Marlon Wayans is opening up and getting all the way real about how he came to accept his transgender child, Kai.
Speaking to Neal Brennan in a new interview for his “Blocks Podcast,” Wayans revealed that before he got to a good place of acceptance with his son, he tried a popular yet outdated method of conversion therapy on his child to keep them from transitioning: hypnosis.
According to Psychology Today, conversion therapy is categorized as the “harmful and discredited practice aimed at changing an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” Favored methods include: hypnosis, aversion therapy, ex-gay religious therapy, medicinal therapy and more. The notion has since been debunked by various mental health and medical professionals. Per a 2019 report from the UCLA School of Law, 18 states and the District of Columbia have passed statutes limiting the use of conversion therapy on LGBT youth.
During Wayans and Brennan’s conversation, the “White Chicks” star said:
“I tried to hypnotize that bitch. And I protested against it and I don’t say that with pride. I look back on those actions and I’m ashamed. I was embarrassed the moment I was forced to look in the mirror. I was embarrassed.”
He went on to say how he then tried to impose “sanctions” to keep Kai from transitioning by withholding their allowance but that didn’t work.
“[Kai] was like, ‘So what? Fuck it, I’ll starve,’” Wayans said. “Nothing was working. This is what they wanted to do. I always said I want my kids to be happy. In order to be happy, you’re not gonna please everybody.”
Wayans went on to say that at the end of the day, he has a duty to love his children no matter what—not control them. And it was that realization that helped him come to a good place with his son.
“This is their life and they should be happy if they do this and if they want to change back or whatever they want to do—it’s not on me to punch down on my child. It’s on me to love my child. Period. That’s all, all I can do is love my child and that’s what I do,” he said,