Mama June claims daughter Anna Cardwell's ex Michael 'physically abused' her amid custody battle
WILKINSON COURT, GEORGIA: Mama June Shannon has asked the courts to dismiss the custody lawsuit filed by Anna Cardwell’s ex-husband Michael Cardwell, whom she has accused of being abusive to her late daughter.
The reality TV star recently responded to the custody filing by Cardwell with a countersuit where she argued that it “would not be” in Kaitlyn’s "best interests to be in [Michael’s] care."
Earlier she claimed Michael has no "legal" rights over Kaitlyn.
Michael shares his biological daughter Kylee, 8, with Anna, who died last month after suffering from stage four carcinoma. Following her mother’s passing, Kylee has been living with Michael.
However, a custody battle ensued between Michael and Shannon regarding the custody of Kaitlyn, 11, with Shannon claiming, “The child does not have a legal father.”
While the ‘Mama June’ star has been granted temporary custody of Kaitlyn, Michael filed for custody arguing the two sisters should not be separated.
Shannon is now asking the court to dismiss Cardwell's custody petition.
Mama June claims Michael has had ‘sporadic contact’ with Kaitlyn
In her petition, Shannon claimed Kylee did not want to visit Michael unless Kaitlyn came with her. She added, “While Kaitlyn did sometimes accompany her sibling, the visits were infrequent,” per RadarOnline.
Shannon further claimed, “When [Michael] resided in Alabama, he only visited with Kaitlyn at most once per month, sometimes going three (3) months between visits.”
She even denied Michael’s claims of Anna having a tumultuous relationship with her mother with going through different periods without speaking to her. Along with that, Shannon even denied Michael’s claim of the WeTV star’s “inconsistent” presence in Kaitlyn’s life.
Shannon claimed, “Outside of one short period of disagreement, [June] and Anna had a stable parent-child relationship.”
She added, “Kaitlyn has spent her childhood regularly seeing and spending time with [June],” while claiming Michael’s presence was the “inconsistent” one, saying, “On the other hand, [Michael] has been an inconsistent presence in the child’s life since at least 2017.”
She even responded to Michael’s claim of paying the tuition fees of Kaitlyn as she said she “believes that [Michael] paid for tuition for the child at Happy Hollow for approximately two and a half years in exchange for not paying any child support for his other child. The child is no longer enrolled at Happy Hollow.”
Mama June Shannon also accused Michael of being abusive towards Anna and Kaitlyn when the late TV star was married to him.
Shannon claimed, “During his marriage to Anna, [Michael] frequently physically abused Anna and the child and it would not be in the child’s best interests to be in [Michael’s] care and control.”
Mama June previously said in the upcoming season of 'Mama June' the audience will be able to see Anna's last wishes.
What did Micahel Cardwell’s lawyers say?
Cardwell’s lawyer recently shared with The US Sun, "Michael flatly denies any type of abuse of his children or his ex-wife or any other past girlfriend.”
Michael’s attorney added, "We will see how June plans to prove this or any other of her supposed truths or allegations.”
His attorney Donald Lewis Roberts further told RadarOnline, “Michael denies these allegations. This is the first time that any of these allegations have been made against him.”
“He and Anna had a great relationship when they were married and simply separated due to differences in opinions and personalities,” claimed his attorney.
He added, “They managed to get along throughout the divorce as well and had maintained a good relationship with his family and him.”
“They’ve always stuck together for their children, and we will see what proof Ms. Shannon has for these types of claims, these very serious claims, to make on somebody --- if she has any proof at all,” said the attorney.
