Honey Boo Boo's Instagram Photo With Boyfriend Had Fans Seeing Red
Alana Thompson, aka "Honey Boo Boo," is almost all grown up. The reality starlet first broke into the spotlight as a child beauty pageant queen on TLC's "Toddlers and Tiaras" in 2012, becoming famous for her pre-pageant ritual involving "special juice." Later that year, she and her family became the stars of their own reality show, "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo."
Now in her post-reality show days, Thompson is trying to shed the public persona she developed as a child. "They are completely two different people," she told Teen Vogue of her Honey Boo Boo persona. "I would say that I do like this Alana now, rather than the younger Alana." Thompson, now 16, also revealed how her fame — or infamy — as a child still affects her in her high school years. "To be honest, I do not have many friends. At all," she told the magazine. "Because I feel like folks are so much like, 'Oh, my God, I'm friends with Honey Boo Boo.'" She added, "I don't trust nobody really, so I don't have friends."
Thompson did reveal that she has one friend, though: her boyfriend. Although she didn't reveal his identity in the interview, she later posted a photo of the two on Instagram, with an overlay that read "bae." Page Six captured the post, as Thompson has since deleted it.Why? Keep reading.
The Internet was critical of the couple's age gap
Just one day after revealing the identity of her boyfriend Dralin Carswell, Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson deleted the post from Instagram. According to Page Six, she did it due to flack she got over the couple's four-year age gap. Thompson just turned 16 while Carswell is 20. "honey boo boo is less than 6 months older than me (15) and she has a 20 year old boyfriend?" said one commenter. "doesn't sit right with me." Another user made a grim prediction: "16 and 20? Where are her parents? She'll be knocked up before she graduates," they wrote. Another commenter was equally as grim, writing, "Jail. Jail jail jail."
Thompson and Carswell have been together for six months, and Thompson's family has reportedly been welcoming and accepting of the relationship despite the age gap. "He was quiet at first, but he's like one of the family now. He's just as fun and crazy as the rest of them," a source close to her family told The Sun, adding, "Dralin and Alana are attached at the hip and hang out together all the time." The Sun also noted that the couple resides in Georgia, where the age of consent is 16.