Back to school! Before Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson returns for her senior year of high school, sister Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon is gushing over the milestone.
“Today my not so little sister had senior pictures done🥺❤️. I’m so proud of how far you’ve come against all odds that have been thrown at you,” Shannon, 22, captioned a Friday, August 5, Instagram carousel with her sister, 16, who wore a gold cap and gown. “Here to Alana’s last year of high school. Excuse me while I ugly cry lol ❤️. We love our lana.”
The girls’ aunt, Jo “Doe Doe” Shannon, also shared the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo alum’s glamour shots via her Instagram. “CLASS OF 2023 🎉🎉. So proud of you Alana and so honored to be your aunt 🥰. The world is yours and can’t wait to see how you conquer it,” Jo wrote on Friday.
Thompson, for her part, shared the proofs of her yearbook composite onto her own Instagram page as she wore an off-the-shoulder black blouse and smiled wide for the camera. “Senior year!! 💗,” the teenage reality TV alum captioned her own photos on Friday.
The Toddlers & Tiaras alum has previously been candid about growing up in the spotlight and moving past her childhood nickname. “My mama did not name me Honey Boo Boo. My name is Alana,” she told Teen Vogue in an August 2021 profile. “They are completely two different people. I would say that I do like this Alana now, rather than the younger Alana.”
The Dancing With the Stars: Junior alum added at the time: “I guess people still expect me to be little Honey Boo Boo, and I’m not anymore. Just because I’m from the South, people expect me to be all country bumpkin, out riding four wheelers all the time, but that’s not really how it is. As long as I like myself, I’m good. … I am my own person.”
Thompson — who is currently dating Dralin Carswell — rose to fame as a young competitor on the TLC docuseries about childhood beauty pageants before receiving her own spinoff series alongside her sister and their mother, “Mama” June Shannon.
“It [is] always is a work in progress,” Mama June, 42, exclusively told Us Weekly in May of her strained relationship with her daughters after battling Lauryn for custody over Thompson following her sobriety struggles. “I still understand where they’re at. … I was pissed off as hell [to start], but now that I’ve been in recovery, you know, I can [see] why they did the things that they did. We see each other. We talk. They know when they need me, I’m here.”
The Mama June: From Not to Hot star shares her youngest daughter with ex Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson, daughters Lauryn and Jessica, 25, with ex Michael Anthony Ford and eldest daughter Anna, 27, with ex David Dunn.