Honey Boo Boo looks unrecognizable as she leaves her child pageant days behind for a new career

While she may have first appeared on our screens on TLC's Toddlers & Tiaras some 15 years ago, Honey Boo Boo is completely unrecognizable in 2026.

Alana Thompson, as she's also known, was only seven years old when she appeared on our TV screens for the first time, before going on to get her own show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.

The latter ran for two seasons before coming to an end in 2013, while Thompson has largely remained out of the public eye since then.

Now 21, the former child TV star is studying nursing at Regis University in Denver and is applying her trade as a patient care technician at a Colorado hospital.

She is set to graduate next year after throwing herself into education following her TV days.

"I want to be the best I can be, and I want to make my money, and I also want to make straight A’s, so I just try my hardest," she previously told Teen Vogue.

Alana Thompson rose to fame as Honey Boo Boo (YouTube/People)

She added: "I just always told myself you know that you want to do something better with your life and bigger with your life than just being on TV.

"So you've got to get up and go, you've got to graduate so you can make it to college and be the nurse that you want to be.

"I love that I've persevered past who people thought I was."

Thompson has also expressed her plan to have a family sometime in the future having dated Dralin Carswell since 2021.

She previously revealed: "I want to have kids eventually. I don't want to have a lot of kids, I want maybe two, that's it, but not for a long time.

"I've been in the spotlight for so long, I've just seen all the hate that I got when I was younger. I don't know if I would want to put my kid through that. I might just wait until they get old enough to make that decision for themselves."

Thompson was on TV from a young age (TLC)

Despite putting her TV days behind her, Thompson said in an interview with People last year she's 'thankful' for her time on the big screen, which has opened up a lot of opportunities for her over the years.

She told the outlet: "I really do like being able to be the person of like, 'Oh well her life is just like mine'. Like 'Honey Boo is just like me'. That's so crazy and I like for people not to feel alone.

"Right now I am a nursing student in college in Denver. I'm 19, I'm just living my best life and like, I'm just chilling, you know."