Brian McKnight’s Heartbreaking Battle to Specific Like to Dying Son Niko

Brian McKnight Jr. claims that his estranged dad, Brian McKnight, refused to say “I like you” to his son Niko earlier than he died from most cancers.

“One of many darkest and coldest and most disheartening recollections of my life is the day my brother [Niko] calls me sobbing — with all he’s going by way of — wanting dying within the eye, to inform me I’m proper about telling him to not name my father as a result of I knew what was going to occur,” Brian Jr. stated throughout a latest interview with Marc Lamont Hill.

“As a result of I knew the place my dad was. I advised [Niko], ‘Dad is gone.’ All my brother wished, wanted, requested for was my father to inform him he loves him,” the “Marry Your Daughter” singer added.

“My father responds to my brother, ‘I can’t arbitrarily say that I like you.’ However that is the person that wished to assist him?”

Web page Six has reached out to Brian for remark however didn’t instantly hear again.

The “Again at One” singer’s household points surfaced in October 2023, when he introduced on Instagram that he had legally modified his title to change into a senior to his then-newborn son, Brian Kainoa Makoa Jr., whom he shares with spouse Leilani Mendoza.

Nevertheless, Brian was already a senior to his eldest son, Brian Jr.

The next 12 months, the 17-time Grammy nominee, 56, stated he didn’t declare his estranged organic children as a result of they had been the “product of sin.”

“In an effort to reside a life that you simply love, it’s important to do away with the evil and the negativity — even when that evil and negativity is said [to you],” he stated throughout a Q&A session on Instagram on the time.

When a fan wrote that the musician disowning his kids went “in opposition to God,” he replied: “1. God wasn’t speaking about kids which can be the product of sin which these are 2. I didn’t increase them their moms did 3. Know the entire story earlier than quoting the Bible 4. Take your inaccurate negativity off my web page and take a look at being comfortable.”

Brian solely claimed the son and two stepchildren he shared with Mendoza, writing in his Instagram bio that he was the “father of Julia, Jack, Kekoa Matteo & Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Jr.”

In January 2024, Brian’s son Niko, born Cole Nikolas McKnight, introduced on Instagram that he had most cancers.

The R&B singer — who shares sons Brian Jr. and Niko with ex-wife Julie McKnight; daughter Briana with ex Patricia Driver; and son Clyde with an unidentified lady — claimed he provided to assist Niko along with his most cancers battle — however stopped as soon as Julie intervened.

Brian stated on the time that he and Mendoza had been arranging for Niko and his spouse to fly to their residence. Nevertheless, Julie, 53, allegedly made a “hostile” cellphone name to him, demanding he cease serving to their son.

“So what are we doing? We’re adhering to her needs as a result of that’s what she wished and we’re staying out of it,” the musician stated.

In an unique assertion to Web page Six, Julie stated: “That is, as soon as once more, a response to bait myself & my household into his false narrative. He’s a liar.”

Niko succumbed to his battle with most cancers in Might.

Following the photographer’s dying, a supply near the state of affairs solely advised Web page Six that the “Anytime” singer had “not reached out to the household.”

“He didn’t contact or see Niko,” the insider advised us.

Whereas Brian didn’t make amends with Niko earlier than his dying, the hitmaker claimed he, his spouse and their children “flew residence to Maui and had a personal memorial remembering him, and all the nice instances.”

In October, Brian took to social media, claiming he had gained greater than $8 million in a defamation judgment that he filed in opposition to Julie as a result of she didn’t seem in courtroom.