Brian McKnight is speaking out for the first time over the viral conversations about the singer’s personal life on social media. Last week, RadarOnline reported that the Grammy-winning singer settled a 2020 lawsuit with his daughter Briana. She claimed that the singer “maliciously defamed” her on social media by saying she was in an incestuous relationship and labeling her “promiscuous.” In a since-deleted post, he wrote, “She had some years earlier, and while a minor, engaged in sexual relations with an older cousin.”
McKnight spoke about the allegation via Instagram: “Not sure how these posts that have been sitting here this whole time were left out of the false narrative that is trending. Abandonment? There’s always more to every story. Stay tuned,” the caption read.
Briana has been vocal about her estranged relationship with her father on social media. “‘Daddy’s little girl’ was never really a thing for me. Nobody understands what I’ve been through except for my siblings,” she wrote in the caption of a post in 2019. “Believe it or not, I’m not always the person I seem to be. I’m not always happy and most of the time I’m battling my own demons just like everyone else.”
She continued, “I grew up thinking that the things that happened to me and my dad’s relationship was my fault […] At a very young age, I was always second place in my father’s heart. I don’t usually write things like this but I feel like enough is enough.”
McKnight shaded Briana on social media once before in an Instagram post praising his stepdaughter Julia. In the post, he seemingly disregarded Briana’s existence. “Jules I became a girl dad because of YOU and I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter […] Here’s to you Jules the perfect daughter I always wanted,” he wrote.
McKnight’s son Brian Jr. spoke out about his estranged relationship with the “Back At One” singer. McKnight has another son with his current wife Leilani who he also named Brian. “I don’t think there is any situation that merits the way my father has chosen to treat my brother, my sisters, and his grandchildren, one of which being his first born’s, firstborn son, who also bares our name,” he wrote on Facebook in 2019, per Vibe. “It’s insane to me. To have absolutely no empathy for the type of life be [sic] introduced us to, only to become to resent us for that life catching up with us. It breaks my heart, but not for myself, specifically for my siblings, and my children. They don’t deserve this at all.”
McKnight claimed he “never liked anyone” before meeting his current wife Leilani. McKnight and Leilani share Brian Kainoa Makoa. Julia and Jack are Leilani’s children from a previous relationship.