Anyone watching “Mama June: Road to Redemption” knows that June Shannon and Geno Doak were a toxic pair — but getting out of that relationship wasn’t easy for the reality TV star.
Their time together was marked with substance abuse, drug-related offenses and an additional charge of domestic violence for Geno, which June later asked to have dropped. Looking back, she told TooFab that was a major regret, as she opened up about the end of their relationship ahead of her show’s new season premiere.
“I’m actually good, still good with [her sobriety]. 29 months straight sober. If you watch the first episode, it’s a tearjerker,” she said.
The first hour back focuses heavily on the end of things with Geno, and she plans to make a clean break from him once and for all. Though she initially hoped to break up with him at the courthouse following one of their hearings, that didn’t happen — and her family became frustrated with the situation, fearing she would slide back into old habits if she stayed. June now says she understands their frustrations — but added that it’s different when you’re the one in the toxic situation.
“It’s easier for an outsider looking in to say, ‘You can leave, you can leave, you can leave,’ when it isn’t really honestly the case,” she continued. “You get so, so sucked into it and so like, ‘It’s amazing,’ because you try to make excuses for things that are happening.”
On the show, she said it “wasn’t easy” to leave, adding that she didn’t want to place herself or her family “in danger.” Speaking with TooFab, she added, “He knew where they lived at, he knew how to get a hold of them, he knew where I would go. He knew how close me and the girls was, he knew I would run to them and I did not want to put them in jeopardy either.”
June explained that when she had to report to court in April 2021 for their 2019 arrests, she said, “Look, I should have never dismissed the domestic violence charges the day we got locked up, March 13, 2019, along with the drug charges. I should have never dismissed those charges but I was scared.” She added: “I went in front of the Grand Jury [in 2019] like, ‘Everything’s amazing.’ It wasn’t. I went down and told the DA, ‘Look, I should have never stopped those domestic violence charges.'”
The two initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Later, as part of a pair of plea agreements, June was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, while Doak was given 16 months in a Community Corrections program — avoiding time behind bars.
In the premiere, June goes MIA on production for a solid three weeks — before reappearing saying she left Geno in the middle of the night while he was passed out. On the show, she describes the volatile relationship but specifically denies anything physical went down. TooFab has reached out to Doak, via an email address listed on his official Instagram page and DM, for comment.
June added “I don’t even like talking about it now because it puts me in a headspace I’m not in anymore, a year ago, my production company kind of knew it was going to a head, especially after I went into recovery,” she told TooFab. “But I was like, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ Even in my addiction, I was ready to walk away [from him] then but didn’t know how to. That’s the crazy part about it.”
She also explained that being with Geno had an affect on her sobriety as she “had the urge” to use again after their time at Banyan Treatment Center in Florida. She believed that if she used, then she wouldn’t have to deal with everything going on in the relationship, adding “it would have been easier for me to escape with the drugs like I had in the past.”
June said she found strength thinking about the many fans who have looked up at her own sobriety journey, while also talking to people like “Jackass” star Brandon Novak, who went to the same facility as Shannon.
“When stuff was going bad sometimes I would reach out to him, or he would reach out to me at random times and having that support system, staying in Southeast Florida, staying close to Banyan and close to where I went for recovery — I’m gonna be honest with you, that helped,” she said. “I love Hutchinson Island [where Banyan is located]. I just took [new boyfriend Justin Stroud] down there to what I call my slice of heaven. I faced my darkest days, I almost died a couple times on that island, but I also faced my biggest days, so that island has a special meaning to me.”
“Mama June: Road to Redemption” premieres Friday, May 13 on WE tv.
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