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Honey Boo Boo is all grown up, but her bank account has shrunk. During last week\u2019s episode of Mama June: Family Crisis<\/em><\/a>, Alana \u201cHoney Boo Boo\u201d Thompson confronted her mother, Mama June Shannon, for draining the money she earned as a child star. It\u2019s all brought up labor laws from back in the Charlie Chaplin Days.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now 18, Thompson had catapulted into early-reality TV fame back in the 2000s, as a breakout star from TLC show Toddlers and Tiaras<\/em>. She revealed last year to ET<\/a> that she would be attending Regis University in Denver, Colorado after getting a $21,000 scholarship to pursue nursing. But almost a year in trying to fund her future education, Thompson found her mother had allegedly siphoned some of the money she initially thought she could depend on.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy was my money even being used, or being touched,\u201d Thompson questioned<\/a> Shannon, referring to the money she earned from Honey Boo Boo<\/em> and Dancing with the Stars<\/em>. \u201cWhat the f*ck was you making a Coogan account for\u2026 I don\u2019t have really the money for it,\u201d she continued after finding an account had less money than she thought it would. \u201cTo be honest, if you think about it, Mama, what the hell is $33,000?\u201d<\/p>\n The disputed Coogan account stretches back to the age of silent acting. The Coogan law is named after Jackie Coogan, a child actor who catapulted to fame after being discovered by Charlie Chaplin. While he was the titular kid in the movie \u201cThe Kid,\u201d Coogan\u2019s stardom didn\u2019t equate to financial stability. According to SAG-AFTRA, <\/a>\u201cit wasn\u2019t until his 21st birthday after the death of his father and the dwindling of his film career that Jackie realized he was left with none of the earnings he had work so hard for as a child,\u201d since state-wide law meant a minor\u2019s earnings \u201cbelonged solely to the parent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After the former child actor sued, the Coogan Law was born in California, wherein 15% of a child\u2019s gross wages must be withheld by an employer and put into a Coogan account. Similar legislation is required in New York, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, according to Morgan Stanley<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n State-law gaps leave certain child actors in legal quandary: While Georgia\u2014the state where Thompson lives \u2014doesn\u2019t have these protections, children who provide services within said states are covered.<\/p>\n And laws for child entertainers haven\u2019t caught up to our current media landscape fully. For instance, child influencers aren\u2019t covered by the child-entertainer labor laws, per Morgan Stanley<\/a>. The rising trend of social media stars broadcasting every movement of their children to millions of followers becomes a bit less cute when you realize that the subjects of the family-friendly content aren\u2019t legally protected. Since then, some child influencers have grown up and opened up about the work they put in. \u201cI try not to be resentful but I kind of [am],\u201d an anonymous former-child influencer told Teen Vogue<\/a> of being her family\u2019s breadwinner.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a state-wide debate over child-labor laws is brewing in the background. Sharpening into a larger issue, 28 states have introduced legislation that pokes holes in child-labor protections, according to the think-tank Economic Policy Institute<\/a>. There\u2019s a pushback to this movement, though, as 14 states have introduced counter bills to strengthen these child-labor laws.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cChild labor remains a key issue in state houses across the country in 2024,\u201d Nina Mast, state economic analyst for EPI, told Fortune<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Thompson\u2019s mother pushed back to say that many don\u2019t start off at 18 with so much money to their name, Thompson countered that she\u2019d earned that income. \u201cI\u2019ve been on TV since I was six, and now I barely have what to show for it, Mama,\u201d she said, taking Shannon to task for not even chipping in for even a semester of college.\u00a0<\/p>\n Threatening to take her mother to court and floundering to pay for her education, Thompson challenged her mom for not thinking of her daughter\u2019s future needs. Shannon admitted she pocketed 80% and left 20% for Alana, per People<\/a>. Meanwhile, Alana\u2019s sister Lauryn \u201cPumpkin\u201d Efird called her mother \u201csmart\u201d for contributing \u201cthe bare minimum\u201d to the account and did what was \u201clegally right and then pocketed the rest, Lord knows what she did or where it went.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the CEO Daily newsletter to get the CEO perspective on the biggest headlines in business. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n