Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson on Going to College, Moving Out and If She's Done With Reality TV (Exclusive)

Alana Thompson is ready for the next stage in her life. The 17-year-old reality TV star, sometimes known as "Honey Boo Boo," graduated from high school in May 2023. 

Now she's speaking with ET's Deidre Behar about her college plans, what the future holds, and her family's latest show, Mama June: From Not to Hot.

"Next, I am going to be a neonatal nurse at Regis University in Denver, Colorado," Alana revealed to ET. 

Alana's proud sister, Lauryn "Pumpkin" Efird, added, "It's top three nursing programs in the world."

Alana said she received a $21,000 scholarship to study nursing and her mom, Mama June Shannon, explained, "We still have to pay a little bit for the school, but it helps out a little bit. That's why I like that." 

As for whether reality TV cameras will follow the child star to college, Alana teased, "We don't know. You'll have to find out."

However, she did share that she'd welcome the cameras were they to return. 

"Yeah, I have been on TV my whole life and I kind of just basically accepted that whether I want to go be a nurse or I want to go be an accountant, whatever I want to go be, that I will always be in the spotlight," Alana said. "It doesn't matter what I do I will always probably be known as, 'Oh my god, Honey Boo Boo's working on my baby when he was in the NICU.'" 

And while Alana is looking forward to heading to college, she is not interested in joining any sororities on campus. 

"I'm there to do my studies and graduate in 2029 and go on," she said. 

In May, Alana graduated with a 3.0 from high school. The milestone achievement meant a lot to her family. 

"I feel like a lot of people have seen Alana grow up. So for us, letting a lot of people be a part of Alana's graduation was a big deal for us," Lauryn shared. 

And while she did earn some of her cords that she wore on the big day, Alana admitted that not all of them were given to her by the school. 

"I bought on Amazon because my favorite absolute color is literally pink so I had to have a pink one on," she said. "Then I brought the green one to symbolize [my sister] Anna ['Chickadee' Cardwell]'s cancer. I wanted to have Anna around my neck that day, so I bought the green one for her."

Anna is currently battling stage 4 adrenal carcinoma.  "She's actually doing pretty good," Mama June shared of Anna's health. "She's handling it pretty good."  

Mama June added that, thus far, her daughter has completed four rounds of chemotherapy. 

"A lot of people thought that it was gonna make her sick and stuff like that, [but] she's able to bounce back pretty quick," Lauryn said, with her younger sister, Alana, adding, "It does wear her body down sometimes, but other than that, she's pretty good." 

The season 6 finale of Mama June: From Not to Hot airs Friday, July 14 on WE tv. 

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