June Shannon‘s battle in custody court with her former son-in-law Michael Cardwell may be over, but the WEtv star is continuing her fight against him by firing shots in the press.
In a new interview with People, the Mama June: Family Crisis called out Michael— who is the ex-husband of June’s late daughter Anna and the father of June’s granddaughter Kylee— for not allowing her and her family to see the nine-year-old. According to June, Michael moved to Alabama after marrying London Smith in September, which put even more distance between Kylee and June’s family.
As The Ashley previously reported, Kylee’s mom, Anna, passed away in December 2023 after a battle with cancer. Immediately following Anna’s death, Kylee went to live with her father Michael. In addition, Michael filed for custody of Anna’s oldest daughter, Kaitlyn, whom he helped raise, although he is not biologically related to her. After a nasty court battle, June was awarded full custody of Kaitlyn in September, with Michael not even receiving visitation.
According to June, Michael has made sure that June and her family (aside from Kaitlyn) have not had access to Kylee.
“We had to also deal with Michael taking Kylee away from everybody here and moving to Alabama,” she told the magazine, adding that she expressed to Michael that she was worried Kaitlyn and Kylee wouldn’t see each other if he moved away with Kylee. “Boom. The court case ends, he gets remarried and they move back to Sylacauga, Alabama.”
(Sylacauga, Alabama, is about four hours away from June’s current home in Ivey, Georgia, just FYI.)
After accusing Michael of selling “the same pipeline dream” to his new wife London that he once sold to Anna, June claimed that Anna was worried that Michael would take Kylee away from June & Co. after her death.
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“[That was] something she really struggled with.” June said of Anna. “That’s why we fought [him for custody of Kaitlyn] and was like, ‘Okay, let’s go to war.'”
June made it clear that Kylee and Kaitlyn have access to each other and have been able to spend time together, and that Kaitlyn has spent time with Michael and his family (who also helped raise her). However, June said that she and her family members have not allowed to take Kylee for a visit since she went to live with Michael.
“We weren’t able to say our goodbyes and spend time with Kylee,” June said. “We want to see Kylee, but the message was — to me from Michael — that Kylee is not going out of his sight, and if he has to pay for that later then he will.”
June claimed that even Anna’s widower Elridge Toney— who lived with both of Anna’s daughters for years and was an active stepdad to them— has not been spend time with Kylee.
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Back in September, Michael’s wife London denied that she and Michael were not allowing Kylee to see Kaitlyn– a rumor that June’s daughter Alana Thompson had proclaimed on social media in July– calling the claim “dead wrong.” London went on to reveal that Kaitlyn and Kylee are able to communicate with one another. June went on to confirm in the comment section of London’s Facebook post that Kaitlyn and Kylee do have access to each other, with London noting that she and Michael are trying to work with June and her family so that Kaitlyn and Kylee can continue to have a relationship.
Michael and London have not responded to the claims that June made in her new interview.
RELATED STORY: Mama June Shannon Reveals the “Crazy” Ways Her Family Keeps Daughter Anna Cardwell’s Memory Alive, Nearly One Year After Her Death
(Photos: WEtv; Instagram; Facebook)
16 Responses
June has no room to talk she gave up her youngest daughter to bounce from state to state & sold their home out from under them without any notice!
As much as I liked Anna, arrangements SHOULD have been made for BOTH thenl girls to stay together & that would be a healthier place with michael NOT June.
I think the reason he’s moved Kylee is to give her a fresh start after her mothers death. Maybe move her closer to his family etc. There could be a number of reasons behind that move & let’s not forget June’s family is all toxic because that’s the way she raised them.
June is toxic, she’s only keeping Kaitlyn for the pay checks behind her. Pumpkin is in the midst of a divorce, Jessica does her own thing & Alana is away at school (the only one who is thriving and doing well).
You know what June, had you allowed Katelyn to stay with her father (the man who raised her) I bet he wouldn’t have done this. You are selfish for not allowing the only man who stepped up to be that little girls father. I wish her real dad would come forward and take her from you because you are a poor excuse for a mother. You raised 1 child that frauded the government for $20k for the liss of business of a taxi service, you raised one who is very smart but can’t live without a man like you, you have one that is doing well and Anna didn’t have anything to do with you for many years because you stole from her. So quit crying.
one thing i didnt see June mention….is she allowing Kaitlyn to see Michael?
