“I don’t need the drama.”
A 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant named Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson once said those cheeky words on her TV show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. And yet, 10 years, several spinoffs and endless headlines later, the Toddlers & Tiaras alum and her family are still drawing viewers in with their on and off screen antics.
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo premiered on Aug. 8, 2012 and immediately became a guilty pleasure for viewers, thanks to Honey Boo Boo’s hilarious one-liners. That and the complicated relationships between matriarch June “Mama June” Shannon, her boyfriend Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson and Mama June’s three older daughters, Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon and Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon.
While the show ended its four-season run in 2014, audiences have continued to watch as Mama June and Sugar Bear split, both have gotten remarried and Pumpkin has welcomed four children.
Not to say their lives have remained entirely off of TV. Various spinoffs—including Mama June: Road to Redemption, which just wrapped its fifth season in July—have followed the family and their drama, such as a custody battle for Alana and Mama June’s battle with substance abuse.
Still, there are events to celebrate, like, if you want to feel old, Alana, 16, graduating high school next year. They grow up so fast, right?
