Comedian Katt Williams is opening up about his large family in his newly released memoir, Nine Lives, No Wives and 69 Concubines.
Williams, now 55, revealed in his recently released book that he first became a father after kickstarting his comedy career in 1991, finding out the news 10 months after his daughter with an ex-girlfriend named Angela arrived.
“It f***ked me up too. Messed me up inside so bad I felt my chest cave in,” he recalled in one chapter, noting Angela raised their daughter alone while he pursued his then-fledgling career. “I left knowing one thing: our daughter, a little chocolate queen, would grow into one of the most loved and stunning Black women on earth.”
Williams’ daughter, whose name has not been publicly identified, eventually became a degreed air force veteran.
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Two years after learning of his daughter’s birth, Williams’ ex Justine revealed that she welcomed son Micah four months earlier. Justine subsequently asked the Friday After Next star to take care of their child full-time because she could no longer care for him.
“Suddenly, I was a full-time dad with a daughter in South Carolina and a son on my hip,” Williams wrote, later adding, “My daughter was now 3, and I wasn’t in her life as I should have been. Micah was with me, but I didn’t know a thing about raising a child.”
In addition to raising Micah, Williams adopted his son’s six half-siblings while remaining absent from his two daughters’ lives. (When Micah was 9 years old, his mother requested that Child Protective Services ask the comic to adopt her six children from other relationships when she was unable to care for them.)
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“Taking in those kids changed my life in ways I never saw coming,” Williams wrote. “One kid to seven kids overnight? That was a head-on collision in a minivan full of responsibility.”
Even so, Williams was determined to give his children a “normal life” and purchased a family home in Woodland Hills, California. The actor’s longtime assistant, Lena, also moved into the property with her three children, as did his estate manager and her six children. Per Williams, every child simply referred to him as “Dad.” (Williams also revealed in the book that his 10th child, a son, was never formally adopted but is still part of the family.)
“My big-ass family became my whole damn universe,” he stated. “Would I change a thing? Hell no. Not because I got everything right … But look at what we built: 10 beautiful human beings that I somehow managed not to ruin.”
Nine Lives, No Wives and 69 Concubines is out now.
