“New year, new family” seems to be the mantra for comedian and actor Rickey Smiley thanks to a shocking new revelation he’s now sharing with his fans.
Speaking in an interview on the “Smitty and Dee” podcast over the weekend to talk about his recently released memoir “Sideshow: Living with Loss and Moving Forward with Faith,” Smiley shared that he’s the father of five-year-old identical twin girls. The “First Sunday” star said he became aware of his new daughters back in Jan. 2024, right before the one-year anniversary of the death of his son Brandon, who passed away due to an accidental opioid overdose in 2023.
Smiley went on to share how he received a phone call from one of his ex-girlfriends at the time who explained that she’d taken her current ex-boyfriend to court over her daughters—only to find out that they weren’t his and in fact belonged to the popular comedian. What’s more is that, due to the positive nature of Smiley and ex’s relationship, he’d already met and befriended the girls since they were born.
“[I] been knowing them they whole life. They been coming over to Grayson [Smiley’s youngest grandson] birthday parties, play dates, playing on the swing set. All of that stuff. Never thought nothing,” Smiley said. “Me and her joked about this. I don’t run away from being a father, and she’s not the type of mom who would keep a child from a dad. So we joked about this. I remember getting phone calls when they were sick, ‘what should I do?’...The whole time, they’re my biological daughters.”
He then went on to describe how the news brought the sun back out for him again during his difficult grieving process and consequently began prepping his house to make space and accommodations for his new children which included a new trampoline, a new sandbox and more. Smiley also said that he revealed the news to his family during a memorial service for Brandon and that their reception was overwhelmingly positive and emotional.
“They saved my life,” Smiley said about the twins before later adding: “At the end of the day, God is still good because it could have been worse, and that is a good perspective to live off of. And you gave me some twins, not to replace Brandon, but here you go! Here’s some joy.”