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Honey Boo Boo’s sister defends her amid backlash to magazine shoot: ‘Does weight even matter?’

Alana’s sister Anna has stepped in as she faced trolling (Picture: Peyton Fulford/Teen Vogue)

Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson’s sister, Anna Cardwell, has defended the 16-year-old after she received backlash for modelling for Teen Vogue.

The reality TV star, who found fame at the age of six on TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras, received hateful comment from trolls about her weight on social media, which branded her ‘too big’ to model for the publication.

Anna, the star’s oldest sister, told The Sun: ‘Alana is beautiful. There are models like Ashley Graham who are 200 pounds, and she has huge contracts.

‘I mean, hell, Victoria Secret is working with plus sized models. Does weight even matter?’

The 27-year-old also praised the modelling industry for finally opening up to diversity ‘with all different types of people and cultures’.

Anna continued: ‘Alana actually stood up and did it, and hopefully she gives others the courage to do it.

Anna appeared alongside Alana on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (Picture: Instagram/annamarie35)

Alana’s shoot for the publication (Picture: Teen Vogue/Peyton Fulford)

‘Basically, she is putting herself out there, and all the teens who are overweight now – she has given them the encouragement.’

Anna also branded all four sisters – herself, 24-year-old Jessica Shannon, 21-year-old Lauryn Efird and Alana – ‘nuts for sure’ but ‘all beautiful’.

‘We all could be models,’ she added.

All four girls share the same mother, June ‘Mama June’ Shannon.

Among the many encouraging and supportive messages about the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo star’s Teen Vogue shoot, some users spread negativity in the comments.

‘Are we glorifying morbidly obese people now?’, asked one user.

The reality TV star said she’d ‘never get body shaming’ (Picture: Teen Vogue/Peyton Fulford)

While another posted: ‘R u ever going to lose weight?????’

In her wide-ranging interview with Teen Vogue, Alana spoke about body shamers and how Gen Z’s fixation on body positivity ‘until they see a body they don’t like’, is, in her eyes, ‘probably making it worse’.

‘I don’t understand why people think this way. Just because I got a little bit of extra meat on my bones, you want to hate me? I’ll never get body shaming,’ she told the publication.

‘Like, I know I’m beautiful, and I know I got a banging body, so… I don’t care.’

The former child star also opened up on how drug use has plagued her family, following her mother June Shannon’s 2019 arrest on charges of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.

Shannon previously admitted to having spent ‘$4k (£2,905) a day’ on cocaine as she revealed her and boyfriend Geno Doak ‘probably spent over a million dollars’ on the drug in a year.

Alana with June and Geno in 2018 (Picture: Robin L Marshall/Getty Images)

She stated: ‘A lot of folks in this world do not realize how many people are actually really affected by drug and alcohol [use] … It’s very, very hard. It’s something I’d wish on nobody, for real.’

More: US Showbiz news

Following the arrest, June’s daughter Lauryn became Alana’s legal guardian.

The teen, who competed on Dancing With the Stars: Juniors in 2018, now focuses on trying ‘to be the best I can be’ as she aims for straight A’s and a career as a nurse.

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