Family Crisis’ Mama June and Geno Doak Are ‘Lucky to Be Alive’ After Spending $150,000 on Cocaine
Addiction is a scary illness. Luckily, Mama June Shannon and boyfriend Geno Doak are finally heading to rehab so they can get help on Family Crisis. In a promo clip from the Friday, June 26, episode of the We TV show, the couple revealed they’re “lucky to be alive” after a serious drug binge in which they spent $150,000 on cocaine over the course of six months.
“It got to the point where being able to afford a hotel and being able to live just was not possible, so we started sleeping in the Suburban,” Mama June, 40, admitted on the show. “It was a few nights we ended up staying in there.” Geno, 44, agreed, “It’s been rough, it really has.”
The couple admitted they went through “a couple of ounces a day” — a.k.a. “a lot” of cocaine — and could easily go through “an 8-ball in an hour.” Even when they weren’t actively looking for drugs, they’d occasionally stumble on a friend who was willing to share. And when they were clean, it was because they “didn’t have the money.”
Though the couple couldn’t articulate what motivated them to finally accept help this time, Mama June’s family has been pushing her to do better over the course of the season. Daughters Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon and Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson weren’t “ready” to see their mom during her court day in a May 8 episode, but Pumpkin changed her tune. By the June 5 episode, daughter Pumpkin admitted she wanted to give her mom “another chance” despite all their past drama.
When the mother and daughter finally came face to face, things got tense. Mama June and Pumpkin hadn’t seen each other in six months by that point, but the mom of four claimed she was three months sober. A drug test seemingly found cocaine in her system — though the results were later found to be skewed by an excessive amount of cold medication instead. In light of those results, Pumpkin agreed to let Mama June reunite with her family as long as she got a new phone, stayed clean and started going to rehab.
It seems like this family might actually be on the mend. In the meantime, however, Pumpkin has “really stepped up” to be the parent figure in 14-year-old Alana’s life. “She has a baby that’s almost 2 years old, and she takes in her sister,” Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson’s wife, Jennifer Thompson, exclusively told In Touch. “It takes a lot for a 20-year-old to say, ‘I’m going to be able to do this.’”
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