Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson has some questions regarding a car accident her and her family sustained in 2014 — mainly, whether or not it was intentional.
“There [were] just times when my dad, he would just get super angry and he let his anger issues just get the best of him,” Thompson, 19, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, May 17, while promoting Lifetime’s new series I Was Honey Boo Boo. “So you never really knew when he was angry, what would happen. It was just always up in the air. There [were] times [when] he would just rip his clothes off or just throw things or punch walls. It was just a little scary. You never know what could happen when he got angry.”
Thompson’s father, David “Sugar Bear” Thompson, was driving when the family got into a car accident in McIntyre, Georgia, in 2014. As Us reported at the time, Sugar Bear was making a left turn when another car slammed into them. Mama June (real name June Shannon), Pumpkin (real name Lauryn Shannon) and Chubbs (real name Jessica Shannon) were also in the car at the time of the collision.
“As many of you heard we were in a car accident last night,” Mama June said via a statement to Us at the time. “It was really scary for us, since it was the first time any of us had ever been in a wreck. We are definitely really sore today, but our top priority is to celebrate Pumpkin’s birthday. She turned 14 today and no matter how sore we feel we are going to go out and celebrate. As always we want to thank everyone for their support and well wishes.”
Honey Boo Boo gave Us an update on where her relationship with her father stands.
“I don’t talk to him at all,” she said on Wednesday. “I haven’t talked to him in a very long time. I can’t even tell you the last time I talked to him. That’s how long it’s been.”
The family’s often dramatic and complicated dynamics played out in front of the cameras in TLC’s Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, which aired from 2012 to 2017. Honey Boo Boo says the series and its popularity were likely one of the reasons why her parents eventually split.
“I feel like the cameras maybe brought the family farther apart in a way, just because my dad wasn’t a big fan of it,” she explained. “So he didn’t really agree with it and my mom loved it, so it was like their outlooks were completely different and I think that had a little bit to do with their breaking up and falling out and everything.”
Mama June and Sugar Bear met in 2004, before welcoming Honey Boo Boo in 2005. The pair were never legally married but did exchange vows in a commitment ceremony documented on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. In 2014, they called it quits after Mama June allegedly found online dating profiles of Sugar Bear.
Mama June moved on with boyfriend Geno Doek. The pair were arrested in 2019 on felony drug possession charges, just days after her family staged an intervention for her. She has since gone on to marry Justin Stroud, who has also struggled with drug abuse.
Now back in front of the cameras to tell her own story in her own words, Honey Boo Boo tell Us that while looking back on her relationship with her dad was cathartic, there were many parts that were simply too painful to include.
“I mean, there was a lot of things that my father did that I didn’t include in this story just because it was just very hard for me to just look back on that,” she explained. “So I was like, ‘I would just rather not.’ I just didn’t even include it.”
She continued, “I feel I’ve kind of gotten closer and I feel like, in a way, I just kind of push it to the side and I’m just like, ‘It’s OK.’ I mean, he’s never fully been there for me like I need him to be. I’m at the point of now I’m just like, he’s never going to be there for me. So, yeah, I just accept it.”
I Was Honey Boo Boo premieres Saturday, May 17, at 8/7C on Lifetime.