Mama June Shannon’s husband Justin and granddaughter Kaitlyn.
NEED TO KNOW
- Mama June Shannon’s granddaughter Kaitlyn, 12, is adjusting to home life since the custody win
- Kaitlyn said in a confessional that her time living with her grandmother and her husband Justin Stroud has been “really great”
- Kaitlyn is the daughter of Shannon’s late daughter Anna, who died at age 29 following a diagnosis of stage 4 adrenal carcinoma
Mama June Shannon’s granddaughter is adjusting to life since their custody win.
In an exclusive clip shared with PEOPLE ahead of this week’s new episode of Mama June: Family Crisis, Kaitlyn, 12, who’s the granddaughter of the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo star, 45, opens up about what life has been like since they won the custody battle.
“It’s been really great here since like we won custody and stuff and I’m really happy about that,” she says in a confessional. “But school’s finally starting and I’m glad it’s starting because I need a break from June’s hollering.”
The clip also shows some cute moments between Shannon’s husband Justin Stroud and Kaitlyn. As the tween is getting ready for the day, Stroud comes in to help her curl her hair. In a confessional, Kaitlyn, who is sitting beside Stroud, notes that her hair needs to look “skippity.”
“Well, listen, I don’t know if I speak your language, but I take my parent duties very seriously, so we’re going to do what we need to do to get the job done,” Stroud says in response to Kaitlyn.
“Okay, well, don’t fry my hair off,” she replies.
“I’ll try not to,” Stroud adds with a slight smile, before Kaitlyn sarcastically says, “I’m sure you will.”
Kaitlyn is the daughter of Shannon’s late-daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell. Anna died at age 29 on Dec. 9, 2023, following a diagnosis of stage 4 adrenal carcinoma. She is mom to an 8-year-old daughter Kylee, whom she shared with ex Michael Cardwell, and Kaitlyn, whom she welcomed during a previous relationship.
According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE in September 2024, Shannon was awarded custody of her granddaughter by a Georgia judge on Friday, Sept. 20. InTouch was the first to report the news at the time.
The judge ruled that the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo star would be granted full custody of Kaitlyn, after her former son-in-law Michael — who’s not the child’s father but began dating Anna in 2013 when Kaitlyn was 8 months old — filed to regain custody and visitation of his stepdaughter in December 2023.
Mama June Shannon, her granddaughter Kaitlyn and her husband Justin.
During an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the Mama June: Family Crisis star opened up about the “emotional” impact of her fight for custody. Shannon told PEOPLE that she kept fighting because she “knew what Anna wanted.”
“It was emotional because you have to go through that,” she said. “I mean I hated that we have to go through that. We couldn’t sit down and talk things out and come to an agreement as much as I had begged for that. But it is what it is. It ain’t what it ain’t.”
“At the end of the day, I knew what Anna wanted, and we just went and did it, and I mean we had no other choice,” she added. “That’s why I tell you why I’m like, you either follow what Anna wanted her to do or not fight. And that’s what we did. We fought and it was a long battle. It went from one day to three and a half days with the court.”
