When it comes to her tumultuous upbringing, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson is ready to share her side of the story, and she promises she’s putting forth nothing but the truth — even if Mama June Shannon doesn’t like it.
“This is my truth, and I didn’t lie about anything,” Thompson exclusively tells Parade when asked if she’s nervous for her mother, 45, to see the new biopic about her life, I Was Honey Boo Boo. “It’s what happened. It’s how I’ve seen it.”
In the nearly 90-minute film, Thompson, now 19, narrates several details of her life that are reenacted by actors, including her time on TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras and her family’s rise to fame. She even goes into detail about the tougher times, like when her now estranged father, Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson, got into a serious car crash with her as a passenger and her mom’s drug addiction that led to Thompson moving in with her sister Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird.
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Despite Thompson laying it all on the table, her mother and two sisters, Lauryn and Jessica Louise “Chubbs” Shannon (her oldest sister, Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, died in 2023 after being diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma), haven’t said much about the project.
“Honestly, there is like, really, no feedback,” Thompson adds. “Everybody’s excited just to see it. Nobody’s really seen it, so they don’t really even know what to expect, and they don’t know what even is in the movie, except [from what they’ve seen in] the trailer.”
She continues, “They may feel mixed emotions. I don’t know. I feel like this is my story and my truth, so I had to tell it to the truth.”
Related: Mama June’s Net Worth in 2025 and Why She’s Not Nearly As Rich As She Could Have Been
While several scenes may be hard for fans to see, Thompson shares that re-living the trauma has been a form of therapy.
When asked if the process of filming was therapeutic, she replies, “I think so,” adding: “I think in a way it was. I think in a way it was almost like closure because I got to say it out loud and to actually feel like, how I felt, you know?”
I Was Honey Boo Boo premieres Saturday, May 17, on Lifetime at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
