Mama June Keeps Late Daughter's Husband Involved in Granddaughter's Life: What 'Anna Would Want' (Exclusive)

Shannon's daughter Anna passed away in December after announcing her stage 4 adrenal carcinoma diagnosis in January 2023

Mama June Shannon is making sure her late daughter Anna Cardwell's husband Eldridge Toney is involved in her granddaughter's life.

Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of the midseason premiere of Mama June: Family Crisis, the reality TV star, 44, shared more about how she's been stepping up to care for her granddaughter Kaitlyn, 11, who currently lives with Shannon and her husband husband Justin Stroud following Cardwell's death in December.

Cardwell is mom to Kaitlyn from a previous relationship and shares daughter Kylee, 8, with ex Michael Cardwell. She was married to husband Toney at the time of her death.

"It is kind of an adjustment for me and Justin because honestly, the first year of our relationship, we didn't have any kids in the house," Shannon, who married Stroud in 2022, tells PEOPLE. "And then it came where Anna and Eldridge and the kids moved into our house before she passed away and now Kaitlyn's there and it's just an adjustment period."

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Related: Anna Cardwell's Husband Eldridge Toney Says He Feels Like 'Another Father' to Her Two Daughters (Exclusive)

"But it's not a bad one because if something's going on, I'm going to call Pumpkin and then put it in our family group chat and say, 'Hey, this is going on,' " she continues, referencing daughter Lauryn, 24.

"And we just try to, I'll be honest with you, even with Eldridge, we try to bring him in because Anna would want [him] to be a part of it, for sure," Shannon says. "So we do bring Eldridge in a lot on some stuff and then some stuff we just keep as a family and just try to really figure it out."

After Cardwell's death, Toney spoke with PEOPLE in December, sharing an update on his relationship with her two daughters.

“Yes, yes I have been seeing them as much as I can," Toney told PEOPLE of Cardwell's daughters. "I’ve been staying really persistent on seeing both of them."

"It’s easier now to see Kaitlyn than it is Kylee, just because Kaitlyn is right up the road. And I pretty much know June and Justin’s schedule. But as far as Kylee, I don’t get to see her as much, but I still do see her as much as possible.”

Although he doesn't have custody of Cardwell's daughters, Toney said he still feels like another father to her girls.

“You know because I’ve been with Anna so long, we’ve had these conversations where I’ve sat down with Michael [Cardwell] and Anna, and Michael looked at me like I was going to be another father to his daughter and he was OK with that," Toney shared.

“I am making sure I stay true to the promise I made to Anna," he added. "I love watching the girls grow up."

In the days after his wife's death, Toney shared with PEOPLE the promise he'd made Cardwell regarding her two daughters. "The day before she passed, we had our talk and said our goodbyes," Toney told PEOPLE at the time.

"Her dying wish was for her girls to grow up knowing who their mother was. And I promised I would do right by the girls always. I will spend my life doing right by Anna and the girls."

“Those are my girls,” Toney said of Cardwell’s daughters. “I promised Anna I would do right by them and make sure they remembered their mama. And that is what I will do.”

Mama June: Family Crisis airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on WEtv.

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