From Pageants to Independence: What Honey Boo Boo Is Hiding About Her Life at 19

Has reality TV ever created a more unexpectedly iconic star than Honey Boo Boo? Just think about it—one moment, she’s a sparkly pageant queen with a pocketful of sass, shouting, “A dolla makes me holla!” on TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras, and the next, she’s launching a pop culture phenomenon (and a million memes) with her very own spin-off at the tender age of five . Fast-forward to today and—spoiler alert—Alana Thompson is officially nineteen, swapping the hot-glue-gun tiaras for textbooks as she navigates college life in Colorado . But does growing up with the world watching mean you ever really get to leave the “glitter” behind, or are the sequins forever stuck in your metaphorical carpet?

This article dives into the wild, sometimes turbulent ride from Honey Boo Boo to Alana Thompson, college-bound nurse-in-training, exploring fame’s price tag, family struggles, and her remarkably candid take on her unconventional journey . The new Lifetime biopic “I Was Honey Boo Boo” promises the messy truth—forced smiles, silent tears, and all those behind-the-scenes stories America never saw . Are we ready to see the real Alana? Buckle up. It’s a lot more than a catchphrase this time . LEARN MORE.

Known to reality TV fans as ‘Honey Boo Boo’, the child star is now all grown up and living her new life at 19.

Alana Thompson rose to fame at the tender age of five after appearing on TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras, which was a reality series centred around child beauty pageant contestants.

“A dolla makes me holla, Honey Boo Boo child,” was her iconic catchphrase which led to spin-off TV series Here Comes Honey Boo Boo in 2012.

As is the case with many child stars, however, Thompson suffered difficulties growing up in the public eye.

In 2014, her spin off series was cancelled amid controversies surrounding her mum June ‘Mama June’ Shannon. And such troubles are set to be documented in Lifetime’s new biopic, I Was Honey Boo Boo.

You can take a look at the trailer below:

Shannon faced struggles with substance abuse, and in 2022, Thompson’s sister Lauryn ‘Pumpkin’ Efird was granted legal custody of her.

The synopsis of I Was Honey Boo Boo focuses the ‘forced smiles, silent tears and the lingering sense of uncertainty’ faced by Thompson and her family ‘behind closed doors’.

Now, Thompson is focusing on her new life as a college student studying nursing at Regis University in Colorado, US, as she reflects to People: “Looking back it’s like, ‘Dang, I really went through all that s**t? That’s crazy’.”

Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson has opened up about her life ahead of the release of her new biopic (Noel Vasquez/Getty Images for Extra)

Of her mum, who suffered from a crack cocaine addiction, she said: “I noticed something was off about her. She started locking her doors which really made me think, ‘Oh, what is she doing?’”

Back in 2019, Shannon and her then-boyfriend Eugene ‘Geno’ Doak were arrested and charged with felony possession of drugs.

“People were like, ‘I saw your mama on the news with a busted tooth, strung out,’” she added. “I’m like, ‘Great, like I didn’t see that too’.”

When it came to the biopic addressing her and her sisters’ experiences on and off the camera, Thompson said the intention of the film was not to make her mum appear like ‘the bad guy’, adding: “But I didn’t hold back and if she gets mad, at the end of the day it’s the truth.”

Honey Boo Boo pictured in 2022 (Wil R/Star Max/GC Images)

After her elder sister gained full custody of her in 2022, Thompson was able to refocus on school and graduate a year later.

“I just always told myself you know that you want to do something better with your life and bigger with your life than just being on TV,” the star said.

“So you’ve got to get up and go, you’ve got to graduate so you can make it to college and be the nurse that you want to be.”

She added: “When I graduate I’ll be the only one in my family with a degree. I love that I’ve persevered past who people thought I was.”

I Was Honey Boo Boo, which will be narrated by Thompson, is set to premiere on Lifetime on May 17.