Mama June Shannon continues to keep her daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell close to her heart — and in her phone — one year after her death.
“It will be a year on Monday and we miss the hell out of Anna Marie Cardwell,” Shannon, 45, wrote in an emotional Facebook post on Tuesday, December 3, noting that she “would give my last penny just to talk to her and [for] her [to] be here for her girls.”
Shannon went on to note that grief can “hurt at random times” and that the loss of a child is not the same as losing a parent, sibling or important loved one. “Living in a house Anna passed in is so hard not just on me but the whole family but we have [to] keep our promise,” she shared. “We take her every where [sic] with us like she wanted and I will continue to do so. … We love to have [her] with us.”
Another way they continue to keep Cardwell’s “memory alive” is by including her in their text messages. “She is still in our family group chat text,” Shannon stated. “She is in Lauryn Mychelle Shannon[‘s] car radio. Just can’t and won’t delete any text and won’t ever take her out of the chat so sorry who gets her number one day. U [sic] better not remove your self [sic].”
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Shannon concluded her post by revealing she “always” watches Cardwell’s TikTok page and searches her name on the app “to see all the videos people made for her.”
Cardwell died at age 29 in December 2023, nine months after news broke that she had been diagnosed with stage IV adrenal carcinoma. “With the breaking heart, we are announcing that @annamarie35 is no longer with us,” Shannon announced via Instagram at the time. “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 like she won’t and 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.”
Cardwell was the eldest of Shannon’s four daughters — including Jessica, 28, Lauryn, 24, and Alana, 19 — whom she shares with multiple partners. After Alana and Shannon first appeared on TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras in 2012, the family rose to fame on reality shows such as Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Mama June: Family Crisis.
One month after Anna’s death, Shannon was granted temporary custody of her 12-year-old granddaughter Kaitlyn, whom Anna shared with her ex-husband, Michael Cardwell.
In January court documents, obtained by Us Weekly, Shannon accused Michael of physically abusing Anna and their daughter. Shannon also noted that Michael is not the biological father of Kaitlyn, as the father’s identity remains unknown, and that Michael has not been in Kaitlyn’s life since his and Anna’s 2017 split.
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In a petition of his own, Michael — who is the biological father of Anna’s 8-year-old daughter, Kylee — alleged that Shannon had a strained relationship with his ex and believed that Kaitlyn and Kylee should not be separated. After both parties denied each other’s claims, Shannon was granted full custody of Kaitlyn in September.
Back in June, Shannon got emotional talking about raising her granddaughters exclusively with Us. “I’ll say it to my last breath, I should not be raising Kailyn and Michael should not be raising Kylee. Anna should be here raising her girls, period point blank,” she shared. “I’ll say it till the day I die that life is not fair for the girls. Definitely not.”