In this episode of Karamo’s talk‑show, host Karamo brings together Darnell, a father who has been largely absent, with his two adult children, Ta'Leigh and Darrel, for a raw, emotional reunion. Ta'Leigh recounts a childhood marked by abandonment, inconsistent presence, and a sense of being used for material gifts, while also revealing a half‑sibling she never met. Darrel shares his limited contact with his father and his skepticism toward apologies without changed behavior. Darnell attempts to justify his past, expresses love, and offers apologies, but repeatedly deflects responsibility, leading to tension. Karamo facilitates the conversation, repeatedly probing the children’s feelings, highlighting boundary needs, and urging Darnell to move beyond defensiveness toward concrete actions. The dialogue culminates in a mutual acknowledgment that rebuilding trust will require time, clear boundaries, and consistent effort, with Karamo summarizing the importance of communication and respect in healing fractured family relationships.
Chapters
Tell me about your dad.
So he wasn't there a lot, so there's not much that I can say. If you ask me what kind of events like he was there for, he wasn't, it'd be easier to throw a rock and tell you where he, when he was there.
Wow.
Yeah.
Okay, so what was your relationship like with your dad?
It was kind of hit or miss. It kind of depended on like where he was at in his life, whether he wanted to be there or not. It's always been rough, like ever since I kind of started to see his flaws for myself, 'Cause my mom, she never said anything bad about him to me. She let me see it on my own.
[Speaker:KARAMO] Got it. What do you wanna say to him?
[Speaker] I just want him to hear me out and understand like why I'm upset and stop trying to come up with excuses for it.
[Speaker] Mm-hmm. And why are you upset?
[Speaker] Because he thinks he has like this right to be in my life when he wasn't there to begin with.
[Speaker] Here you go, love. And you have a brother that you've never met.
Yes.
Tell me about that.
So when my dad was 14, he had a child with this woman in New York. And then when he was 15, his mom took him all the way to the other side of the US to Washington. My dad's entire family tried to convince him that my brother was not his 'cause he's too white. But like you look at me, I'm very white as well.
Yeah.
So he wasn't there all through my brother's childhood as far as I know, 'cause he was uncertain if he was the father.
Got it.
Why has it been 5 years since you've seen your daughter?
So don't let it all fall on my shoulders, dear daughter of mine. You decided that I was not such a good person at a young age. And then when I did try to come, I did try to be there, I did go to your house, I did these things, but there was no TJ. Where'd she go? What happened?
Well, you do understand why. She just said, yeah, you said you were gonna do stuff, you promised, and then you didn't show up.
I absolutely understand that. But I love my daughter with everything, Tallay J. I will die for you at any moment.
Given moment.
But you decided that I wasn't good enough.
I didn't say that.
You decided that I was a bad person and you rode that and you're riding that and you're riding it and you're riding it.
You know, I gave you ample opportunities to make up for all that. All you ever did my whole life was tell me, I'm gonna give you this, I'm gonna get you this.
I didn't owe you.
22 years later, 22 years.
Okay, 22, 22.
I have nothing from you.
You don't have nothing?
No.
How about that coat that I bought you and you had? I have a picture of it with you.
A coat.
Wow.
A coat. Not just one coat.
A coat and all those shoes when I was 2.
And all the shoes.
That's so great.
And try to play it off like I didn't give you and buy you. It's not about that.
I did give you. Donnell, she's telling you that it's not about the material things.
She's telling you about the help. See, there you go. I didn't say that I don't accept it, so please don't put words in my mouth. I do accept my responsibility that I did this and I did that.
You're saying it's not my fault.
It's not my fault.
It's your fault.
I didn't say that it was your fault. Yes, you did.
You straight up said it's my fault. When you—
'Cause I decided.
When you limit me from being— How is it my fault?
It's your fault because you didn't have anything stable for me to rely on.
All you had to do was make a call. Dad, I want you to come spend some time with me.
And then what's that gonna do for me? I couldn't even go see you if I wanted to because you didn't have nowhere to go or you were at so-and-so's house or wherever you were at doing whatever you wanted to do. For my whole childhood. You don't get to make excuses. Excuses saying that I decided that. I was 8 years old and I seen it for myself.
I wanna bring your son into this as well. Let's bring Daryl out.
Back up, back up.
All right?
You'll have your moment, okay?
I'm sorry.
