Anna Cardwell’s complicated relationship with her mother, Mama June, dates back to her childhood. According to Cardwell, Mama June ignored the sexual abuse she endured at the hand of her then-boyfriend, Mark McDaniel. Cardwell said that McDaniel abused her when she was only eight years old (via People). Unfortunately, Mama June didn’t take her side. “A week or so after it happened, I talked to Mama and she was upset, crying and saying, ‘I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you, why would you do this to me?'” Cardwell shared with the outlet. “And I was like, ‘Mama, he did that to me and I can’t do anything about it. You were never there to see it. You were always at work.” Mama June also reportedly returned to McDaniel, prompting Cardwell’s comments.
Cardwell, who temporarily went to live with her maternal grandmother, also denounced her mother’s rumored attachment to McDaniel to Entertainment Tonight. “I’m mad. I’m upset. I feel betrayed. I feel very hurt,” Cardwell explained to the publication in 2014 (via Daily Mail). “That’s the main thing that I am — I feel very hurt that Mama let him come around.” Cardwell also criticized Mama June for allowing her siblings to be around McDaniel. “She let him get around Alana and Pumpkin knowing that she is going to get the kids taken away,” added Cardwell.