*Imagine being Brian McKnight and you’ve traveled halfway around the world to perform in Gaum and when you land, you find out your children have posted online for the world to see that that you’re basically a bum and deadbeat dad.
Well, you don’t have to imagine. We’ve got him responding in his own words. Naturally, he’s despondent and not all thrilled to have been put on blast in such a public way. Here’s some of what he had to say in defense of himself:
“I’ve never missed a day of child support. I’ve never done anything adverse to my children whatsoever. I’ve always been there with advice whether they took it or not. I’ve always been the sounding board to help them achieve whatever dreams they were reaching out for. I guess one of my only faults is I gave my children everything that I didn’t have in the hopes that they would have appreciated it.”
McKnight adds …
“I will tell you as parents out there, entitling your children is probably one of the worst things you can do and I know I’m guilty of that. Tough love is a tough thing to try and institute to your children because you wanna help them as much as you can and I did as much as I possibly could. When I stopped doing that for them, BJ was 25 and Brianna was 22. And it wasn’t like I completely cut them off. That happened much later. “
Check out the video above for the full measure of his comments.
Earlier we reported …
Brian McKnight’s Son, Daughter Claim He Abondonded Them and is Doing Same to Grandchildren
*It’s often said that stardom and fame come with a price. That can definitely be said about singer/songwriter/producer Brian McKnight.
Apparently, the price McKnight paid was basically abandoning his children to the point where the oldest of his two sons and his daughter both took to social media to accuse their father of being a deadbeat dad.
The singer’s son, Brian McKnight Jr., also known as BJ, was the first to post his thoughts on his relationship with his estranged father. He not only mused over not being able to spend time with his father, but that his daddy won’t spend time with his grandchildren, either.
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“I can’t imagine abandoning my children man. Its hard not to imagine the psyche of a man who can truly just turn his back on his actual sons, on his actual blood, and creations. It’s mind boggling to me. I don’t think there is any situation that merits the way my father has chosen to treat my brother, my sisters, and his grandchildren, one of which being his first born’s, first born son, who also bares our name,” he wrote.
“It breaks my heart, but not for myself, specifically for my siblings, and my children. They don’t deserve this at all, not open bit. And I’m not letting shit slide, not for one second. I’ve tried my best to take the high road, and be the bigger man, and all that positive shit, but there is a much bigger issue here, when it comes to black fathers, especially in entertainment that need to be addressed.”
“It’s time to tell our side of the story,” he wrote in closing. BJ is following in the legacy of his father and is a singer himself. This isn’t the first time he’s called out his father over abandonment. Last month, he posted about his relationship with the singer, signaling that more commentary was yet to come.
Brian Mcknight’s daughter, Briana, also felt the need to share her thoughts as well in her own IG posting.
“Daddy’s little girl” was never really a thing for me. Nobody understands what I’ve been through except for my siblings. Believe it or not, I’m not always the person I seem to be. I’m not always happy and most of the time I’m battling my own demons just like everyone else. I grew up thinking that the things that happened to me and my dad’s relationship was my fault,” she began.
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Briana added that there were times when she had her father’s attention, but they were few and far between. She, in turn, thanked her older brother for stepping into his role.
“I don’t usually write things like this but I feel like enough is enough and like BJ, I want to share my side of the story. I hope that there’s someone out there that has gone or is going through the same thing. Some teenage girl who deals with this shit constantly who can relate to me and tell her side of the story and know that she’s not alone,” she closed with.
Whoa! We can only wonder how these truly heartbreaking missives are affecting Brian McKnight himself as well as the family in general.
It’s got be tough on all involved to have this information made public, but it was inevitable, seeing as to how raw his kid’s feelings are.
We pray the McKnight family gets its healing.
