-year-old and her various family members' exploits. The reality show ran for four seasons, from 2012 to 2014, and made stars not only of Thompson and her mother, but Honey Boo-Boo's three sisters too, including Cardwell.
However, despite looking like a happy albeit wild family onscreen, there was more going on behind the scenes. Cardwell revealed she didn't always live with Shannon, and had, in fact, just moved back into the house after a nine-year separation. They played nice on the show, but everything went sideways in 2014 when a huge rift between Cardwell and Shannon caused TLC to cancel the show. It looked like the relationship between mother and daughter would never be the same. And it almost wasn't, until Cardwell was diagnosed with cancer and they started to reconnect again.
What initially tore them apart?
In 2003, June "Mama June" Shannon's ex-boyfriend, Mark McDaniel, was indicted on aggravated child molestation and aggravated sexual battery charges (via Radar Online). Unnamed at the time due to her age (she was eight years old), Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell later revealed she was his victim, with the abuse continuing from October 2002 through March 2003. After everything came to light, Cardwell moved out of the family home to live with her grandmother.
When "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" began, Cardwell moved back in with Shannon. "Me and Mama realized we needed to put this behind us and get our relationship back on track," she informed People. "And that's what we did and that's what we have been doing." The reconciliation only lasted for two years, though, right up until Cardwell believed her mother was once again dating McDaniel upon his release from prison.
Shannon denied her involvement with McDaniel, but Cardwell's public insistence raised too many questions and too many eyebrows, and "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" was ultimately canceled. "I'm hurt," Cardwell told Radar Online. "I think me and Mama's relationship may well be over."
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
When did they come back together?
The relationship between June "Mama June" Shannon and her daughter, Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell, appeared to be permanently damaged following her continuing association with Mark McDaniel. In June 2021, Cardwell's sister and Shannon's daughter, Lauryn "Pumpkin" Efird, had a baby shower, and both of them attended. "When Mama and I are around each other we still talk and laugh," Cardwell told The U.S. Sun, adding, "But me and her, just sitting and having an actual conversation about stuff [...] I don't think that will probably ever happen."
Then, in February 2023, the first public sign of a possible reconciliation came when Shannon re-married her beau, Justin Stroud. Cardwell and her two young daughters, along with her three sisters, all attended the wedding in Florida. A month later, it was revealed that 28-year-old Cardwell had been diagnosed with stage four cancer in January. Shannon started traveling between her home in Alabama and Cardwell's in Georgia to help care for her daughter and grandchildren, even making plans to permanently move there.
The matriarch shared with The U.S. Sun that she and her daughter had already been mending their connection long before the diagnosis, clarifying, "The relationship with Anna was actually working before she found out that she had cancer." The day before Cardwell died, Shannon posted to Instagram, knowing the end was near: "We r enjoying the time and making the memories that will last us a lifetime."