No, you don't have nothing to apologize for.
I know you're hurting. Thank you.
I see it.
How you doing? Good to meet you.
Nice to meet you, Karamo.
Yes, thanks for coming on the show. Take a seat. I just heard you say to your sister, "I know what you're going through. I feel you." How is it that you know what you're going through and y'all have never met?
The thing is, is that I didn't meet my dad in person until a little bit before she was born. I didn't know about her. About her until way later, until I was in like high school.
But I think it's very interesting that you do understand what she's going through because I remember you telling my producers that you only saw your father for the first time like 3 years ago?
That was when things started to— You saw him one?
When he was consistent.
Become more of a thing.
So 3 years ago he started coming, becoming consistent.
He came to New York and started coming to my mom's house and stuff. And the thing was he was spending more time with my mom and my other siblings that are my mom's kids than with me because I'm an adult and going and doing my thing. Hold on. I'm not here to blame you for it. Okay, I'm just wondering. I have things that I'm working on.
Do you respect your father and do you respect your father?
I just don't see what I should be respecting.
Got it, I can understand that. Do you respect your father?
It depends on what you mean by respect. I respect him as a human being, but I don't feel like he's an authority figure to tell me anything in my life.
Got it. So the thing is here, you are hearing your children say that they both feel like there's boundaries issues. They're feeling your children say that they both are accepting you back in their life, but they're also saying to you right now that they feel like you have a temper and you can't hear them.
Right, I absolutely—
I actually, I don't know my dad well enough to know that he had a temper. Like I honestly, if you're not including months when I was a baby, collectively I've probably spent spent 2, 3 months with this man.
[Speaker:KARAMO] Yeah, yeah. There's something very special about you two meeting right now because you finally have somebody who understands what you're feeling. And I want you two to cultivate this relationship and bond and be stronger because in that is going to be healing for you both. But I will tell you, Donnell, I understand that you did some things in your past that you're acknowledging. But what your children are saying to you right now is that they need to set new boundaries and they need to set new things so that they can even have a relationship with you.
With you.
The thing of the matter is that your children don't respect you right now, and that respect has to start to be earned. And the thing is, is that every time you talk about, well, what I did, and I tried to do this, it's unfortunately falling on deaf ears because they're hurt. Your children are hurt. And as parents, it's our job to not say, well, I did do this, I did do that. It's to just acknowledge and say, I hurt you. What can I do to build the bond? And it might take 10 years, it might take 20, but you can't rush their healing.
I appreciate that.
Because you wanna be on your time.
I appreciate that.
What?
You say that?
I said I apologize and want some healed.
I'm not apologizing, you're still trying to come up with excuses.
There's no excuse. There's no excuse, I told you.
The thing that I wanted to say is like Ta'Leigh said earlier, an apology means nothing without changed action.
Okay, so I'm gonna change right here on the stage.
No, no, no, so what I said.
That's what I'm talking about.
So what it is, it's about this.
Let's get to the bottom of this. Let's get to the start line before we look at the finish line.
The start line for you right now is your children are telling you that they need time and they need new boundaries set.
I'm the one that called the show, so how am I not understanding that there has to be some sort of—
I'm not calling— See, your son said it and I see it. I don't think you're a bad guy. I think you're a defensive guy. I think you're constantly being defensive because you don't want to acknowledge the hurt that your kids feel. Your kids have both said that they felt hurt, they felt abandonment, they felt these things. And I know you say it, but they're both telling you that they need more action.
I'm down to do whatever so that we can build that.
I heard that as well. But what they're telling you is that they need more time. Well, until they get that time, so this is where we gotta go. You two have to support each other. You two be there for each other and start to talk about the things you need, the boundaries you need, and work that out. And for you, Darnell, I believe your children do want you in their lives. You just gotta respect their time and their boundaries and you'll get there. Listen everyone, I wanna thank Darnell, Darrel, and Ta'Leigh for being with us. We just realized all of this today. When it comes to respect and families, it can be a tricky thing to navigate. So I encourage you to learn from my guests today that if you're feeling disrespected, remember to communicate clearly by recognizing if actions or emotions are at play. And I promise you, if you do that, you'll be taking the first steps in hearing each other and helping heal the relationship. Come back next time, friends, so we can keep talking and growing. Hold on, where you going? I'll tell you where you're going. Right here to subscribe and right here to watch more, period.
