Mama June Opens Up About ‘Difficult’ Custody Battle for Kaitlyn, Shares Update About Anna’s Daughter

June “Mama June” Shannon opens up about the “difficult” custody battle for Anna Cardwell’s daughter Kaitlyn during an exclusive interview with In Touch.

“It was a difficult time because, like, it was kind of, like, hard for us to deal with it on the same thing, but also, like, putting her through that,” June, 45, exclusively tells In Touch of her granddaughter, whose mother died at the age of 29 in December 2023.

After Anna died following her cancer battle, June went head to head with Anna’s ex-husband, Michael Cardwell, over who should have custody of her. While Kaitlyn, 12, was initially living with June and her husband, Justin Stroud, following Anna’s death, Michael filed a separate case demanding primary custody of Kaitlyn.

A Georgia judge ultimately issued a ruling on September 20, 2024, that June would have primary custody of Kaitlyn. The order stated that “legal and physical custody of the minor child is to remain with [Mama June] and [Michael] will have no right to visitation as such, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties and the minor child.”

“I would just, like, be screaming. Like, I wish that they would just, like, sit down and come talk to us,” June recalls to In Touch about the custody battle against Michael. “I wish they would just sit down ’cause it did not have to go into a court battle or anything like that. It could have been a very civil situation.”

In addition to opening up about her experience in court, June shares an update about how Kaitlyn is doing during her interview with In Touch.

“She’s doing very good,” June says. “She just started a new school three months ago and we just moved into a new house.”

In addition to Kaitlyn, Anna shared daughter Kylee, 9, with Michael. While Michael is Kylee’s birth father, the identity of Kaitlyn’s biological father is not known. However, he did help raise Kaitlyn during his marriage to Anna from May 2014 to April 2017. Kylee is currently living with Michael full-time after Anna’s death.

In December 2024, June sshared another rare update about her eldest grandchild. “Kaitlyn’s been here for over a year now because they lived in the house where Anna passed away and she’s getting adjusted,” she told People at the time.

“She definitely reminds us of Anna,” June continued of Kaitlyn. “I tell a lot of people that if you want to know what Anna looked like as a teenager, Kaitlyn. Attitude, the way she talks, the way she acts, everything is Anna.”

The Shannon matriarch has also been open about how she and her family are keeping Anna’s memory alive after her death. “We have Kaitlyn, too, so [that’s] definitely a consistent reminder in having Kaitlyn,” June’s daughter Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon exclusively told In Touch in June 2024 during a joint interview with her family. “We wanna keep that alive, too. ‘Cause that is her mama.”

Mama June: Family Crisis season 7 airs on WeTV on Fridays at 8 pm ET.