Where Mama June Stands with Daughters Now After Losing Custody of Honey Boo Boo (Exclusive)

Anyone who watches "Mama June: Family Crisis" or follows the reality TV family in the news knows it's been a rough few years for the titular star, who has recently been through bad relationships, arrests, court drama and battled a costly drug habit. During that time, her daughter Lauryn "Pumpkin" Efird stepped up to care for her own sister, Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, and eventually was granted sole custody of the teen in 2022.

The new season of the show, premiering tonight on WE tv, chronicles the fallout from the latter -- with fans getting a look at how June navigates signing away her parental rights, as well as how she and her new husband Justin Stroud attempt to make amends with her children.

Speaking with TooFab ahead of the premiere, the pair teased where they stand with the young women now -- with Justin first explaining why he wasn't too surprised to get the cold shoulder from June's daughters when the pair started dating.

"I never felt any ill will for [them] feeling that way, because I understand the track record and the past wasn't always the best. That would scare me too," he said. "You always want to keep that guard up and protect yourself over anybody else, because if you don't know how to love yourself and protect yourself, you can't love and protect anybody else."

"I always want them to keep that guard up for themselves. That's what has helped move things forward now and I hope It just continues to go forward in the process we've been making, because I feel like we've made really good progress," he added.

June explained that the upcoming episodes were filmed from October 2022 through April 2023, reminding fans that when they watch the season, a lot of the drama being shown happened a while back. Specifically, the new season shows Pumpkin saying she believes her mother prioritizes the men in her life over her own daughters -- something Shannon says won't bother her to watch back since they've already discussed and seemingly moved past that since cameras started rolling.

"You see us working through that throughout the season. Those layers of onions are peeled back throughout the season. Literally, now would that bother me? No," she said, "because those layers throughout the season you're going to see be pulled back."

Justin also said he wouldn't be fazed at all to see June's daughter speak negatively about him on the new episodes either because of where they are today.

"It was filmed starting in October of last year. Words don't hurt, people say things and act a certain way when they're mad or they don't know you or they're trying to be vindictive. They could say something about me, but trying to hurt their mom at that time," he explained. "I have to try and stay out of it and be supportive when I can be and show them that change, I'm not like the other ones, I'm not just going to leave when it gets rough or you can't say something bad to me and I'm just gonna leave. I'm not going anywhere, I'm going to stick around."

"I think that's the biggest thing for all of us and it helped us come together a little bit more," he said, while June confirmed they're all in a better place when it comes to her priorities.

While Shannon said she wishes she understood the legal paperwork Pumpkin asked her to sign regarding custody a little bit better, she doesn't appear to have any regrets when it comes to giving away her parental rights. In her mind, that decision saved everyone from additional heartache.

"Some hurtful things were said but also I didn't want to do any mud-slinging in the court room because I didn't want Alana to hate myself or Pumpkin," she told TooFab. "I really didn't want to go through a nasty-ass court battle because there could have been a lot of mud-slinging go on in that court case."

"Sometimes in life you learn how to pick your battles and which ones you want to fight. Ultimately, the end game is for her to be with her children again, just like it is for me to be with my children," added Justin. "If that would have been a war she would have fought, she could have ultimately lost her children forever. You gotta pick and choose sometimes in life, even when you don't want to."

It seems avoiding a "nasty-ass court battle" might have been the right idea, as it does appear the situation between June and her daughters is much stronger today. Lauryn, Alana, Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell and Jessica "Chubbs" Shannon were all on hand when June had her (second) beach wedding with Stroud back in February of this year (photos below) -- and both June and Justin were on hand when Alana went to prom last month. June has also been there for Anna, who is currently battling stage 4 cancer.

If anything, Shannon does seem to be a more active presence in their lives than she has been in a while.

"It feels really good. We went and watched the prom, they went to the wedding, people have seen us in pictures with Anna, doing chemo treatments also. I'm sure people are putting two and two together, how the season will be going as it goes along," she teased.

She also said the family and the show's team will all be together to celebrate Alana's upcoming graduation. Yes, Honey Boo Boo is all grown up, turning 18 and completing high school very, very soon.

"A lot of people can't imagine. We say Alana's graduating and they're like, 'Whaaat?! She's not six anymore?'' I can't believe Alana's going to be 18. She graduates in 16 days ... that's the last one of mine that's graduating so I am very, very happy for her," said June.

"She is ready to graduate. We're doing graduation that morning, then we're doing a small lunch thing with the family ... she's got 45 people showing up just for her. It's just people who have been in our life for 13 years, our bodyguards, our production team," she added. "It's gonna be nice that they're all coming back together just for her graduation, that has watched her grow up."

The new season of "Mama June: Family Crisis" premieres Friday, May 5 at 9 PM ET/PT on WE tv.