Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson Responds to Haters Who Criticize Long Nails, Lashes: ‘I Do Not Care’

Unbothered. Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson is responding to trolls who criticize her and say her new look of long acrylic nails and false lashes is “too grown” for her age. 

“I guess people still expect me to be little Honey Boo Boo, and I’m not anymore,” Alana, 15, told Teen Vogue in an interview published on Wednesday, August 25, about her reaction to the haters. “There are so many folks on my Instagram that do not like my nails or my eyelashes. But I do not care. As long as I like myself, I’m good.”

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The Toddlers & Tiaras alum first appeared on television in 2012 at the age of six and brought plenty of sassy expressions and “go-go juice” (a mixture of Mountain Dew and Red Bull) with her. But she’s not that “Honey Boo Boo child” anymore. 

“They are completely two different people,” Alana said. “I would say that I do like this Alana now, rather than the younger Alana.” 

The Here Comes Honey Boo Boo alum, who will turn 16 on August 28, explained the challenges of growing up on television. 

The teenager’s confidence shines through in the glamourous photos accompanying the profile, but even more so in what she has to say, especially when it comes to others attempting to police her body. 

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Alana often shares images of herself on Instagram where she is embracing her beauty and wearing makeup how she likes, with fake, thick eyelashes and long nails. Audiences remember her as a brazen child — not a teenager whose identity has grown since her time as a child pageant contestant — and fans aren’t afraid to leave their thoughts in the TV star’s comment section. 

“Just because I’m from the South, people expect me to be all country bumpkin, out riding four wheelers all the time, but that’s not really how it is,” Alana said. 

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The Mama June: Road to Redemption star, who wants to graduate college and plans to become a neonatal nurse, is also no stranger to body shaming — something she will never understand.

“Just because I got a little bit of extra meat on my bones, you want to hate me? I’ll never get body shaming,” Alana told the publication. “I don’t ever look at people and I’m like, ‘Oh, I wish I was like her … because I don’t ever wish to be like nobody. I am my own person.”

“I know I’m beautiful, and I know I got a banging body, so … I don’t care,” Alana said. “I mean, to myself I was a pageant queen.”