Mama June questions her daughter Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell’ about who will take custody of Anna’s daughter during the latest Mama June: Family Crisis.
In a sneak peak On Friday’s episode, the matriarch confronts Chickadee about preparing a legal document to appoint a guardian for Kaitlyn, 11, in the event of her death following her battle with cancer.
Chickadee died in December 2023 at the age of 29 after being diagnosed with adrenal cancer, leaving behind daughters Kaitlyn and Kylee, eight.
“I feel like the moment you take your last breath, her dad, Michael, is going to be in the front yard and pull her out of this house,” Mama June tells Chickadee in the clip, referring to Kylee’s father. ‘Would that be annoying for everyone involved? That will certainly be the case, but then we also have the situation with Kaitlyn.’
Kaitlyn’s father Eldridge has been “off the screen” and Chickadee’s response to Mama June comes as a shock.
Mama June questions her daughter Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell’ about who will take custody of Anna’s daughter on the latest Mama June: Family Crisis
In a preview of Friday’s episode, the matriarch confronts Chickadee about preparing a legal document to appoint a guardian for Kaitlyn, 11, in the event of her death following her battle with cancer.
“I want Kaitlyn to go to Eldridge,” Chickadee declares.
“I’m surprised she wants Eldridge on the papers,” Mama June says in a confessional. “Kaitlyn will be better off with me because there is stability. Eldridge has been in Kaitlyn’s life since she was about five years old. Honestly, she needs to put this shit in writing.”
Although her mother has doubts, Anna confidently asserts that Eldridge “can do it,” adding, “I just have to push him.”
She continues: I want him to want it so bad that he can’t stand it.’
Mama June then quietly asks, “What happens if he doesn’t?”
The episode comes after Mama June revealed that her family deliberately hid Chickadee’s diagnosis for months because the late TV star didn’t feel ready to make the news public.
News of her diagnosis was made public in March 2023, but Mama June, 44, confirmed the family had chosen not to tell the world when they first found out.
“We kept the stage four diagnosis out of the public until Anna was ready to tell the world,” she told DailyMail.com exclusively. “We probably kept that under our belt for three months.”
Chickadee, who died in December 2023, pictured with her daughters Kylee, 11, Kaitlyn, eight, and husband Eldridge Toney
“I have a feeling that the moment you take your last breath, her daddy, Michael, is going to be in the front yard and pull her out of this house,” Mama June tells Chickadee in the clip, referring to Kylee’s father
“I want Kaitlyn to go to Eldridge,” Chickadee declares
The decision was best for the family at the time, but her daughters Honey Boo Boo, Pumpkin and Jessica admitted they were hurt and offended by people who accused the family of using Chickadee’s death as a plot for their reality show.
Responding to the comments, Mama June said: ‘What was so crazy for us was when Anna passed away in December. I remember this vividly: For a long time, people really thought we were actually spreading false news.
‘I thought: this is absolutely not something to joke about. She died on our daughter’s birthday, 45 minutes before the clock turned twelve.’
The star raged: “That’s not something we would even play with. Many of you really think it was all for the cameras. Cancer is nothing to play with. Death is nothing to play about.”
Reflecting on how they have dealt with the aftermath of Chickadee’s death as a family, 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 that she took comfort in the people Chickadee helped.
She said: ‘There are a lot of people who said, ‘You helped me because so-and-so has cancer in my family.’ It helps them get through it.”
Pumpkin added, “It makes people a little more informed. Because Anna is so young and gets cancer at a young age, people think that maybe you should pay more attention to your health.’
Jessica agreed: ‘It can happen to anyone. You don’t have the oldest.’
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Mama June explained: ‘We kept the stage four diagnosis out of the public until Anna was ready to tell the world’
The mother of two battled adrenal cancer that progressed to stage 4 before dying on December 9 at the age of 29
Shooting Chickadee’s final moments was tough, not only for the family, but also for their loyal film crew.
Pumpkin said, “There were times when, even for us, and personally our film crew itself, it was like… they had to step back and say, ‘This is just too much even for us. cameras turned off”.
‘At one point Mariah said, “I just feel uncomfortable even filming this.” So I think it was hard for all of us.”
She continued: ‘Anna enjoyed it and everyone was very respectful until the end. We had very few takes.”
The family — aside from Honey Boo Boo — was able to take one last trip with Anna to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, 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 gone on vacation.
“It was really fun,” she began. “I feel a little differently about the trip just because the nurses told us it could potentially shorten her time.”
“I’m glad we made the trip, but you always wonder, ‘What if?’ But she was determined to make that journey.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Mama June also revealed plans to launch a service to help fans access affordable, groundbreaking weight loss drugs, after starting her own journey with miracle diabetes drugs earlier this year.
After previously insisting she had no interest in using weight-loss injections, the reality star reversed her decision in April when she started taking a form of semaglutide, similar to the popular ‘quick-fix’, Ozempic.
She said: ‘The drug is really, really, really expensive, but I have found a company that I am starting to work with and that very soon the people who use the weight loss drugs [will] have a cheaper way to obtain their medications.
Mama June announced the star’s death in December, explaining how the family came together to honor her final wishes
‘Personally, I paid $500 a month for my medications. Now I pay just $199, which includes the doctor’s visit and the medicine – and you can have it sent straight to your door.”
The beloved reality star lost 355 pounds after undergoing stomach surgery nine years ago.
However, she claimed she did gained more than 100 pounds from the stress of caring for Chickadee.
The ordeal spurred the TV matriarch to try the appetite suppressant medication, despite her previous claims that she would avoid it due to her previous addiction problems.
Mama June: Family Crisis airs on AMC Networks’ WE tv at 9 p.m.
