Imagine growing up in an environment where you never knew who your biological father was, only to find out 50 years later that he was just minutes away from you. That’s what Grammy-award-winning Gospel singer revealed n a story that takes us on a journey of family, love, and forgiveness.
A week ago, Franklin released, Father’s Day: A Kirk Franklin Story, a documentary that shows the creative process he went through to create his 13th studio album. But while creating music for people to enjoy, the iconic gospel singer also discovered things he previously never thought he would.
In an interview with People Magazine, Franklin described his upbringing as a fatherless child, and how it affected his life.
He said, “My life before I had a career was horrific. I lived being bullied as a kid. I had a learning disorder, I failed out of high school. I got a young lady pregnant when I was 17 and the church crucified me for it. It’s like I never had anybody take up for me or who had my back.”
The “Revolution” singer was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas to a teenage mother. Because of her young age, she was unable to take care of him and so he was adopted by a 64-year-old woman when he was only four.
He told People, “She was a widow and did the best she could when I was young. She got on government aid and would find money to pay for my piano lessons. But by 12 or 13, I felt abandoned by her because I could tell I became more of an irritant. I wanted to date and go out and I always felt like I was inconveniencing her. It just added to the feeling of displacement.”
When he was only six, his biological mother introduced him to a man he thought was his real father. For the next 50 years, Franklin thought he was the man who abandoned him and his mother.
But in his recent documentary, he realized that he couldn’t be more wrong. A singer who was working with Franklin on his album approached him about a man she met at a funeral, Richard Hubbard.
He told her that he once dated Franklin’s biological mother and that he lived in the same neighborhood that the Grammy Award-winning singer was raised in. The two took a paternity test and it showed a 99.9 percent match.
Hubbard was Franklin’s father. Here’s a short clip of Kirk finding out and meeting Hubbard for the first time.
While it was a beautiful and touching moment for Franklin to find the man he had been searching for throughout this creative process, his biological mother did not take the news well. She doesn’t believe that Hubbard is the father and Franklin has not wanted to talk to her since she got the news.
His upcoming album, Father’s Day, will almost assuredly touch on the feelings and emotions Franklin has dealt with since meeting his real father. While I’m sure he’s happy about the news, meeting someone after not knowing him for 50 years is a difficult thing to accept.
Hopefully, his album will be as touching and open as the documentary.