Skip to main content

Danielle Busby is shedding some light on why Grandma Mimi no longer appears on OutDaughtered.

During the latest episode of her and Adam Busby’s new podcast, More Than Reality, Danielle revealed that her relationship with her mother is more complicated than it appeared on the family’s reality show, explaining that some behind-the-scenes issues contributed to the decision to no longer include Mimi in filming. 

‘OutDaughtered’ only showed one side of Grandma Mimi 

In early seasons of OutDaughtered, Mimi was a vibrant, fun-loving grandmother to Adam and Danielle’s six daughters. But she disappeared from the show after season 8, leading viewers to wonder what had happened – and whether she was still in the Busby family’s lives.

The reality is complex, Danielle explained in the Oct. 23 podcast episode. When Danielle was growing up, Mimi was a young, single mom with three daughters who was not always fully present in her children’s lives. That led Danielle to become independent at a relatively young age. As an adult, she had a relationship with her mom, but it wasn’t always 100% smooth.

“I think that’s what’s really hard for the fans to realize,” she said. “Because there’s so much behind-the-scenes. When you watch an episode and she’s in the show, there’s just a lot of things that are not said.” 

The result was that OutDaughtered viewers saw a version of Danielle’s mom with the rough edges sanded off.

“Through the TV show, your mom was projected as just like the fun, kooky, silly, crazy person,” Adam said. “Which she is. But you never ever once saw the other side of what that was like.”

“You never saw what things were like off camera and behind the scenes and things she may have done earlier that day,” he added. The result? Moments where he or Danielle seemed short-tempered or annoyed with Mimi were presented without context, which they felt wasn’t fair. 

Danielle Busby says filming with her mom was a challenge 

Danielle also said that her mom’s unreliability made including her in OutDaughtered episodes difficult. 

“It’s not like we just have cameras in our house 24/7,” she said. Filming happened on a schedule, sometimes over multiple days, which required a commitment from everyone involved. 

“There’s certain situations where, like, if people are in a certain episode and we’re going to finish that episode, they need to be present. Well, some people can be MIA,” Danielle explained. “There’s been times where we haven’t seen or spoken and all of sudden there she is.”

In other cases, filming would be “hours and hours behind schedule,” Adam said, which was “wasting everybody’s time.” 

“Then she just shows up and all of us, familywise, we’re all frustrated. Because she never called, never responded, and all of the sudden she’s here,” he added. 

Mimi was playing a character on OutDaughtered, Danielle stressed. And while it was based on who she is in real life, it wasn’t the whole story.

“She’s great with kids, great with people,” she said. “But it’s an up and down cycle of struggles.”

“She was awesome when she’s present,” Adam added. “But when she was down, it was a whole other story and you never saw that.”

For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.

Best in Entertainment