‘She’s not the six-year-old you fell in love with’: Mama June defends her daughter Honey Boo Boo’s romance with Dralin Carswell, 20, as she insists the child star, 16, has ‘grown up’
‘Mama’ June Shannon has defended her daughter Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson’s relationship with Dralin Cresswell, after she was trolled for dating a man who is four years her senior.
Alana, 16, has been dating Dralin Carswell, 20, for ‘over a year’ but has received negative comments from fans who believe their age gap is too big.
But June has hit back, as she explained that ‘Alana has grown up’ since she rose to fame as a contestant of child beauty pageants.
Hitting back: ‘Mama’ June Shannon (pictured on her reality show) has defended her daughter Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson’s relationship with Dralin Cresswell
Speaking in an interview with TooFab, Mama June said: ‘People need to realise that she’s going to be 17 in August and that [Alana’s older sister] Pumpkin and Josh were the same age as they were.’
Pumpkin, who was featured in Here Comes Honey Boo Boo alongside her siblings, Jessica and Anna, is currently expecting twins with her long-time boyfriend Josh.
June continued: ‘She is getting a lot of hate because she’s in an interracial relationship, he is older, but at the end of the day, Alana’s not that six/seven-year-old child y’all fell in love with 11 years ago.
‘Alana has grown up, she’s graduating high school next year, guys!’
Under fire: June said: ‘She is getting a lot of hate because she’s in an interracial relationship, he is older’ (Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson pictured with Dralin Carswell in April 2022)
Last month, Alana looked happier than ever as she donned matching outfits with her boyfriend Dralin in a rare post of the pair to Instagram.
The loved-up couple donned black t-shirts emblazoned with the writing ‘Have a Nike day!’ in white and the brand’s trademark swoosh in red.
The reality TV star, has refrained for sharing photos of her beau online after she came under fire and was forced to turn off the comments on an earlier post.
After seven months of dating, Alana shared a photo of the two last September, which she later deleted due to the ‘hate’.
Child star: She added: ‘She’s not that six/seven-year-old child y’all fell in love with 11 years ago. ‘Alana has grown up, she’s graduating high school next year, guys!’ (pictured in January 2012)
In the photo, the duo were holding hands as they wore matching T-shirts that said ‘that’s how I roll’ while at a pumpkin patch.
The post received some negative comments from fans who objected to the teenager and the 20-year-old dating.
Alana and Dralin live in Georgia where 16 is the youngest age a person can give his or her lawful consent to sexual activities.
They have now been dating for over a year and her family has approved of him despite their age difference.
He’s mine! The reality TV star, has refrained for sharing photos of her beau online after she came under fire and was forced to turn-off the comments on an earlier post
In early September, The Sun claimed that she was ‘attached at the hip’ with Dralin.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Carswell attended a Nashville technical school but now lives near in Georgia near Alana and her sister Lauryn ‘Pumpkin’ Shannon, 21, the site reported.
While he was ‘quiet at first’ around her loved ones, a source told the outlet that Carswell is ‘like one of the family now’ and is ‘as fun and crazy as the rest of them.’
‘Dralin and Alana hang out together all the time,’ the insider added of the duo, who went Facebook official in March 2021.
Happy in love: She is reportedly ‘attached at the hip’ with her boyfriend, whom she began dating in March 2021
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