Brian McKnight’s ex-wife said she was “heartbroken” that the singer refused to tell their son Niko, “I love you,” while he was dying.
Julie McKnight shared her disappointment with Brian in an exclusive statement to Page Six on Friday.
“Those words should come easily, freely, and often,” Julie McKnight said. “And in Niko’s case, lying on his sick bed, fighting through pain, fear, and uncertainty, he deserved that love spoken over him more than ever.”
Julie, who was married to Brian from 1990 to 2003, added that “there is nothing more heartbreaking than hearing your child say that all they want is to simply have his father say those three words.”
“No child should have to long for something so basic, so pure, so necessary to the human heart,” Julie continued. “As his mother, hearing those words from him cut deeper than anything I could have imagined.
“It reminded me of how powerful love is and how deeply our children depend on it, especially in their most fragile moments,” she added.
Julie noted that all she “ever wanted… Niko to feel safe, cherished, and unconditionally loved.”
“I pray that every parent understands the weight of their words. The importance of their presence, and the healing that love spoken and shown can bring,” Julie stated.
As WBLS previously reported, Brian McKnight Jr.said his father did not tell Niko he loved him. At the time, Nike was suffering from terminal cancer.
McKnight Jr. said the moment was “one of the darkest and coldest and most disheartening memories” of his life. He recalled his brother calling him, “sobbing … looking death in the eye.” His father said that he “can’t arbitrarily say that I love you.”
“All my brother wanted, needed, asked for was my father to tell him he loves him,” McKnight Jr. said.
“Because I knew where my dad was, I told [Niko], ‘Dad is gone,” he continued.
The Grammy-nominated singer has been at odds with his children for several years. In 2023, t legally changed his name so it would match that of a newborn son with his current wife. He then referred to his older biological children — including Brian Jr. and Niko — as “products of sin.”