Grammy-winning musician and songwriter Kirk Franklin has finally gotten to know his father. Franklin described his early years as being dreadful 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 told the publication.
He speaks of the woman who adopted him saying, "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 didn't have a father and that the man he thought was his father had the audacity to appear once when his life appeared to be somewhat in order.
"Same for my biological mother," he added.
But lately, a man by the name of Richard Hubbard asserted that the DNA test showed that he dated Franklin's mother. The man resided in the same area where Franklin was raised.
"To live over half a century with somebody who lived in the same city as you. 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."
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