Kirk Franklin, a Grammy-winning gospel musician, has revealed the heartbreaking event that prompted him to cut ties with his biological mother at the age of 32.
Speaking on the “Funky Friday” podcast, Franklin described how the incident occurred at a family intervention to assist his sister, who had recently been released from prison.
Franklin told how his mother presented her new husband at the intervention and then decided to go with him rather than support her children.
He stated that the choice resulted in a heated argument, forcing him to resolve never to accept such treatment again. He stated, “For the first time, I’m going to tell this story”.
This is why I stopped speaking to my biological mother. I was 32 years old when my sister was released from prison, and I was the only one trying to aid her with housing and other necessities,” he recalled.
What they’re saying
“She was still fighting with drugs. It was more than a 32-year-old could take. And we needed to stage an intervention to assist her. Once again, this is not my daughter. She is not my daughter. She’s my sister. She has a mother.
“So we had a family meeting, but my biological mother arrived with her new husband. The intervention was going well. When it ended, we all hugged, and because we hadn’t seen each other in years, someone commented, “This is so amazing.
‘’This is what a family should do.”And I responded it wasn’t about us; it was about my sister, who had just been released. After I stated that, my mother’s new husband exclaimed, ‘What you need to do is call your mama occasionally.’ I answered, ‘Sir, I don’t know who you are, but she is the mother, and I am the child.’He answered, ‘Yeah, but you call yourself a Christian.’
“The dispute became heated, and my mother did something that broke my heart. She took his hand and said, ‘Come on, sweetie, let’s go.’ She stepped out of the house with her two children. And I yelled at my mother, ‘That’s right, go ahead and leave like you usually do.’
“Because she did not grasp that man’s hand and tell him, ‘Baby, stay away. This is between myself and my children. I did not raise, nurture, care for, or protect these children. She grasped the man’s hand and walked out with him. And I told myself that as a child, I couldn’t protect myself, but as an adult, I would never be put in a situation where you would abuse me that way again.”
Final Thoughts
Franklin’s story shows the complexities of family dynamics, especially when new relationships are introduced. The intervention, meant to help his sister, became a catalyst for revealing underlying tensions and unresolved issues within the family, leading to a confrontation that ultimately fractured their relationship further.
