Was I Raised By The Wrong Dad? | KARAMO

So, Queen, tell me how you first found out that another man could be your father.

So I first found out when I went to go spend a weekend with my mom and my brother. And he said, "I got something to tell you." So I'm looking like, "What? What's wrong?" He was like, "Well, Mom told me that your dad is the same as my dad, so that makes us full brother and sister." Oh. So I was like, "Huh? What are you talking about?" I was like, "But Johnny's my dad, so how is that?" He was like, "No, well, Mom said," that she's not really your father. I was like, so what's going on with that? So I guess—

And how old were you again at this time?

I was 13 and a half, about to turn 14.

13 and a half. I mean, just imagine y'all, to be your entire life, you think this person your father and then somebody, your brother at all points, comes and says, mom told me a different story. You know what I mean?

Right, she didn't tell. What got me was because she didn't tell me.

Exactly, she didn't say it.

I would've felt a little better if she would've said it, but she didn't. She didn't, my brother told me.

So clarify again, who is Wayne to you?

Wayne is my brother's dad, which currently what I found out could possibly be my dad.

Okay, got it. So who do you believe your father was growing up?

Johnny.

Johnny, okay. What did Johnny say about all this?

He said it wasn't true and that don't believe my mom because of course my mom was always trying to start things between the family. So I left it at that. I went home after my brother told me that And I got on the phone with Wayne and my dad was in the same room with me. I got Wayne on the phone and I got my dad standing here and I'm on the phone with him and I'm crying 'cause I'm like, well, I don't wanna go with you because I've been here with him all my life. So why do I have to go with you? And he explained to me, well, I'm not trying to take you from him. We just wanna get the truth out.

Got it. And when did you finally decide to accept Wayne as your potential father?

I finally decided that once My brother passed away. He got in a bad car accident on the way back to the Marine base.

Oh, I'm so sorry, love.

And I was, I think I was 19 then, my senior year in high school. So I was like, okay, well I can accept that now. That means I got two daddies to help me out in life. And that's how I felt about that.

Got it, got it, got it. How's your relationship with Wayne now?

It's great.

Good.

We talk every day even though we live in two different states. We talk every day. You know, it's phone conversation for hours.

Yeah. I know that you had shared with my producers also that your daughter had passed.

Yes.

I'm sorry about that as well.

Thank you. Wayne was there to support me and help me. He sang at her funeral and he was there with me the whole step of the way.

Yeah, okay, so he's always been there.

Yes.

So Wayne's been a support system for you your entire life.

Yes.

Why is this DNA test important to you today though?

It's important to me because I feel like I've been going my whole life not knowing who my father really is.

Yeah.

And I feel like I just need closure on who it really is.

Yeah. Do you still talk to Johnny?

I have honestly not talked to him since my daughter passed.

Got it. And how long ago did your daughter pass?

2 years ago.

2 years ago.

Yes.

Okay. What caused your relationship to be severed with him?

We got into a slight argument about me putting my mom in my daughter's obituary. He was like, "Well, your mom wasn't here for you, I was." Which my intention was to put both his name and Wayne's name in the obituary because my daughter did know them both as her grandfather.

Yeah.

So that was the whole intention and we ended up having a big argument about it because I wanted to do that that way and we didn't talk, we hadn't talked anymore.

Got it. And to be clear, Johnny raised you and your mother really wasn't in your life.

She was not.

Got it, okay then, I got that. Well, I think it's time to find out what Wayne has to say about all this. So everyone please welcome him to the show.

Hello Wayne, how are you doing, sir?

How you doing, Karamo?

Nice to meet you, sir.

Pleasure to meet you, sir.

Yeah, good to meet you as well. Thank you so much. So how do you feel about what was just said?

Oh my God, oh my God. Excuse me for a minute. Take your time. Okay. We really need to find out the truth.

Yeah.

Am I the biological father or is Johnny the biological father? This is something that I've been carrying on my shoulders for 43 years.

43 years.

I've always wanted to have a daughter anyway, so it's really, you know.

Yeah, special thing for you. And it sounds like from what Queen said, you've always been there. So how did you exactly find out?

My 15-year-old son, Lewayne, came home from school one day and he told me he went to see his mother. I was having, I had several conversations with him about going to see his mother because she separated him from me for 4 years of his life, of his childhood life. So I got him back. From her, he was turning 5 years old. And my wife and I raised him from childhood.

Got it.

I do have a question for you. Finish with that. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.

No, take it.

But my question to you is, if you had any feeling or thought that I was really truthfully yours, why you didn't do anything about it when I was first born?

Well, I really couldn't do anything about it at the time time because I couldn't assume responsibility if I couldn't have the results to prove that the child is mine.

Yeah.

But they also had to collect, they do have the courts there where you could have petitioned and went to the courts and did that with any type of doubt at all. You could have took her to court for that.

Okay, but I was told I was told from a legal standpoint that once I step forward as a father, the father is responsible for the finances of that report to be done.

That is true.

That's $400 or $500.

But you're saying at the time you couldn't afford.

That I could, at the time I couldn't afford it.

So in your mindset you were like, I'm just gonna be there and then we don't have to deal with the courts Yes, sir. So let me, I just wanna be clear about this. The way you found out about your, that she potentially could be your daughter was that you said your son went to go visit his mom and is that, that he came back and told you?

Yes, he went to visit his mom and from what he told me, she told him everything.

Got it.

So.

So you're, again, both of y'all found out about this information through your son, your brother?

Yes.

Wow. And did you ever think there was a possibility that she could be your daughter?

