More Mama June drama, because of course. This situation is just so awful. I don’t really blame TLC for dropping Here Comes Honey Boo Boo like a hot potato, but I sort of feel like TLC could have taken more proactive actions to ensure that the kids were and are okay. I guess the only thing that matters to TLC is the bottom line though.
So, TMZ has been the site with all of the scoops on June and child molester Mark McDaniel. McDaniel molested June’s daughter Anna when Anna was just eight years old. McDaniel served a 10-year prison sentence for child molestation and he got out of jail this past March. Many sources now believe that June was seeing McDaniel as soon as he got out of prison, and that she had always had a thing for him, even when she was with Sugar Bear. Sugar Bear is Honey Boo Boo’s father, just FYI. Sources told TMZ that “June kept a box of photos of her and McDaniel in the house … something Sugar Bear knew about and protested, to no avail. She would NOT get rid of them.” Sugar Bear and June would always argue about McDaniel because June still had feelings for him. Family sources tell TMZ that they believe June was fooling around McDaniel behind Sugar Bear’s back and that is why they split.
TMZ also published a photo of McDaniel, June and Honey Boo Boo together. Sugar Bear is not happy about it – go here to see his reaction. So… now there’s a conversation happening about whether June should lose custody of her kids. People Magazine published a lengthy article yesterday about the involvement of Georgia’s Division of Family and Child Services.
Are the kids all right? Following reports last week that June Shannon, matriarch of TLC’s once-hit show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, is dating Mark Anthony McDaniel, a man who allegedly served time for molesting her eldest daughter Anna Cardwell, TLC swiftly pulled the plug on the family’s show. Now, a spokesperson for child services in the family’s home state of Georgia says that in a case like Shannon’s, TV fame may not be the only thing she stands to lose.
“Generally speaking, when we receive a report that children are living around a sex offender … it would certainly rise to the level of concern of us looking into it,” Susan Boatwright of Georgia’s Division of Family and Child Services tells PEOPLE.
Shannon is mother and primary caregiver to the show’s star Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson as well as Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon and Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, all minors. Her eldest, Anna, now 20, is married with a child of her own.
Because of privacy laws, Boatwright is unable to confirm any ongoing investigations into the allegations against Shannon, but says, “From our point of view, when there are young children who are not able to protect themselves that are in daily contact or living with a sex offender, someone would go out and assess the situation and decide whether the children can stay there or not. If we thought a child was in harm’s way in any way, shape or form, we would develop a safety plan and make sure the children are not around an offender.”
On Sunday, TMZ posted photos allegedly taken last month showing Shannon and McDaniel with Alana on a staircase together. Shannon continues to claim that she and McDaniel are not romantically involved.
“It isn’t true, I promise,” she wrote on her Facebook page following the initial reports.
It sounds like the family is being evaluated quietly, but there’s no hard evidence of any current wrong-doing. That’s what TMZ says – they spoke to law enforcement sources in Georgia and they were told that McDaniel “is not legally prohibited from hanging out with June, Honey Boo Boo or anyone else in her family … except Anna. So far, there’s been no violation.” McDaniel has been in “total compliance” with the terms of his release so far. Ugh.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, PCN, WENN.
Thanks to Cele Bitchy
