Honey Boo Boo Opens Up About Her Upcoming Weight Loss Surgery & Southern Stereotypes

Reality TV star Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson is preparing to have a "non-surgical weight loss procedure" in the coming month, alongside her long-time boyfriend Dralin Carswell.

“Alana and Dralin have been losing weight on their own but feel this will help them lose more and keep it off," Thompson's manager told US Weekly earlier this week.

In recent years, the former Toddlers & Tiaras star has opened up about struggling with hate and body shaming online, and assumptions people make about her based on her background growing up down South.

"Just because I'm from the South, people expect me to be all country bumpkin, out riding four-wheelers all the time, but that's not really how it is. There are so many folks on my Instagram that do not like my nails or my eyelashes. But I do not care. As long as I like myself, I'm good." Thompson told Teen Vogue in 2021.

“I feel like my generation is probably making it worse. Everybody's all about 'body positivity, body positivity,' until they see a body they don't like,” she added in the interview.

The 16-year-old star from McIntyre, Georgia, will be undergoing a suture sculpt endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty procedure from Dr. Steven Batash.

According to John Hopkins Medicine, endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty is minimally invasive and recreates the results of surgical sleeve gastrectomy without having to go under the knife.

The procedure is typically done with a flexible tube with a camera and suturing device attached and takes roughly 90 minutes to complete. A majority of the patients undergoing this procedure are allowed to go home the same day.

Thompson is currently in the care of her older sister Lauryn "Pumpkin" Efird after her biological mother "Mama June" Shannon lost custody rights to her earlier this year in court. Right after, Shannon secretly married her new boyfriend Justin Stroud, after months on the run from the law.

Narcity reached out to Efird, Thompson's legal guardian for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publishing. This story will be updated with any further information.