Brian McKnight is drawing renewed attention to his ongoing family rift after interviewing the stepfather of his son Brian Jr.’s children for his his Fatherhood Fridays series.
During the interview, McKnight sat down with guest Nathaniel Glidewell about being a stepfather and raising his wife's two older children, who are McKnight’s grandchildren. Throughout the conversation, McKnight repeatedly steered the discussion toward the children's biological father, his son, asking Glidewell about his involvement, or lack thereof.
"How has that been for you with your two older children's father?" McKnight asked. "Is there a relationship there with you, with the kids? Is there static? How does that work?"
Glidewell explained that there has been little interaction, prompting McKnight to ask whether the situation would change if the children's biological father became more involved.
"If their father wanted to be more involved, how would that change things, or would it change things at all?" McKnight asked.
The conversation then shifted to how the children have been affected emotionally. McKnight asked Glidewell how they felt about their biological father, leading him to describe a desire for a stronger relationship that has been met with inconsistent effort.
McKnight later pressed for specifics about how often the children's father has been present over the last several years.
"And if you could give it like how often their dad comes around, how often would that be in these last five years on average?" he asked.
Glidewell responded that visits typically occurred only "once or twice a year,” primarily on birthdays or Christmases.
The singer also broadened the conversation to include the biological father's extended family, asking whether grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins had maintained relationships with the children.
"Now their father I'm sure has family," McKnight said. "Are they involved at all? There's got to be a grandmother. Are there people that are aunts, uncles, cousins, anybody else that's around on his side?"
After Glidewell said that side of the family was largely absent as well, McKnight responded, "It doesn't seem like that side of the family is doing much of anything for these kids... Wow."
Although McKnight never directly named his estranged son during the discussion, many viewers picked up on the singer attempting to turn the tables on his son who had accused him of abandoning his children.
McKnight has also chosen to ignore negative comments on the video, only responding to someone defending the singer and calling him “unapologetic.”
McKnight replied, writing, “Isn't it hilarious to watch. They know [Brian McKnight Jr.] and his mother and her whole family are frauds but they support them anyway. I've proven it time and time again but here they are when I prove it again giving him a pass when they know those kids were taken care of well into their late 20s ! So you have to ask the question, why since he made that post in 2019 did they just believe it without even making sure it was true. I'm still trying to figure that out almost 7 years later.”
The interview is the latest chapter in a highly publicized family dispute that has played out across social media in recent years, with McKnight facing criticism over his strained relationships with several of his older children while publicly embracing his family with his second wife, Leilani.
