Kirk Franklin explains how a near-fight with his mother’s husband led to a decades-long estrangement

Gospel singer Kirk Franklin has long been known for his transparency with fans and his ability to transform life’s challenges into uplifting music.

In 2023, with the discharge of his album Father’s Day, Franklin shared a good more personal look into his life, revealing what it was like to meet his biological father, Rick Hubbard, for the primary time at age 50.

In the accompanying behind-the-scenes featurette, Franklin not only met his father, but additionally reconnected with his estranged son, Kerrion.

This meeting also brought public attention back to one other figure – the artist’s biological mother, Debra, with whom he had broken off contact over 23 years ago.

Debra’s appearance within the film marked the primary time in a long time that she and Franklin had been in contact. But the gospel star has never publicly spoken about why he stopped talking to her.

Franklin finally opened up about his mother in an interview for Cam Newton’s “Funky Friday” podcast, recounting how his efforts to help his sister, Swan, caused a rift that has yet to heal.

The Houston-born man said all of it went fallacious when, as a young man trying to get his life together, he tried to help his sister, Swana, and felt his mother put her husband above him and his sister’s needs.

Swana had just been released from prison and was struggling with drug addiction.

“I’m the only one trying to help her,” Franklin recalled. “She needs a lot of help…where is she going to live? What is she going to do?”

Determined to support his sister, the “Revolution” singer began a ministry and “paid these two ladies to just be like mother figures and raise her.”

But despite his best efforts, Franklin quickly realized that he couldn’t handle it on their own and told Newton, “It was more than a 32-year-old boy could handle.”

Overwhelmed, Franklin turned to his family and contacted his biological mother, his aunt Debra, and his other aunt Sandra, hoping they may band together and intervene to support his sister. But once the family gathered, things quickly went from bad to worse.

He described the moment his mother arrived — with a man nobody within the family had ever met.

“She showed up with her new husband,” Franklin said, still stunned by the memory. “Nobody knew who the man was.”

This unexpected addition to the meeting added tension to an already delicate situation.

As the intervention unfolded, Debra’s anger grew, making an already difficult moment even harder.

“My biological mother always had a very short temper,” Franklin explained. “The way she communicated with my sister was not compassionate, it was not healing…it was very difficult to watch.”

Despite the mounting tensions, Franklin tried to concentrate on helping Swan. However, the situation took a dramatic turn when Debra’s latest husband, who had been silent until then, suddenly spoke up.

“You have to call your mom sometime,” he said, addressing Franklin.

Stunned and indignant, Franklin replied, “I said, ‘Sir, I don’t know who you are, but she’s the mother and I’m the child.'”

The situation quickly escalated, with emotions running high, according to Franklin, and the scuffle culminating within the Stella Award winner about to fight his mother’s husband. Franklin described the scene that followed as some of the painful moments of his life.

“My mother did something that broke my heart,” he said, his voice filled with emotion. “She grabbed his hand and said, ‘Come on, baby, let’s go,’ and she walked out of the house with her two kids and stood next to that n***a.”

Franklin recounted how his mother selected her latest husband over her own children, showing the influence this still has on him.

“The fact that she took that man by the hand and didn’t say, ‘Honey, stay there; this is between me and my children…’ It broke me.”

This moment proved to be a turning point in Franklin’s life and commenced greater than twenty years of silence between him and his mother.

“I promised myself… that I would never again be in a situation where you could do something like that to me,” he said.

Franklin decided to cut off all contact with his mother until his biological father got here into his life, a completely different man than the one Debra had told him his whole life was his father.

During a 2023 reunion where she saw her son, the 20-time Grammy Award winner, for the primary time, she denied that Hubbard was the daddy of her famous son, despite two DNA tests being conducted to confirm paternity.

He told Newton he simply did not have the strength to keep trying.

“After everything I’ve been through… it’s good, it’s good for me,” he said, sounding resigned. “There’s nothing else to do.”

He also shared a gem with viewers: “At some point, you have to save what’s still together. … You can’t give them everything just to have them break up,” emphasizing the difficult balance between love and self-care.

Franklin’s fans expressed their deepest sympathy for the singer who brought much joy to their lives through his music.

One YouTube viewer he commented“Man, I can feel the pain in his voice! Kirk still hurts deeply about this,” while one other said, “Every time I hear about his upbringing, I feel so much sadness for the little boy inside him. At this point, he’s beyond caring. The little boy inside him is forever destroyed.”

Another shared, “Kirk, it’s her loss. Go ahead and just pray for her,” and one more said, “She’s talking about the wall that many of us have put up. My god, that’s me with my relationship with my father.”

Dozens of individuals shared similar stories of how their moms had hurt them of their lives.

The dramatic experience of losing his mother again and regaining his father also influenced Franklin’s approach to parenting.

He has made it a priority to rebuild his relationship with his eldest son, Kerrion, whom he had when he was a teenager and homeless. The two had a very public falling out in 2021. Their strained relationship made headlines when Kerrion released a recording of Franklin cursing at him during an argument that they had on the phone.

However, while working on the Father’s Day project, the 2 began to take steps toward rebuilding the father-son bond.

The “My Life, My Love, My All” singer can be the daddy of Caziah Rashad Franklin, his youngest son with wife Tammy. Caziah recently got married, and his father published photos from the marriage and wrote a long post concerning the couple’s love.

The post on this joyous occasion may be seen as a sign that he’s breaking the cycle of dysfunction that began with his separation from his mother.

Fans online have also been showing their support for Franklin, who has buried his longtime musical collaborator, Shaun Martin August 17 in Dallas, Texas. Martin, a multiple Grammy Award winner who he suffered He suffered a stroke over a 12 months ago and died on the age of 45.