In this episode of Karamo’s talk show, guest Brandon discovers that the man who raised him is not his biological father. After a family conversation reveals a cryptic nickname, Brandon uses online research—YouTube, Facebook groups for Brownsville, New York—to locate "Waterbed Kev," his biological father, known as Big Kevin. He contacts the group, receives a rapid response, and connects with Kevin, who confirms the paternity. The episode also features Big Kevin’s perspective, recounting how he learned of Brandon in 1992 and his subsequent incarceration for 25 years, with release in 2019. Little Kevin, Big Kevin’s son, shares his own surprise at learning he has a brother and describes bringing Brandon to live with him in New York and later North Carolina. Throughout, Karamo guides the conversation, emphasizing the importance of truth‑telling to children. Emotional moments include Brandon’s reflections on growing up with an alcoholic stepfather, his desire for closure, and the collective relief when a DNA test confirms the familial link. The episode ends with a broader message urging parents to be honest with their children, highlighting the healing power of truth and family reconciliation.
Chapters
So talk to me about finding the man who raised you, finding out the man who raised you wasn't your biological father.
Yeah, so it was just, I was on the phone with an older cousin and just talking about, you know, family things, you know, the stuff that swept under the rug. She's just telling me stuff that, you know, stuff like that. And we got on the conversation of my dad and she was just like, you know, 'cause it was an honorable thing for your dad to step up and I'm gonna take the place as your father.
And I'm like, er?
[Speaker:KARAMO] Yeah, like, what you talking about?
[Speaker] And I let her finish talking because I just wanted to grasp everything that she was saying. And when she finished talking, I was like, what are you talking about? And in that moment, she realized that she put her foot in her mouth. She told me something I didn't even know.
So—
[Speaker] Did she apologize?
Was she mortified?
I mean, she was apologetic. She just thought that, you know, because of my age, I would've known. You know? So at that moment, I kind of just sat on things, 'cause I was trying to see how I was gonna take it to my mother. At that moment when she found out I knew, yeah, it was—
What did she say?
Who told you that?
Yeah.
You know, very dramatic, like—
Yeah, which is the wrong first response. The first response should've been, I'm sorry, baby, how do you feel?
Yeah.
But it's— And I say that out loud just in case for anybody else who's confronted with that, you know, the response is to always care about the child, not about who told the child. Yeah, and so she was dramatic, what happened?
The only thing she gave me was a first name, a nickname, and the area of New York that he was from. Wow.
That was it.
That was it.
And so you got, you had this information, did you try to reach out? To him? Did your mom ever try to reach out?
Well, I didn't know how I was gonna reach out to him at the point 'cause my mother didn't have any contact with him. You know, she told me he was from Brownsville, New York. So I was like, let me look up Brownsville, New York and just see what that is, like what type of area that is. So I got on YouTube and then I saw in the comment section people saying, oh, I was there from this year to this year. So I'm like, well, if you was there from this year to this year, you probably know my father, you know? So then I was like, well, let me go to Facebook And when I typed that in, they had Facebook groups dedicated to Brownsville, New York. I joined it. I took the opportunity and I made a status in that group and I was like, "Hey, I'm looking for a guy named Kevin. He possibly went by Waterbed and he used to hang in this area in New York." His nickname was Waterbed? Waterbed. 10 minutes later, my notifications were going off.
People knew Waterbed?
They knew him.
Wow.
He was that popular as a kid that—
Well, if you get the nickname Waterbed, you gotta be popular or something.
You know what I mean?
Like, you too young to know about waterbeds, but the rest of us used to be on there rolling like this. I wanna take a look at the post. So I'm searching for my father blank. His name is Kevin. He used to go by Water and hung with the guy named blank back in the day. They're close to 50 and A's now. If you can help in any way, let me know. "Thanks for this group. I found him. Thank you everyone. You all will be in the movie about my life one day." Okay. Hold on, this is the funny part. He said everybody gonna be in the movie of his life one day. They actually are. They ended up being on your TV show with you.
