“I’m grateful for the person that I found — Justin,” she says during a support group the pair attended while filming the TLC show. “I do have a wonderful man right here.”
Before ShannonmarriedStroud on March 23, shestruggled with drug addictionand claims she was in an “abusive relationship” with now-exGeno Doak.
Shannon, 42, met Stroud — who is also “in recovery,” she shares — when she was intreatment for drug abuse. After admitting to her feelings for him, she became his girlfriend six days later, and the pair wed in acourthouse ceremonyon their six-month anniversary.
She tells the group a piece of advice her new husband often cites: “And as he likes to say, everybody is amazing rock stars, and if somebody can not be on your level, they’re not worth your presence.”
In the clip, Stroud acknowledges he’s adjusting to his new reality, where “everybody [wants] a piece of Junebug,” then she reassures him: “I know it’s overwhelming, but I’ll kinda hold your hand.”
In a confessional, June contrasts Stroud to her past partners.
“Justin is a lot different than Geno,Sugarbear, any other man who has been in my life,” she says. “Honestly, he’s showin' me how somebody can actually be treated good. He supports me in my recovery and whatever I wanna do. He doesn’t worry about my bank account. Like, he makes me extremely happy.”
She adds, “That motherf—er rocked my world.”
Desiree Navarro/Getty
By contrast, June claimed the relationship with Doak was detrimental during some of the lowest moments of her life.
“I lost everything. I went through about $250,000 of dope [cannabis] in four and a half months,” she explains in the clip. “It was to the point that my dope people were concerned — they didn’t want to give me dope.”
She continues, “I had to tell myself every day when I woke up, ‘I’m gonna stay clean these next 24 hours, no matter what life throws at me.'”
In the clip she gets real about the relationship, telling the group, “A lot of people don’t know this. I just got out of an abusive relationship. Mental, physical and verbal.”
The pair’s turbulent dynamic was documented onFrom Not to Hot, including the time sheaccused him of sexting other womenand her worries their relationship was too “toxic,” which is replayed on this week’s episode from archival footage.
In 2019, both Shannon and Doak werearrestedondrug possession charges. Doak additionally was charged with third-degree domestic violence at that time, PEOPLE previously reported.
Shannon eventually dropped the domestic violence charges, which PEOPLE has not independently confirmed. In a May episode ofRoad to Redemption, she told producers, per theDaily Mail: “I should’ve left Geno a long time ago. … I shouldn’t have dropped those [charges], but I was scared like a lot of women are.”
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In August 2020, Shannon announced she and Doak had beensoberfor six months. One year later, they broke up.
“I am trying so hard not to look in the past,” Shannon says in the recovery group, adding that she wants “to look forward [at] what’s in front of me, like, right now.”
Mama June: Road to Redemptionairs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on WE tv.
source: people.com
