In summary
- Kirk Franklin finally met his biological dad at 53 despite him leaving 10 minutes away.
- The songwriter opens up on struggling with love and identity and how his father’s absence had a toll on him while growing up.
American songwriter and choirmaster Kirk Franklin has finally gotten to know his father. Franklin described his early years as distressful in an interview with People Magazine.
“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,” he says, recalling his early hardships.It’s like I never had anybody take up for me or who had my back,” he expressed.
He speaks of the woman who adopted him saying that after sometime he felt like a burden to her.
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“She was 64. 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.”
Franklin was upset that he lacked the presence of his parents mentioning that he thought they would somehow appear when his life appeared to be in order.
After over half a century of living with uncertainty Franklin finally learnt that his biological dad lived in the same area where he was raised.
“I suffered so much as a young man without guidance. I struggled with love, intimacy, faith, and identity. And to know that the answer was less than 10 minutes away.” ~Kirk Franklin
