It’s been almost a year since Marlon Wayans went on The Breakfast Club and revealed that his 23-year-old daughter Amai had transitioned to identify as male and is now to be referred to as Kai.
The White Chicks star sat with Neal Brennan on The Blocks podcast where he opened up about everything from anxiety to depression to his OCD with clothes. But the part of the Oct. 17 interview that seemed to grasp people’s attention was the section where he talks about accepting his daughter – who is 24 now – as his son.
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As he’s done before, Wayans admitted that his journey to acceptance was not easy. So much so that he explored different methods to try and stop his child’s transition, but Kai found ways around it.
“I was going to impose sanctions,” Wayans said – meaning he was going to cut his son’s allowance. But as a response his son “‘was like ‘so what. F—k it. I’ll starve.’”
So The Wayans Bros. star tried more drastic measures. He said he told his son, “Okay, well Imma pull you out of school,” but he said Kai’s response was “‘Alright, I guess three and a half years at USC, I can get a job.’ Nothing was working because this is what they wanted to do. And you know I always said I want my kids to be happy. In order to be happy you’re not going to please everybody.”
“I tried to hypnotize that b-tch,” Wayans quipped. “I protested against it and you know – I don’t say that with pride.”
The 52-year-old even shared how ashamed he was once he began to get to the place of acceptance.
“I was embarrassed the moment I was forced to look in the mirror. I was embarrassed. And it only took me a week,” he said while contrasting the duration of Kai’s journey which took three to four years.
“One hard week and I will say, you know, I got to a beautiful place called acceptance. And I pray for a lot of parents, family members, and just public people in general. It’s not on us to judge anybody right. Aye man live your life.”
But Wayans said he also warned Kai that he’ll have to accept the comedic side of him that comes out with this experience. He said, “I tell my child ‘Aye man listen Imma have my jokes n—a. As long as you know I’m a comedian first – well I’m a father first, a comedian second and those two clash.”
Wayans also brought light to the fact that he’s been around and been friends with people in the LGBTQ community for much of his life with going to a performing arts high school and in his very own industry. So his goal is to “to just bring love” and “bring light.”
“Honestly, I’m not going to make them feel weird as long as they don’t make me feel weird when I crack jokes,” he said. “Because I’m gon’ crack my jokes. Just like I crack a white joke, Black jokes, you know, gay jokes. I’m a comedian so everybody gets it, including my family, including myself. We all get it.”
Wayans is a father of three, Kai and 22-year-old Shawn, whom he shares with ex Angelica Zackery. He also welcomed his daughter Axl in 2022 with his ex Brittany Moreland. The two are currently in a custody battle over their daughter after Moreland filed to have a petition to obtain full legal and physical custody, and Wayans filed for joint custody.
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