Just days before the new season of Mama June: Road to Redemption begins, the titular star is speaking out.
June’s younger boyfriend was a hot topic on social media and in the trailer for the season.
But June insists that she’s not being used for fame.
Claiming that she stalked and “chased” him, June insists that he’s not a clout-chaser or a danger to her sobriety.
June Shannon spoke to Entertainment Tonight ahead of the upcoming season premiere.
“We just started chit-chatting, and I started stalking him,” June recalled of how things began with Justin Stroud.
“Everybody always says he’s a clout chaser,” she acknowledged. “F–k, I was chasing him!”
According to June, this popular image of a man getting close to her in order to live off her relative success is a total fantasy.
“People don’t realize. When me and Justin first met, I moved in with him, to his home,” she claimed.
“We both had our separate homes,” June detailed, “but I moved in with him.”
“And no, he’s definitely not a clout chaser,” June emphasized.
“He does his own stuff. I do my own stuff,” she said.
“But,” June affirmed, “we do a lot of stuff together.”
June has been a reality television personality for more than a decade, with her daughter being a household name — her nickname, anyway.
However, she claims that Justin had no idea that he was talking to a reality star when they first met.
“He didn’t know who I was to begin with, honestly,” June alleged. “He didn’t know.”
June shared that, once Justin was up to speed, he rejected the offer of reality fame.
“And he did tell [the producers], ‘No, I don’t want to be part of it. I don’t want to do it,'” she described.
“He had a full-time job. He owns businesses,” June explained. “He has his own life.”
“So it has been kind of an adjustment to him,” June admitted, “but he’s like, ‘F–k it.’”
She continued: “He got throwed into it, so he’s like, ‘Let’s ride.’”
June also called out the concern over whether two people in addiction recovery, who are living sober lifestyles, can safely date each other.
“You just got to be supportive,” June explained.
“There is days, because just because some people are going to come clean does not mean,” she began.
June continued: “It doesn’t become peaches, flowers, and rainbows.”
“A lot of people say, ‘Well, two in recovery cannot be together,'” June acknowledged.
She commented: “Well, that’s a lie.”
“We’re going to prove that,” June declared.
“We’ve been through hell and back,” June pointed out. “We’ve known each other for a year.”
She argued: “Most relationships don’t go through the obstacles that we have had to go through in the last year.”
June added: “they don’t even go through it in the lifetime of their relationship.”
“So,” June reasoned, “I think honestly, that’s made us stronger.”
She expressed how grateful she feels to have found “somebody who understands” her and her struggles.
The rest of us will simply have to keep our fingers crossed that nothing goes horribly wrong.
