June “Mama June” Shannon says her boyfriend, Justin Stroud, isn’t in it for the fame.
“We just started chit-chatting, and I started stalking him,” the “Mama June: Road to Redemption” star joked in a new interview with “Entertainment Tonight.”
“Everybody always says he’s a clout chaser,” she added. “F—k, I was chasing him!”
Shannon noted that she moved into Stroud’s home as their romance blossomed.
“People don’t realize. When me and Justin first met, I moved in with him, to his home. We both had our separate homes, but I moved in with him. And no, he’s definitely not a clout chaser,” she explained. “He does his own stuff. I do my own stuff, but we do a lot of stuff together.”
Though Shannon, 42, has been on television for more than a decade, the “Toddlers & Tiaras” alum said that Stroud, 34, claimed he had no idea who she was when they began dating in 2021.
“He didn’t know who I was to begin with, honestly. He didn’t know,” she said of the auto mechanic. “And he did tell [the producers], ‘No, I don’t want to be part of it. I don’t want to do it.’ He had a full-time job. He owns businesses. He has his own life.”
Shannon added, “So it has been kind of an adjustment to him, but he’s like, ‘F—k it.’ He got throwed into it, so he’s like, ‘Let’s ride.’”
The reality TV matriarch, who is “in recovery” after battling drug addiction, said that she and Stroud, who is also sober, are helping each other stay happy and healthy.
“You just got to be supportive. There is days, because just because some people are going to come clean does not mean — it doesn’t become peaches, flowers, and rainbows,” Shannon said of the couple’s dynamic.
“A lot of people say, ‘Well, two in recovery cannot be together.’ Well, that’s a lie,” she elaborated. “We’re going to prove that … We’ve been through hell and back. We’ve known each other for a year. Most relationships don’t go through the obstacles that we have had to go through in the last year, they don’t even go through it in the lifetime of their relationship. So I think honestly, that’s made us stronger.”
Shannon said that she is grateful to have found “somebody who understands” her.
Shannon and Stroud each seem to understand the thrill of being caught doing mundane tasks by paparazzi.
Over the past few months, the pair have been photographed ring shopping at a mall in suburban Alabama, kissing on a carousel in Los Angeles and cozying up for a romantic hike, also in the City of Angels.
“Mama June: Road to Redemption” returns Friday, May 13, at 9 p.m. ET on WE tv.