Kelly Rowland says her desire to break generational curses is what pushed her to reconnect with her father, Christopher Lovett, after three decades of estrangement.
The singer, who just wrapped up her run as the opener on Brandy and Monica’s nationwide tour, shared the inspiration behind reaching out to her dad on the Monday (Dec. 15) episode of the podcast Mama, I Made It.
Around the 26-minute mark, Rowland revealed that she thought she was fine without a relationship with her father — until a few years ago, when she pictured her 11-year-old son, Titan, asking about his grandfather.
“What was I going to tell him?” she said. “I could give him everything about his grandmother. But what am I going to tell him about my father?”
Rowland also shares a younger son, 4-year-old Noah, with her husband of 10 years, Tim Witherspoon.
The former Destiny’s Child star said she “knew it was time” to finally meet Lovett, and the two officially reconnected in 2020.
“And I put it off for so long. I was like, ‘I just don’t want to open this box. I don’t know what’s going to be behind here. This is enough trauma. Let me just figure it all out now,’” she shared. “But when I was able to meet him and talk to him and look at him in his eye, I realized why I sang.”
Rowland went on to explain that discovering her paternal grandmother had been a backing vocalist for legends Lena Horne and Count Basie made her feel like she needed to “step up,” knowing she was carrying her grandmother’s “dream.”
“Even though I never met her, but it’s for her, it’s for him, it’s for my kids. Like, it was just bigger than me,” she said. “Meeting my father was bigger than me. It was about my kids and about the unknown, which I was nosy about. I wanted to know.”
She added that her renewed bond with her father is now “awesome,” and she’s “so excited” to spend another Christmas with him.
“He’s got grandkids now. He’s got a relationship with his daughter now. He’s got things that I pray just make his life just a little bit longer so we have a little bit more time. But I just love my time with him. It’s beautiful,” Rowland said.
Back in 2020, Rowland shared photos on Instagram capturing one of their early reunions, admitting she felt “nervous to forgive him” after so many years apart.
“I have come to know SO much about myself, my family history, and even where my love of music & voice have come from!” she wrote.
