Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson Posts Photo With Boyfriend, 20, Later Deletes It

09/29/2021 12:22 pm EDT

Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson is introducing her boyfriend to the world. The Here Comes Honey Boo Boo star, 16, made her relationship with 20-year-old Dralin Carswell Instagram official Monday, sharing a photo with her beau at a pumpkin patch before quickly deleting it. Captioning the photo, "spooky season," Thompson and Carswell look loved up while holding hands in a pumpkin patch wearing matching Halloween shirts.

The Instagram debut comes less than a month after The Sun reported the reality TV star was dating the college student and had been for about six months. "Dralin and Alana are attached at the hip and hang out together all the time," an insider told the outlet in August. "He was quiet at first, but he's like one of the family now. He's just as fun and crazy as the rest of them." Despite the four-year age difference between the two, Georgia's legal age of consent is 16 years old.

Thompson opened up to Teen Vogue in August about how difficult it's been growing up in the spotlight, admitting she doesn't have "many friends. At all." Saying Carswell was her only friend, the WEtv star explained of her small social circle, "Because I feel like folks are so much like, 'Oh my God, I'm friends with Honey Boo Boo.' I don't trust nobody really, so I don't have friends."

She continued of life as a former child star, "I guess people still expect me to be little Honey Boo Boo and I'm not anymore. Just because I'm from the South, people expect me to be all 'country bumpkin', out riding four-wheelers all the time, but that's not really how it is... But I do not care. As long as I like myself, I'm good."

The teen also reflected on the body positivity movement and Gen Z, saying she felt like her generation was "probably making it worse." She continued, "Everybody's all about body positivity, body positivity, until they see a body they don't like... I don't understand why people think this way. Just because I got a little bit of extra meat on my bones, you want to hate me? I'll never get body shaming."

Disclosure: PopCulture. is owned by Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.