Bhad Bhabie’s father, Ira Peskowitz, is firing back after his daughter accused him of being an absentee dad in her new song “Honest.”
In the track—dedicated to her on-and-off boyfriend, Le Vaughn—Bhabie, whose real name is Danielle Bregoli, calls out her father as a “deadbeat” who only tried to reconnect once she became famous.
“See, I was famous, now he trying to get in touch with me like I should care,” she raps. “It’s fuck him though, I hope he waste away / What kind of father sacrifices a relationship for $20K?”
Peskowitz didn’t hold back in his response. In a new interview with TMZ, he rejected his daughter’s claims and instead blamed her mother, Barbara Bregoli, for the issues Bhad Bhabie has faced.
Before Bhabie rose to fame with her rap career, she and her mother appeared on Dr. Phil in 2016, where the then-teenager was confronted about her rebellious behavior—a moment that ultimately launched her into viral stardom.
Peskowitz claims his daughter was “raised to believe” he didn’t want a relationship with her, accusing Bhabie’s mother, Barbara Bregoli, of “parental alienation.”
“Every one of those statements is a complete lie,” Peskowitz told TMZ about the song “Honest.” “I didn’t sell her for $20,000. I was trying to be part of her life way before Dr. Phil and right before she went on Dr. Phil. I have documentation showing that I tried to get her into a program to help her. I don’t know why she hates me so much.”
He went on to claim that he stayed by Bhabie’s side “every moment of the night at the hospital” when she was going through drug withdrawals, while her boyfriend, Le Vaughn, was “partying on her dime.” Peskowitz also alleged that Le Vaughn spent $500,000 using Bhabie’s credit card.
“I don’t want my daughter’s money,” he insisted. “Everybody else is manipulating my daughter for money, and she knows it.”
Peskowitz said he was confused about why Bhabie attacked him in her song, adding that their relationship “used to be good” and that they had been “bonding.” Despite his frustration, he said he doesn’t plan to sue for defamation.
“It’s just hurtful, it’s frightful,” he said of the lyrics. “And I’m just so irate that she doesn’t get the fact that I’m the only one — along with my wife and her brothers — who loves her for who she is, not for her money or her fame. I’m here for her.”
Bhabie’s relationship with her mother also appears strained. In August, Barbara Bregoli allegedly assaulted one of the rapper’s friends, and just a month earlier, Bhabie publicly demanded that her mother stop “harassing” her.