Yes, sir.

So you did have that possibility?

Yes, sir.

So that goes back to my original question If you had that thought, why was there nothing ever done until we decided to do this as grown adults? You should've stepped in like, "Hey, we gonna do this. I don't care what you think or what whoever think. We need to do this.

We gonna do this.

We not gonna wait till we get grown and then be like, 'Oh, we gonna go do this.'" Well, it looks like we got a ping.

It's from Johnny, the man who raised you.

My name is Johnny and I'm Queen's father.

Father.

I got custody of her when she was 3, and Wayne ended up being probably one of my best friends. Wayne, if he takes the test and he the daddy, I'm fine. I was told by his wife or somebody that he was dead. If he alive, uh, tell him to give me a call because I consider him a brother. Queen knows where I am. Queen got my phone number. I tried calling her some years. I haven't talked to her in a long time. I tried calling her 3 or 4 times. She ain't answer. She wants to prove that Wayne's her daddy, let her go ahead. I don't care.

Wayne, I gotta stop because when he said that he was told that you were dead, you got emotional. What just happened there?

That's the second person that come to me and said that. Or somebody had gotten killed and their name was the same as mine and they thought it was me.

So there's been relationships fractured because people thought you were that person?

Yeah.

Got it, got it, got it. Wayne, what was your relationship like with Johnny?

They were friends.

'Cause he said y'all were best friends.

Yes, he started dating her mother while her mother was with me.

Right. Oh.

She was living with him and she was coming back to see me and bringing my son to see me. I was still in love with her. She was my first love.

My problem is based on what Johnny said. First of all, it's not been a long time since we talked. Again, last time I talked to him was during the time that my daughter died. He completely took and talk with my kids' father, which we are not currently together anymore. We've not been together in the last 7 years now.

Mm-hmm.

He talked to him more than he talked to me. Mm. And again, he was not there to help me with her funeral. We argued during her funeral because again, like I said, of who I wanted to put in the obituary and what to do. Yes, my mom told me that he was my father when I was younger or he got custody of me when I was 3 years old. He may have gotten custody of me when I was 3 years old, but he did not technically raise me. His parents technically raised me.

Oh, got it. Okay then. Well listen, Wayne's other son, Dwayne, is sitting in the audience right now. I'm gonna talk to him too. How you doing today, Dwayne?

I'm doing all right, Karamo.

So what was your reaction when you heard that Que could be related to you?

It was a bit of a shock to me.

Yeah. Yeah, it was a bit of a shock. 'Cause you didn't have any inclination at all?

No. At the time when I heard anything about it, at first it was just rumors. I spoke to him. At first it was no. Far as I knew growing up, it was me and my brother.

Yeah, that was it. Are you open to having another sibling? Yes. So you ready for her to be your sister? Yes. Okay then.

It was actually funny how me and him found out about each other anyway. We found out about each other when my brother passed. We were in the same school together. Like, we were literally in the same class together. And happened that my brother passed. And at the funeral, I'm looking like, "Hey, he looks familiar. He's in my class." Kinda found out, "Oh, this your other brother." My sisters had always told me, "Hey, our brother has another brother." I've only heard that our brother had another brother. I had never met him until high school. I was like, okay, this was, it was funny. So when we get back to school, it was like, okay, so now we got brother and sister in the same class and they go to school together. And that was how it got started.

Did y'all maintain a relationship during that time?

Yes.

Y'all did. So for you, this would be good because this is somebody you grew up with, this is somebody you feel connection with.

Yes.

So you want her to be your sister?

Yes.

I gotta ask you.

I want the truth to come out.

Yeah, you want the truth to come out.

I wanna know.

Well, I think it's time to get to the DNA truth. Listen, you have waited, basically your entire life to get these answers. And this is not my truth to open, it's yours. So here you go.

Wayne is your biological father.

What's going through both of your minds right now?

We have to move on. We have to move on.

I mean, I'm relieved to really find this out, but again, like I said, this could have been done a long time ago.

Yeah, I know there's a lot of relief on both your ends that you finally have the truth, but I understand and I hear you, Queen. And what I understand from what I'm hearing from you is that as a child you were saying, I had these adults in my life, I had grandparents, I had Johnny, I had everyone, my mother, but no one was fighting for me.

Right.

No one was stepping up.

Yes.

And you needed someone to step up for you. And I will tell you, now that you have these answers, the goal for you, Wayne, is just to do what she needed then. I would also say, if there really wants to be healing, a conversation of acknowledgement that maybe I could have done more. Because I heard your perspective and I understand where your point of view was. I really do. I get it. In that moment, you're thinking that this is the best choice for the resources I have and for for the information and the support I'm getting. This is the best that could happen. But though for you that was the best choice, for her it wasn't. And if you're able to acknowledge to her that maybe I could have tried a little bit better, maybe I could have did something a little bit different, that will start the healing journey and will make this connection between you. Is that something you can do for her right now?

What I can do for her right now is continue to be the father that I've always wanted to be ever since the day she was born in this world.

Got it.

And if— and, and I can assure her, as long as I live and have breath in my body, my daughter will always be protected. She will always be protected and loved by her father, and there's nothing that she cannot talk to me about, come to me for nothing.

Yes. Well, I'll tell you, you didn't just gain a daughter, you got a queen. And you need to make sure that you always treat her that way because that's what you deserve. You deserve to be treated like a queen, okay?

Thank you.

I wish you both the best of luck on this journey.

Thank you.

This is your sister now. So you got your sister, all right?