Mama June blasts daughter Pumpkin’s ex-husband Josh Efird and reveals why she was against their marriage from the start

Mama June Shannon is no longer holding back when it comes to her daughter Lauryn “Pumpkin” Efird’s failed relationship with Josh Efird.

The Here Comes Honey Boo Boo matriarch, 45, has revealed she was never a fan of Pumpkin’s now-ex-husband, and she’s finally explaining why. The tea comes months after Pumpkin, 24, made headlines in August for filing for divorce from Josh, 28, after six years of marriage. Court documents obtained by People show the two have been in a “bona fide state of separation” since July, and Mama June couldn’t be happier about it.

“I tell people this all the time, Pumpkin and Josh met when [they were] teenagers. I even tried not to get her to marry Josh years ago,” Shannon told the outlet while addressing her daughter’s rocky relationship with the father of her kids. She also let out some grievances about Josh that fans never saw on their reality show.

According to Mama June, her estranged son-in-law “hasn’t cared” for Pumpkin over the years and instead has pointed the finger at her. “[He] has blamed me for a lot of s— that’s not my fault,” she claimed.

But now that Pumpkin and Josh have called it quits, Mama June says her relationship with her daughter has improved significantly. “I think our relationship has got better since her and Josh have separated,” she shared before adding, “We do do more stuff together, and there’s not that consequence of like, ‘Oh, God. I hate my mom, I’ve got to listen to bitching.'”

Fans won’t have to take her word for it, either. According to the Shannon matriarch, their viewers will finally get a front-row seat and witness what Josh was really like to her and Pumpkin all this time in the seventh season of their family’s WE tv series, Mama June: Family Crisis. “Some of the situation with Pumpkin and Josh” will be in it, as per Mama June.

While the new season of their reality series will still tackle Pumpkin and Josh’s relationship as a former couple and now co-parents to four children — Ella, 6, Bentley, 3, and twins Sylus and Stella, 2 — she has already moved on from their split as of the present time. Just this past September, she debuted her newfound love with her boyfriend, Darrin Kitchens, on Facebook.

When it comes to her daughter’s new beau, Mama June is all praise. In an interview with People, she made it clear that Pumpkin may have found the perfect partner for her, saying, “He is very good with the children. … He gets up, he bathes them and takes Pumpkin’s kids out if they want to go out with him. They go out in the yard and play. We’ve been on family vacations.”

Further voicing her approval of their relationship, Shannon said, “And I’ve even said this to Darrin and Pumpkin’s face, unless he’s acting in a different way where I’m not around, he’s not gave [sic] me a reason to not like him being around the kids or him being around her.”

Despite this, Mama June still has qualms about Pumpkin’s love life. “Who knows what life holds for Pumpkin? I’m going to be 100% honest. … Who knows if her and Darrin are going to last. Right now, they’re together. Nobody knows what the future holds.” For now, the controversial mother of Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson seems content watching Pumpkin’s love story with Kitchens unfold from the sidelines — especially since her own relationship with her daughters is finally on the mend.