Pumpkin Defends Honey Boo Boo From Criticism Over Boyfriend’s Age: ‘Josh Is Also Older Than Me’

Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon defended her sister Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson’s relationship with her much older boyfriend.

Pumpkin, 22, and Alana, 16, recently sat down with Entertainment Tonight correspondent Rachel Smith for an interview. During their conversation, the backlash over the age gap between Honey Boo Boo and her 21-year-old boyfriend Dralin Carswell was brought up.

Pumpkin addressed the issue and pointed out that she and her husband Josh Efird, 26, also have the same age difference.

“When Dralin first started coming around, you know, I mean, he’s a little bit older. [But] Josh is also a little bit older than me. And that’s obviously where a lot of backlash that they get. Umm … it is what it is,” Pumpkin said.

The mother of four, who is now the legal guardian of Alana, went on to share that she and her family like Dralin, and that’s what’s important to them.

“I like Dralin a lot. The kids love Dralin. Josh loves Dralin. And to me, like, that’s all that really matters. I don’t care about all the background noise [because] his family is so great,” she added.

The “Mama June: Road to Redemption” star also revealed that Dralin and his family have spent several holidays and special occasions with them.

“We spent Christmas with them. We spent Thanksgiving with them … any type of birthday party, they’ve always shown up. They’ve always shown up to baby showers and stuff like that… They have treated us like family,” she explained.

In the same interview, Honey Boo Boo broke her silence on the negative comments about her relationship with Dralin.

“In our relationship, the two most things that everybody is always talking about is our age gap and definitely because he’s Black and I’m white and we’re an interracial couple,” she told Smith.

“[But] I don’t care because, like, at the end of the day, my sister approves, his mom approves, and we’re happy, so what fans got to say or what haters got to say, I don’t really care,” the teen star added.

The interview comes weeks after Honey Boo Boo made the headlines for allegedly getting engaged to Dralin. The rumors started after she was spotted wearing a huge sparkler on her left ring finger. However, her representative clarified that the accessory was “just a ring” and not an engagement band.