“Mama June” Shannon (of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo fame) looks nothing like she did two years ago.
The reality star, whose drastic body change is the subject of a new show on TLC — Mama June: From Not to Hot — has undergone multiple surgeries and started up a new fitness regimen. Previously weighing in at over 450 lbs., Shannon has lost more than 200 lbs.
During the premiere of the reality show, Shannon, 37, said she was inspired to lose weight after her ex (who goes by the name of Sugar Bear) announced he was getting remarried. The couple, who are parents to 11-year-old Alana Thompson (a.k.a. Honey Boo Boo), were in a common-law marriage for over a decade. They split after he admitted to cheating on Shannon.
READ MORE: Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath renewed for Season 2
While it’s difficult to discern exactly what surgeries Shannon has undergone (she hasn’t fully disclosed how many procedures she’s had thus far), it’s been confirmed that she has a gastric sleeve, which means that most of her stomach has been removed, replaced by a small stomach “sleeve.” This greatly decreases the amount of food a surgery recipient can consume.
Shannon received the sleeve in 2015, and then hit a plateau with her weight loss, so she began to step up her fitness regimen. Since then, she’s been working with a personal trainer, Kenya Crooks.
Her other daughter, known as Pumpkin, revealed to Entertainment Tonight that Shannon has had preliminary surgery to remove excess skin, the result of excessive and rapid weight loss. Lastly, her daughter confirms, Shannon has also had surgery on her breasts, which made them smaller and lifted them.
- Taylor Swift surprises fans with double album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’
- Hot Docs left out of budget 2024 funds as financial woes cloud arts organization
- Quebec artists demand more provincial funding, say many struggle to ‘work creatively’
- Calgary Opera’s production of ‘Das Rheingold’ features fantastic effects, costumes
Shannon’s daughters contend that the hardest part for their mother is the mental game — defeating habits formed over decades and coming to terms with losing such an immense amount of weight.
READ MORE: Beauty and the Beast review: A tale as old as time, revisited
“That’s what she’s used to doing, and when you’re a bigger person, that’s how you disguise all of that — through wearing bigger clothes,” agreed Crooks. “So, now, we’re having to transform her mind even more so… because she has curves now, she looks awesome.”
Her daughters agree that their mother is much happier, and appears to be far more confident. For her part, Shannon is pleased with the results of the surgery so far.
“I’m changing my body and my love life,” she said in a teaser for her reality show. “I’m about to start the biggest transformation of my life. This surgery is the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but there is a skinnier person inside of me.”
Twitter users reacted with surprise at Shannon’s changed look. Some even said her transformation has inspired them.
All of the medical professionals featured on From Not to Hot emphasize that proper research must be done prior to getting any weight-loss surgeries. Shannon insists she paid for her own surgeries, and said she was going to get them whether or not she was on a TV show.
“With or without cameras, I was going to do this journey, you know, no matter what,” she said. “It was gonna happen whether I had them or not.”
As of this writing, Shannon has not done the “full reveal” of her total weight-loss journey.
Comments