Of course he doesn’t want Kylee around June. No semi-decent parent would. It’s bad enough she has Katelynn. I will never understand how she got custody of that little girl when she lost custody of her own kid. The fact that she even fought for custody when she gave up 2/3 of her own kids speaks volumes. The question has always been, what’s in it for June?
June bug you have no room to talk. You abandoned your own child & jumped from state to state without telling your own family where you were. You chose drugs & men over your child. You sold your house & everything inside it for drug money without giving your children any notice when they still lived there. You never cared any other time when you willing didn’t have anything to do with your grandchild so why start now.
If you care so much about the girls.. why did you fight Michael for custody? Can’t drag him for moving when you fought for him to NOT have Kaitlyn
I remain confused as to exactly why Anna didn’t make legal arrangements for her daughters’ custody after her death. She surely knew Kylee would go with her dad & had to have at least had an inkling that he’d want to remain seeing Kaitlyn as he always had. She once said that Michael is her dad & that’s that (paraphrasing). I wonder if there is something we don’t know as to why she didn’t, or if she assumed it would all work itself out? Couldn’t be me, just letting my kids be split up and essentially making it completely possible for June to become a permanent custodian.
This is something I wondered too. I know on the show Pumpkin said that Anna wasn’t doing it because that would force her to face that she was terminal. Anna knew she was terminal especially for the last month or so. It was extremely irresponsible to not put something in place legally for Katelyn. I almost wonder whether she wasn’t on pain meds from the cancer and somehow June got her to say she wanted Katelyn with her. I had the first of many surgeries at 20 years old. I wasn’t terminal but I also know anything can happen at any time. I immediately wrote an advanced directive and legal will to protect my children.
Exactly! I was never too worried about it with my kiddos because I never expected them to lose both parents at once. My son’s dad ended his life a couple of months ago and now it’s nail biting to think about. In my state, if the parents die the children automatically go to the maternal grandmother, and I will be damned if my son goes to my mother. So I got a directive and will stating that he will go to his aunt on his father’s side if anything happens to me. My daughter’s are good, they’ll go to their dad, but I was so worried about my son that I didn’t even hesitate to jump on that.
Okay sure, June. You went on a a lengthy crack fueled bender with your crack daddy, sold your daughter’s car out from under her, stole you our daughter’s money and gave up custody of your minor child and didn’t want to pay your barely adult daughter child support after she was granted custody. And Michael is an ogre for remarrying and moving with his family four whole hours away.
She didn’t raise Anna either. Choosing the sex offender who molested her over Anna.
If June truly gave a shit about Anna’s girls seeing each other she would have let Michael get custody of Katelyn. She could grow up with her sister in a stable loving home. Instead June saw dollar signs so Katelyn will grow up in an abusive dysfunctional home. Michael wanted Katelyn. He raised her as if she were his own. Had June done what was best this wouldn’t be happening at all.
Honestly I wouldn’t want that family around my daughter either. June is a former drug addict who abandoned her youngest child, and who had no relationship with Anna or her kids up until the year before she died. Her husband is exactly the same. Alana and Dralin aren’t great role models either, and Pumpkin’s life is a hot mess too. They bring nothing but stress and drama.
Plus didn’t June reunite with the guy that molested her daughter? If so, her judgment is way off (and that’s putting it nicely). No way would I trust her with my child.
Do Michael moved back to where his family is (where he and Anna lived for years and where Kylee was born, or the general area at least) and continues to maintain the relationship between the sisters, but June is pissed off that Michael refuses to let them be around Kylee unsupervised? Who in their right mind would let their child be around June or the majority of that family without being present? This is a woman that chose a molester over her own daughter (this child-s mother), then chose to have her other young daughter around said molester upon his prison release, has stolen money from all of her children, was a literal crackhead for years, and has a well-documented history of being a complete trashbag of a person and mother. I’m still pissed she got custody of Katelyn. I hate to say this, but let’s see the difference on how these two girls turn out ten years from now because we all know Kylee will probably be doing way better because she has a normal, stable family instead of Shannon chaos.
What “pipeline dream” did he sell Anna and now London? A normal life with a man that works? Anna praised Michael for years after their divorce and never seemed to hold anything against him, it just didn’t work out. I’m convinced the only reason she didn’t leave Katelyn to him is because she was in denial about dying until she was near the end, and by that time she was on so many pain meds that June was able to get into her head.
This was supposed to be a comment on its own, not a reply. Sorry.