COMEDIAN Gary Own has opened up about his children and his strained relationship with ex-wife Kenya Duke.
On Wednesday, Gary, 49, joined host Shannon Sharpe on the Club Shay Shay podcast.
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During the interview, the standup comic confirmed he is the proud parent of twins, both about 10 months old.
“One’s white, one’s Black,” he shared.
“One’s got blue eyes…the other one [has] brown eyes.”
“The twins are awesome. They’re in that idolizing dad phase,” Gary joked.
The comic is engaged to Briana Johnson, according to TheJasemineBrand.
The couple welcomed twins Royal and Rome in July 2024.
RELATIONSHIP WITH KENYA
The funnyman also shares his son Austin and daughter Kennedy with his ex-wife, Kenya.
In the early 2000s, Kenya met Gary at one of his Los Angeles stand-up shows.
In 2016, the couple co-starred together in The Gary Owen Show.
The BET program followed their lives with their children.
The exes were married from 2003 to 2021.
The divorce was finalized in 2021 after a drawn-out battle.
Also on Wednesday, Gary jumped to Instagram and joked about his divorce during his standup routine.
‘I’m sure you guys have heard, I’m going through a very very messy, public divorce,” he said in a brief clip.
Even when I realized it was over, I thought we’d be able to sit across from each other and talk out how we were going to do this, together
Kenya Duke
“Thought it was going to be private, wife had other plans. It is what it is, what are you gonna do? I ain’t the first one to get a divorce.”
“I thought it was $44,000 a year in alimony not a month,” Gary captioned the post.
‘MY BEST FRIEND’
In March 2023, the mom of two discussed with Essence about their split.
“He was my best friend,” Kenya said.
“I really thought we were going to do this life thing together, you know?”
“That’s why I was so shocked with how the divorce went down,” she continued.
“Even when I realized it was over, I thought we’d be able to sit across from each other and talk out how we were going to do this, together.”
“Although our children are college-aged, they’d still come home and would need support,” Kenya concluded.
RELATIONSHIP WITH KIDS
During the podcast interview, Gary opened up about his relationship with his eldest kids.
“I didn’t do it wrong the first time. I was very conscious about how I spoke to them, how we disciplined them, I never put them down,” Gary shared.
“I was the fun dad.”
The Daddy Day Care notable admitted Austin and Kennedy do not have a relationship with the twin babies.
“It sucks too because my kids don’t know them. They don’t have a relationship with them,” he admitted.
“I don’t want them to meet when they’re four or five.”
Gary mentioned he has not seen his grown children since the separation.
“I’ll take the blame,” he commented.
“I didn’t ensure that my relationship with them was so strong that no matter what anybody said to them they can be like, ‘Nah, my dad is good.’
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