Mother knows best?
Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson went Instagram official with her boyfriend of almost nine months back in September, leaving some fans wondering if her mom, June "Mama June" Shannon, approved of the relationship.
Thankfully, we now have an answer. As the Mama June: Road to Redemption star revealed in an exclusive interview with E! News' Daily Pop on Monday, Nov. 8, Alana's boyfriend—who, according to The Sun, is 20-year-old college student and fellow Georgia resident Dralin Carswell—is apparently "respectful" and "a good guy."
"They've been together almost a year, and they talked a little bit before that," Mama June shared following her and Alana's big reveal on The Masked Singer last week. "But um, I mean, he is respectful. He treats her good. He kind of helps out, you know, with the family whenever needed to be. I don't have a problem with him."
Some fans were surprised by Alana's since-deleted Instagram post of her and Dralin; namely due to the couple's four-year age difference. However, in Georgia, the legal age of consent is 16 years old.
"Who knows what the future holds with him, too? Because nobody ever knows," Mama June added. "But right now, I mean, he's really a good guy."
The reality TV star went on to reveal that she's not the only family member who's given their approval of the relationship—so has Alana's older sister, Lauryn "Pumpkin" Shannon.
The siblings are extremely close, especially due to the fact that Lauryn was named Alanna's legal guardian in 2019 after Mama June was arrested on drug charges.
As for Alana herself, she certainly seems smitten. The Here Comes Honey Boo Boo alum exclusively told E! News, "If you see me anywhere, you're most likely going to see my boyfriend."
"It's just me and my boyfriend, that's all it is," she continued. "And I don't have friends because I just feel like nowadays people are way too fake and...just want to be all up in your business and just know what's the next best thing happening with you, just so they can build you up and then put you down. Because for me, I feel like...everybody wants to see me fail. So I'm obviously going to show everybody that I'm not gonna fail and that I'm very successful."
Right now, that means focusing on graduating.
"I'm trying to go to college after school because I do want to be a neonatal nurse," Alana said. "So right now I'm just trying to work on my schooling and, like, my future and stuff."
That, and continue distancing herself from the Honey Boo Boo character she's still associated with all these years later.
"It's been very, very hard," Alana told E! News. "I will say that because everybody still thinks I'm that little six-year-old Alana, but I'm not, I'm 16 now and I'm growing up slowly but surely. And I just feel like for me, I don't care what people think. I don't care. They think I'm a six-year-old or if they think I'm that 16-year-old, I don't really care. I'm gonna do me regardless."
The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Fox.