Mama June Accuses Her Late Daughter’s Ex of Mistreatment and Abuse Amid a Nasty Custody Battle

Mama June Shannon and her late daughter Anna Cardwell's ex-husband Michael Cardwell are embroiled in a contentious custody dispute regarding Anna's elder daughter Kaitlyn, who is eleven years old. Shannon has made new claims alleging that Michael used to "physically abuse" Anna, "During his marriage to Anna, plaintiff frequently physically abused Anna and the child, and it would not be in the child's best interest to be in the plaintiff's care and control," the reality star's legal statement mentioned.

As per The U.S. Sun reports, however, Michael's attorney dismissed the accusations. "Michael flatly denies any type of abuse of his children, his ex-wife, or any other past girlfriend. "We will see how June plans to prove this or any other of her supposed truths or allegations.," the attorney added. Michael had stated in the first complaint that when he had Kylee, Kaitlyn would come to visit. Shannon disregarded the claim, stating, "The child of the marriage did not wish to visit the father if Kaitlyn did not come with her. While Kaitlyn did sometimes accompany her sibling, the visits were infrequent."

When Cardwell went on to accuse the TLC star of her granddaughter's upbringing, Shannon responded, "As far as allegations that June and Anna were not close, Anna did reside with the maternal grandmother from ages 11 through 16 or 17. Outside of one short period of disagreement, the defendant and Anna had a stable parent-child relationship. Kaitlyn has spent her childhood regularly seeing and spending time with the defendant. On the other hand, the plaintiff has had an inconsistent presence in the child's life since at least 2017," she claimed.

The ex-husband of Anna asserts in the filing that he paid for Kaitlyn's education. In response, Shannon claimed that he had only made contributions for a short period—2.5 years—and that he had done so to avoid having to pay Kylee's child support. The TV personality continued, saying that until Anna's widower, Eldridge Tony, whom she married just months before she passed away, began to care for her granddaughter, Kaitlyn had no real father figure for a few months after the breakup between her late daughter and Cardwell. Thus, Shannon has requested the dismissal and denial of Cardwell's petition. 

Shannon added, "We are following Anna's wishes at the end of the day. People will see that all this season of the show." However, Michael's attorney stated, "We have heard that before, I believe that's been Ms. Shannon's claim for some time, but we've seen no documents and no footage of anything. To be frank, this is a court case that is going to play out in a courtroom in front of a judge and not over any reality TV show. We've not seen any official documents or any even informal documents that pertain to her decisions," the attorney concluded.

After Anna's death in December, Shannon, was awarded emergency guardianship of her granddaughter on December 15. The legal documents stated, "Since the mother's passing, the child has remained in the care, custody, and control of Petitioner," the documents revealed. "Petitioner previously had temporary guardianship of the child. More recently, approximately one month before passing, the mother and child began residing with Petitioner."