What The Most Memorable Toddlers & Tiaras Stars Are Doing Now

TLC's reality show Toddlers and Tiaras became almost an instant hit when it first aired in 2008. The delightful and sometimes horrifying show followed several young girls and their overzealous moms on their journey through the children's beauty pageant circuit. 

With its heaps of mascara, tons of nylons, and way too many massive wigs, Toddlers & Tiaras was no stranger to controversy. Like the time a 4-year-old contestant smoked a fake cigarette onstage, or when a 3-year-old girl was dressed up like Julia Roberts' character from Pretty Woman — and that's just to name a few (as reported by Business Insider). 

Despite its drama, people loved Toddlers & Tiaras. In fact, according to Inside Edition, over 2 million people tuned in to each episode during the show's heyday. Viewers just couldn't get enough of those little beauty queens! Their popularity makes us wonder, where are they now? It's been a while since the show ended in 2016, so those little girls aren't toddlers anymore. Here's what the most memorable Toddlers & Tiaras stars are doing now.

According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Sarah Elizabeth (SaLiz, for short) Anderson had been competing in pageants since she was only 11 months old. The baby beauty queen wasn't originally on Toddlers & Tiaras, but, as her mother told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, "The cameras seemed to be wherever she was... every time they would pan the room in a shot, SaLiz would be there." So, the producers gave into what was already happening and put her on the show as a regular. 

Anderson was a natural in front of the cameras and on stage during pageants, but despite her great success, her mother felt it was "important for her to be a normal kid." That's probably why, as of this writing, SaLiz Anderson is still in school and rocking her "All AP and Pre-AP classes, plus basketball," as per one of her Facebook posts. But her life isn't completely normal. Anderson is also pursuing a career in music! According to her YouTube page, she's a "young hip-hop rapper" that seeks to bring "age appropriate music" that kids her age can dance and sing to.

Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson turned heads and brought in viewers from the moment she first appeared on Toddlers & Tiaras. Thompson was just 6 years old during Season 5 when, according to E! News, she became the show's biggest star. Maybe it was her big hair, but it was most likely her even bigger personality that made her so famous. The little diva was always making bold, brash comments and using catch phrases like "redneckonize" and "a dolla makes me holla." Thompson, her mother, and their crazy antics became so popular that they got their own TLC spinoff show called Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.

Where is Thompson now? She's living with her older sister. On another Thompson spinoff show, Mama June: From Not to Hot, Alana is forced to move in with her sister when her mom gets into serious trouble with the law. But Thompson is loving life with her new roomies! She spends a lot of time with her niece and constantly posts about her on her Instagram page with loving captions like, "The love I have for my niece is so pure."

In 2021, Thompson appeared on WE tv's Mama June: Road to Redemption.

Isabella Barrett wasn't the biggest star on Toddlers & Tiaras, but she quickly turned her 15 minutes of fame into some serious cash. According to the Daily Mail, the miniature pageant queen became a millionaire at only 6 years old thanks to her jewelry and makeup lines — and Barrett didn't stop there! She went on to be a stakeholder and designer in two of her very own companies: Bound By the Crown Couture and Glitzy Girl.

Where does a girl go from that kind of success? Back to TV. In 2020, Barrett starred in the Amazon reality series Next Big Thing NYC, alongside fellow pageant kid Eden Wood. The show follows a group of eight teens that are already major players in their chosen fields but want to make an even bigger mark on the world. Oh, and if running a business and appearing on a TV show wasn't enough, Barrett is also releasing a book titled Teens Guide to Business and starting a new haircare line called House of Barretti, as per an interview she did with Authority Magazine.

Ava Bartello is perhaps most famous for her incredibly dramatic meltdown on Toddlers & Tiaras. The scene in which she cries, scowls, and refuses to smile in group photos is maybe one of the most memorable tantrums on the tantrum-filled show. Why was Bartello so upset? The baby beauty queen was only crowned "Grand Supreme" and not "Ultra Grand Supreme." Poor thing.

Well, the good news is that Bartello is just as dramatic now as she was back then. She's amazingly active on her Instagram page, posting selfie after selfie after selfie — each one more filtered than the last. Bartello, like many young stars these days, is also a YouTuber. According to her YouTube bio, she posts "fashion, lifestyle, and beauty videos," like the one where she goes through her brand new school supplies, or the one where she demonstrates how she straightens her long brown hair. As her Instagram bio says, Bartello is "always a pageant girl, but now a queen."

Destiny Christian was at the heart of yet another Toddlers & Tiaras controversy: she was 4 years old when her pageant mom, Lisa Christian, dressed her up as the character Sandy from Grease. Sounds cute, right? It was, except for the fake cigarette and Lisa instructing her toddler by saying, "Don't forget to smoke!" People were not pleased. But Mrs. Christian wasn't fazed, even going so far as to defend her actions on Nancy Grace (as reported on by Today), saying, "It was just a prop — nothing more, nothing less."  

Luckily, Destiny seems to be doing well and has not yet developed a real smoking habit. The middle schooler's Facebook profile says that she "loves to model, sing, and dance. She's happiest when she is on a stage performing!" Aside from a few small acting jobs listed on her IMDb page, Destiny is just a normal kid living a normal life. She attended her first Snowball Dance, took first place with her competition dance team, and even performed at a local haunted house.

Kylie LaDuca might have had the biggest personality on Toddlers & Tiaras – and that's saying something. The little firecracker introduced herself on the show as "a little monster," and her mother described her as, "five, fearless and ferocious," as LaDuca held a crown that was just as tall as she was. While LaDuca was a successful pageant girl (winning several "Ultimates"), she was mainly focused on her budding modeling career in which she'd already earned about $30,000 (as per her mom). "The money is my favorite part," LaDuca said in a show interview. "I love money." 

LaDuca clearly still loves money as she's currently hustling hard. The "junior entrepreneur," as she's described in her official website bio, has appeared on several TV shows and runs a website. KylieLaDuca.com sells merch (designed and modeled by LaDuca herself) and hosts a blog in which she gives life updates and beauty tips.

Lacey-Mae Mason made headlines as the first child with dwarfism to appear on Toddlers & Tiaras. As per the Daily Mail, Mason was born with achondroplasia, a condition that affected her height. She was only as tall as a toddler when she appeared on the show even though she was 8 years old. "I wanted her to do one pageant so she would have that one participation trophy on her shelf to be able to say later, for her self-esteem, that 'I was in a beauty pageant,'" Lacey-Mae's mother said in an interview with Hudson Wicked Local. 

The little diva surpassed everyone's expectations when her big smile, energy, and creative Bollywood costume that won her the Overall Best Outfit of Choice award — and she's still surprising people today. As of this writing, Mason is an anti-bullying and dwarfism awareness activist. She runs "Peace By Piece" Dwarfism Awareness and Anti-Bullying Facebook page where she posts educational content, inspirational messages, and a few photos of her cat.