Mama Jun Shannon has revealed that her family deliberately kept her daughter Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell's cancer diagnosis hidden for months, because the late TV star didn't feel ready to go public with the news.
Chickadee was diagnosed with adrenal cancer in January 2023 which later progressed to stage 4, and she died, aged 29, on December 9, leaving behind daughters Kaitlyn, 11, and Kylee, eight.
The news of her diagnosis was made public back in March 2023, but Mama June, 44, confirmed that the family had chosen to delay telling the world when they first found out.
'We held the stage four diagnosis out of the public until Anna was ready to tell the world,' she told DailyMail.com exclusively. 'We kept that underneath our belt for probably three months.'
The decision was best for the family at the time, but her daughters Honey Boo Boo, Pumpkin and Jessica admitted they were left hurt and offended by people who went on to accuse the family of using Chickadee's death as a plot for their reality show.
Mama June Shannon has confirmed that the family kept her late daughter Anna 'Chickadee' Cardwell 's cancer diagnosis hidden for several months
The news of her diagnosis was made public in March 2023 because the late TV star hadn't been ready to share the news with the world when she was initially diagnosed
Addressing the comments, Mama June said: 'What was so crazy for us is when Anna passed away in December. I remember this vividly, for a long time people really thought that we was actually putting out false news.
'I was like, this is definitely not something to joke about. She passed away on our daughter's birthday, 45 minutes before the clock turned 12.'
The star fumed: 'That is not something that we would even play with. A lot of you really think that it was all like put on for the cameras. Cancer is nothing to play about. Death is nothing to play about.'
Reflecting on how they have been coping as a family in the wake of Chickadee's death, she continued: 'For me, it's been a personal day-to-day thing. It's only been six months.
'I feel like I need to wake up from this nightmare. It's still a dream, if that makes sense.'
Honey Boo Boo admitted she has taken comfort in the people Chickadee helped.
She said: 'There's a lot of people that said, "You helped me because so-and-so has cancer in my family." It's helping them get through.'
Pumpkin added: 'It makes people a little bit more knowledgeable. Anna being so young and having cancer at a young age is making people think maybe you should check on your health a little bit better.'
Jessica agreed: 'It could happen to anybody. You don't have the older.'
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Mama June explained: 'We held the stage four diagnosis out of the public until Anna was ready to tell the world'
The mom-of-two battled adrenal cancer that progressed to stage 4 before she died on December 9, aged 29
Recording Chickadee's final moments was tough, not just for the family, but also their long-serving film crew.
Pumpkin said: 'There were times that, even for us, and personally our film crew themselves were just like... they had to take a step back and said, "This is just too much even for us. We have to put our cameras down".
'At one point, Mariah was like, "I just feel uncomfortable even filming this". So I think for all of us it was hard.'
She continued: 'Anna enjoyed it and up until the very end, everybody was very respectful. We had very minimal filming.'
The family - apart from Honey Boo Boo - were able to take a final trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee with Anna as they honored her dying wish to spend more time with her loved ones.
Pumpkin admitted that while she loved the trip, she still has mixed feelings about whether the family should have taken the vacation.
'It was really nice,' she began. 'I feel a little different about the trip just because going into it, the nurses told us this could possibly lessen her time.
'I'm glad that we did take the trip, but it does always make you wonder, "What if?" But she was bound and determined to go on that trip.'
Chickadee pictured with her daughters Kylee, 11, Kaitlyn, eight and husband Eldridge Toney
Mama June announced the star's death in December and detailed how the family gathered together to honor her last wishes
Elsewhere in the chat, Mama June also revealed plans to launch a service helping fans to get access to affordable game-changing weight loss medication, after starting her own journey with miracle diabetes medications earlier this year.
After previously insisting she had no interest in using weight-loss injections, the reality star U-turned on her decision back in April when she started taking a form of semaglutide, similar to the popular 'quick-fix,' Ozempic.
She said: 'The medicine is truly, truly, truly expensive, but I found a company that I am starting to work with that very soon the people who are on the weight loss medication [will] have a more affordable way to get their medicine.
'I personally was paying $500 a month for my medicine. Now I only pay $199, and that includes the doctor visit and the medicine - and you can have it shipped right to your door.'
The beloved reality star famously shed 355 pounds after undergoing gastric sleeve surgery nine years ago.
However, she claimed to have gained over 100 pounds from the stress of caring for Chickadee.
The ordeal spurred the TV matriarch to try the appetite suppressant drugs, despite her earlier claims that she would avoid it due to her past addiction struggles.
Mama June: Family Crisis premieres at 9pm on June 14 on AMC Networks' WE tv.
