Mama June Reveals How Anna ‘Chickadee’ Cardwell’s 2 Daughters Are Doing After Her Death

June “Mama June” Shannon shared an update about how her late daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell’s children, Kaitlyn and Kylee, are doing after her death in December 2023.

“This is the truth, Kylee’s dad shouldn’t be raising Kylee and I shouldn’t be raising Kaitlyn,” June, 44, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Tuesday, April 9. “[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.'”

Following Anna’s death, her ex-husband, Michael Cardwell, was granted custody of their daughter, Kylee, 8. Meanwhile, June was granted custody of Kaitlyn, 11. While Michael helped raise Kaitlyn during their marriage, Anna never publicly revealed who her eldest daughter’s biological father is.

June explained that she can’t speak for Kylee because she hasn’t seen her since Anna’s funeral. However, she said Kaitlyn is doing the best she can despite having her world “tossed upside down.”

“Kaitlyn is doing amazing,” the reality star 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.”

June noted that Kaitlyn likely has “her good days” and “bad days,” noting that she has also experienced highs and lows following her eldest daughter’s death.

The mother of four also touched on what it’s been like to watch Anna’s final days documented on season 6 of Mama June: Family Crisis. “For me personally, it’s just been emotional,” she said, adding that a new batch of episodes set to premiere in June will feature the last “month or so of Anna as she gets worse and worse.”

“That’s going to be traumatic for a bunch of us to watch,” she said about the upcoming episodes.

Anna revealed her stage 4 adrenal carcinoma diagnosis in March 2023. Nine months later, June confirmed that Anna had passed away at the age of 29.

“With the breaking heart, we are announcing that [Anna] is no longer with us,” she wrote in an Instagram post on December 10, 2023. “She passed away in my home last night peacefully at 11:12 PM. She gave one hell of a fight for 10 months. She passed away with her family around her. We will be updating y’all with more information as we get it today. We love y’all and continued prayers and thoughts for our family [during] this difficult time.”

Anna’s husband, Eldridge Toney, previously revealed that Anna was passionate about having her final days filmed for her family’s reality show.

“The filming was something that Anna wanted to do,” he told People in December 2023. Eldridge added that “there is still so much unknown” about her “rare” form of cancer, and she hoped her journey would educate viewers about the disease.