Anderson .Paak says he learned to forgive his drug-addicted father, Ronald Anderson, before his death in 2011.
The nine-time Grammy winner appeared on the Monday (Feb. 2) episode of Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert and spoke about Anderson, who abused Paak’s mother during the musician’s childhood.
According to Andscape, Anderson was charged with attempted murder, robbery, and kidnapping after battering Paak’s mother, Brenda Bills, in 1993, which Paak witnessed. By 1994, Anderson was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Around the 23-minute mark below, Paak said he was in “denial” about the assault and led himself to believe that it was his father’s twin brother, Donald, who assaulted Brenda.
“I seen my mom getting beat, blood in the street. And I didn't want to believe that it was my dad,” Paak said. “I was like, ‘No, it was my uncle, he had a twin.’”
The Silk Sonic member added that witnessing his mother’s assault was also the last time he saw his father, although he had memories of Anderson raising him until he was 7.
“My mom never down talked him or anything. He was the perfect dad until he got caught up with the drugs. He just couldn't beat it,” Paak said, adding that Anderson was addicted to crack cocaine and an alcoholic.
“Just a rough life. And my mom tried to do everything she could with AA and all this stuff, but he just couldn't beat it, and he had a lot of issues with that,” Paak said.
By the time of Anderson’s release from prison, Paak was in his early 20s and didn’t want to speak to his father despite attempts to connect.
“I had kind of a grudge with him. Last time I seen him, he was like beating my mom to death. And I was like, ‘I don't know. I don't want to do it,’” Paak said. “And then my sister was like, ‘Just do it. Talk to him. And you might want to talk to him ‘cause I don't think he has too long.’”
Paak added that Anderson left voicemails of himself singing and expressed how “proud” he was of his son, which caused the vocalist to give in.
“I was like ‘All right, I'm going to talk to him,’ and I'm glad I did,” Paak continued. “We got to talk and he was telling me things like, ‘I really wanted to be a musician, too, and I had a group as well with my brothers.’”
Paak concluded by saying that he established an “understanding” of his father and realized that Anderson was trying to “navigate through life” the best he could.
The musician will soon be putting his father-son dynamic on the big screen with his upcoming musical-comedy K-Pops!, which co-stars his oldest son, Soul Rasheed.