Mama June Shares Update on How Late Daughter Anna's Kids Are Doing: 'Anna Should Be Raising Them' (Exclusive)
Mama June is finding it difficult to imagine her daughter, Anna Cardwell, not being around to watch her kids grow up.
Chatting with ET about her reality series, Mama June: Family Crisis, the 44-year-old matriarch shared an update on how Anna's two daughters, Kaitlyn and Kylee, are doing exactly four months after their mom's death. Anna -- the oldest of June's four daughters -- passed away on Dec. 9 after a battle with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma.
"This is the truth, Kylee's dad shouldn't be raising Kylee and I shouldn't be raising Kaitlyn," Mama June -- whose real name is June Shannon -- shared. "[Their] mother, Anna, should be raising them and that's what I say over and over and over again. I even tell Kaitlyn that very often, 'I'll never replace your mother.'"
According to June, she has not seen Kylee, 8, since Anna's funeral as she has been staying with her dad, Anna's ex-husband Michael Cardwell. Kaitlyn, 11, is currently in June's custody as Anna never publicly revealed the name of her elder daughter's father.
Anna Cardwell with her daughters, Kylie and Kaitlyn
The reality TV star says that despite the circumstances, her older granddaughter has been thriving in her care and doing really well even as her "world has been tossed upside down."
"I can't answer for Kylee because we have not seen her since the funeral but Kaitlyn is doing amazing," June shared. "She's going to public school. She's doing more amazing than she was in her private school as far as grades and stuff."
She added, "I'm sure Kaitlyn does have her good days and she has her bad days -- just like me, I have my good days, my bad days."
Mama June alongside a photo of her eldest daughter, Anna Cardwell
As for what it has been like as a family to watch the episodes with Anna still around, The Masked Singer alum says it has been hard but that they are hoping her story inspires or helps even one family in need.
"For me personally, it's just been emotional," she said, telling ET that it will only get more difficult as they get closer to Anna's final appearances, set to release in the summer. Those episodes, she says, will focus on the last "month or so of Anna as she gets worse and worse."
June added, "That's going to be traumatic for a bunch of us to watch."
Mama June: Family Crisis airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on WeTV.
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