You know what I mean?
So thanks everybody who commented, you know, in the Facebook group. And I wanna back up a little bit and be clear that when we were talking about your mother earlier, I know that you had to do all this work work by yourself. We also tried to reach out to your mother and she never picked up on any of our calls. She decided not to answer any calls or return any of them at all. Yeah. So I wanna ask you, how much longer was it before you connected to your father after that?
January the 27th, I heard his voice on the phone for the first time.
Wow. And January 27th of what year?
2020. Initially, I didn't even think he knew about me. I didn't find out he knew about me until I heard from him.
Well, we have a picture of you and your potential dad. Can I see this?
Oh wow.
If you talking about that's your daddy. How does the man that raised you feel about you coming here today?
My father passed away last year.
Very sorry. Did he know you were trying to go on this journey? Here you go, bro.
Here you go.
Here you go, baby. I can see that's still hard for you. Were you and him very close?
I grew up with a lot of pain with my father that I had already because my father was an alcoholic. So I grew up with the pain of watching my father already choose alcohol over me, wondering why I wasn't good enough for him, going through all this pain with daddy issues already, which is why I don't understand. This is why my message here, I just wanna leave for parents, like y'all have to tell y'all children the truth because why would you put me through that and I didn't have to go through that pain? You took me through a lot of things with that family I did not have to bear. That wasn't my truth to live. I wanted to have that conversation with him, but like I said, he's an alcoholic. So, and he passed away before I can even, you know.
[Speaker:KARAMO] Got it. So you became close with Kevin's son, correct? Your potential father, Kevin's son.
[Speaker] So me and him have built a relationship since then. He came into the picture feeling like, you know, He just was adamant that I was his brother. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's been great.
Great, yeah.
And some of them think you're not related to him?
Yeah, so, you know, on his side, of course, with every family, you know, the drama does arrive sometime. In that frustration, people like to say, "Well, you not my family anyway. You need to get a DNA test." You know, I came into the picture wanting a DNA test and you guys were telling me that I didn't need it.
Yeah.
So that's another reason I just want this, 'cause I don't want anywhere down the line anybody else to be able to throw that up in my face.
Got it, yes, you want your answer. Well, I wanna welcome Big Kevin, your potential father, to hear his side of the story. So everyone, welcome Big Kevin to the show. Hey, how you doing, Big Kevin?
How you doing, Karamo?
Nice to meet you, sir. Thanks for being here.
You all right?
Yeah. So I gotta ask you, when did you first hear about Brandon?
I first heard about my son in 1992.
Okay, '92.
And I remember this particular afternoon, I saw a car. Someone got out the car, it was a young lady, and she was calling me, and I was like, who is this? It was his mother's friend that I remember. Yeah. She said, Kevin, I have to tell you something. I said, what is it? She said, you have a son. "Your son." I was like, "What?" And she pulled out pictures and then sure enough, when I looked at the pictures, he looked just like me. So that's how I found out about Brandon.
My producers say you had some legal troubles after finding him.
Yes, 2 years later I was incarcerated. I was incarcerated for a duration of 25 years. I was 27 years old when I got arrested. Yes. And I came home July 31st, 2019. So you see the duration, the gap.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's what happened far as with me and him now.
Look how interesting that is that you got outta jail in 2019 and then January 2027, 2000 is when this all happened.
Right.
Talk to me about how he found you.
When I got in touch with him, he explained to me and then he showed me pictures of someone that I knew. I went by a nickname long time ago.
Waterbed, we heard.
Yeah, Waterbed Kev, that was my name.
Yeah, Waterbed Kev.
And it was a very—
We all assume we understand why you was Waterbed Kev.
Oh.
But yes, Karamo.
So what was going on in your head then when you got this message? There's no confirmation, you're just hearing this from some random girl that could be lying or telling the truth.
No, I knew she wasn't lying because when I saw the pictures.
You knew, yes.
I knew that was my son. I had no doubt about that.
Yeah, but then you're incarcerated.
