Mama June discusses massive weight gain since getting sober, blames pandemic for 60-pound increase

‘Mama June’ Shannon has finally settled into sober life, but it hasn’t been without its consequences.

The 41-year-old reality television star – who lost 300lbs in 2017 – opened up about the weight gain she has experienced since leaving rehab in the premiere episode of Mama June: Road to Redemption on Friday. 

‘Look we have put on a little couple extra pounds. I’ve put on about 60. He’s put on about 100. We put on a whole other person. But I’m going to blame it on healthy Covid weight,’ she said about the extra pounds she and boyfriend Geno Doak packed on.

‘I’m back, larger and sweeter than ever,’ she added about her sober life in Florida since completing a stint in rehab in February 2020.

Mama June has showcased her weight journey in front of the TV cameras for five seasons of Mama June: From Hot to Not, and now she’s focused on her sobriety and her mission to regain contact with her kids.

She explained that her shift in priorities has put concerns about size on the back burner in an interview with TooFab. 

‘With my weight loss, I have as I like to tell people, gained that healthy Covid weight. I’ve put on probably about 60-70 pounds,’ she said.

‘Am I happy the way I am? Yeah. When I was a Size 2 at 150, I was way too damn small. Now I’m 250 and I feel good. Even when I was 500, people didn’t believe I was 500,’ she added.

She admitted her desire to shed some of the pounds because they are causing medical issues, but it can’t be her focus right now.

‘If you’ve ever been in addiction, you have to know your sobriety has to be #1 and forefront. This may be bad on my part, but it takes precedent over my relationship with Geno, my relationship with my family, my production team,’ she explained.

One scene in the episode showed the reality TV personality making a ‘smoothie’ that most would recognize as a milkshake instead.

Instead of sticking to a healthy dish, the bikini-clad star pulled out ingredients like sprinkles, whipped cream and maraschino cherries.

June could be seeing licking up the sprinkles from the bowl and drinking strawberry syrup directly from the bottle.

She offered one of her concoctions to Geno, before entering the kitchen and revealing to Shannon that she was actually making dessert. 

He then asked why they couldn’t be healthy and sober, to which June replied: ‘I got protein right there in my sprinkles.’

June spoke with TMZ on Friday about her prior drug addiction, and how she is working to ‘mend’ the damaged relationships she has with her children including Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson.

She explained that the financial strain created by her drug addiction in 2019 and early 2020 along with boyfriend Geno Doak was more than previously estimated. 

‘In our whole addiction, I would say close to $1.5 [million dollars],’ the mother of four said. 

And when asked about her relationship with her family, June revealed that ‘it’s an everyday struggle. I am trying to mend those relationships with the children.’ 

She added: ‘With the Covid virus [pandemic] hitting, it’s still been kind of hit and miss.’

But she maintained that she is ‘still trying to work on it, staying present, calling them all the time whether they answer my phone calls or not.’

She then referenced the work she’s done in her recovery: ‘I have learnt through the meetings that they were working on my timeline in my addiction, and now I’m having to work on their timeline.’

June was arrested in 2019 for cocaine possession and in October 2019, Shannon and Doak pleaded not guilty to crack cocaine possession.

The pair are still facing charges of felony drug possession stemming from a March arrest in Alabama.

Her 15-year-old daughter Alana, aka Honey Boo Boo, has been living with her older sister Pumpkin throughout the turmoil and it was reported at the time that June and Geno were living in an Alabama casino.