Eldridge Toney is clapping back at Mama June: Family Crisis fans who have criticized him about his recent engagement.
Eldridge— who proposed to his girlfriend Jessie English on Christmas Day— received some backlash after giving an interview to Us Weekly about his engagement. As ‘Mama June’ fans know, Eldridge is the widower of Anna Cardwell, who died in December 2023 at the age of 29 from cancer. Although Anna’s daughters Kylee and Kaitlyn are not biologically his, he has remained in the girls’ lives since Anna’s death.
As The Ashley previously reported, Eldridge began dating Jessie in 2025 and opened up about moving on after Anna’s death in several posts to social media. In a post Friday to Instagram, he defended his decision to get married again.
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“Regardless of what people say I’m happy!” Eldridge wrote. “I’m thankful for this girl coming into my life and helping me get thru hard times. I loved Anna with everything in me. I miss her every day but I can’t have her back. I have come to terms that life goes on and Anna would want me happy just as if roles [were] reversed I’d want her happy.
“I do have my bad days where I wanna shut down but I have @jessie_english03 to support me and get thru it. So with the cards I have been dealt I’m doing the best I can,” he added.
Eldridge appears to have the support of Anna’s family, as Anna’s sister Lauryn “Pumpkin” Shannon and her aunt “Doe Doe” Shannon “liked” Eldridge’s statement when it was posted to Facebook.
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In his interview with Us Weekly, Eldridge revealed that he met Jessie on Tinder, and that they had been dating since March.
“I know a lot of people may say I’m moving on fast but at the end of the day, Anna wouldn’t want me sitting around in misery,” he said, adding that Anna’s family— as well as Kylee and Kaitlyn— have met Jessie and “like her a lot.”
“We go over for holidays and times in between to see Kaitlyn,” he said. “Kaitlyn loves her, and that is something that sits great with me. She has also met Kylee, who also loves Jessie.”
Eldridge most likely felt the need to comment on the negativity due to how many people in the comment section of Us Weekly‘s post on Facebook about the engagement accused him of moving on “too fast.”
“So she’s passes and he hurries and jumps in tinder? That’s my 1st thought,” one person wrote in the post’s comment section.
“That was fast,” another person commented. “Always keep the next one in the wings.
“He sure didn’t wait long to get on Tinder. But congrats or whatever,” someone else wrote.
According to Eldridge, he and Jessie have yet to set a wedding date.
It is unknown if Eldridge will appear on the next season of ‘Mama June: Family Crisis.’
RELATED STORY: Eldridge Toney— Husband of Late ‘Mama June’ Star Anna Cardwell— Engaged to Girlfriend Jessie Two Years After Anna’s Death
(Photos: Instagram)
8 Responses
How sad miserable people have nothing better to do than to infect others with their judgments. Imagine thinking you are entitled to have an opinion on someone else’s life because no one cares about yours.
Why am I not surprised one bit. It’s been shown that when women are dying of cancer. tl
If they don’t have being abandon and divorced. Studies have found that typically men remarry within the first year!
Quite often it’s to one of her close friends.
Because most men just want another mommy to take care of them. I think 9 months is ridiculous.
Way too soon to get engaged. You should know someone for a full year and you should see them at their sickest. At their worst and at their best.
So you know how they really are to live with. It’s real easy to put up a good front for 9 months to a year pretend to be something you’re not.
I really feel for the children! Can you imagine losing your mom and your dad inside of two years is engaged and getting married to someone else!
how miserable do you have to be to be so negative towards a widow finding happiness again?? especially someone you don’t know! the girls love his fiancé so what’s the problem exactly?
Him moving on doesn’t mean he loves Anna any less. I’m sure it is still very hard for him to have lost her the way he did. I’m happy he seems to have a supportive person by his side.
The old-fashioned standard was that a widower would remain in mourning for a year, and thereafter was considered marriageable again. What do they expect, exactly?
Just someone else to love those girls. Good for them.
People need to mind their own business. He’s been a widower for 2 years. How much should he have to wait? 2 more years? 5? Why?
Literally forever or he was obviously cheating on her while she had cancer. 🙄🤦🏻♀️