Right. And there was times when I was incarcerated, I thought about him 'cause I have 3 children.
Which is just, I don't understand. It's like you knew about me, but why couldn't I know? You know what I'm saying? Like I went 27 years and when I heard that he knew, why didn't nobody tell me? Yeah, right.
That I don't know. That I don't know. Like I said, as far as the household of his mother, I don't know why she did that or what was her reasons. And I never questioned her on that till this day.
So you have no doubts that he's your son?
I have no doubts at all.
Got it, perfect. Well, Big Kevin, your son Little Kevin is also in the audience today. So Little Kevin, thank you for being here. How y'all doing? How you doing? I walked out when I came out here and I was like, who's so fly in the front row? It makes sense now you on the show. All right, so Lil Kev, how do you feel about this?
Just since day one when I got the call from my stepmom at the time, One time she called and she was like, you got a brother. And I was like, you pregnant? And she was like, no, he's actually grown. So I was kind of confused. Just growing up, talking to my dad, even through his incarceration, he always told me that I had another sibling, but I never knew how to go about finding him or anything like that. So we got on the phone, we talked on three-way, they sent me some pictures. Straight up and down, I feel like that's my brother, 100%. No questions asked, that's my brother.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I actually brung him to New York to live with me.
Oh wow.
Just going through what he was going through, where he was in Texas, I brung him to New York. He stayed with me in New York for about 6 months. He decided he wanted to go back to Texas. Fast forward to where we are today, I ended up moving to Greenville in 2021, North Carolina, and he ended up coming to Greenville and he's been there with me the last 3 years.
Oh, that's amazing.
In that same area, so.
So I always have to ask this question because of course, Of course, you know, even though you were told by a friend and, you know, we don't know the DNA truth, how will you feel if this is not your brother? Will you still stay close to him?
He's gonna be my brother, like, and that's just what it is. There's no questions.
Okay. Well, I think it's time for the DNA truth. Brandon, you are the one who wants this DNA test. So this is your truth to open, not mine. Here you go.
It's crazy that you just handed me this like this. Like, I watch your show so much.
Thank you for the support.
So to be handed this is crazy. And what this also means to me, it's a lot. You know, I just wanna leave the message Tell your kids the truth. There's no reason whatsoever I should even be here doing this when the truth could have been told to me. As much as you may think that your kids, just because they coming up in the house with a good parent system and you don't feel like it's a need to go search for that, they always gonna wanna know where they come from. Always. I went 27 years. Mm.
Big Kev, I see you crying over there. What's going through your mind? Here you go, bro. What's going on?
Just happy.
I ain't have no doubt.
I'm happy he got closure.
I'm happy for him.
I'm happy. You got your son? Yeah. Kevin, how are you feeling at the moment?
It's been a long time coming, y'all.
Yeah.
It's been a long time coming. Like, it's been a long time coming.
Yeah. What I'm happy about this moment most for you, if I can be honest with you, I could see quickly that trust issues, shame, there's certain things that were probably things that you've been experiencing because you didn't get answers. And I've shared this before, I believe that every single one of us, we have to go through certain moments to fulfill our true destiny in life, to get to where we need to be. And I believe that this is a small part of your destiny. Like you being here and being able to be truthful and vulnerable enough so that you could share that message with the world the world while also finding your own truth is so important because I think there is gonna be some parent out there that's watching this and can hear your words and see your tears and see the pain, but also the happiness and say that maybe I need to do better. And so though I'm so sorry of what you had to experience with your stepfather's alcoholism, I'm so happy that you have found your biological father. I'm so fine you have found your biological brother and that you can see the love that is here here. This is your family now. So you never have to feel like you ever gonna be abandoned. You never have to feel shame. You never have to feel doubt. You got your family. You got the family. And I wish y'all, you so welcome, sir.
You so welcome.
I wish y'all the best, best of luck. Seriously, everyone at home, thank you so much for being with us and make sure to come back next time, friends, so we can keep talking and growing. I love you all.
