Katt Williams has spent decades in making people laugh, but in a recent conversation with Michelle Obama, he revealed details behind the family that changed his life through adoption.
While appearing on the IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson podcast, the comedian spoke candidly about the personal journey that led him to adopt seven children and become a father of ten. It’s a chapter of his life that, he admits, reshaped everything he thought he knew about love and responsibility.
“Love is the most important thing, and it’s free,” the 54-year-old shared, reflecting on how parenthood shifted his perspective in ways nothing else had.
Katt grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness. The actor said that his childhood was very structured and emotionally limited. By 13, he was already emancipated and navigating adulthood. Katt shares that this experience later influenced the way he showed up for his own children.
“I realized DNA doesn’t matter; bloodlines don’t matter; family’s where the love is,” he said.
During the conversation, Michelle Obama pointed out just how many children Katt had welcomed into his life — a realization that even surprised him. “I didn’t see that in the bingo cards,” he admitted with a laugh.
His journey into adoption began after learning that the siblings of one of his children had been placed in an orphanage.
“When they called me — I don’t have a direct relationship with these children, but they are the siblings of my son,” he explained. “And I did all the research, and I knew that it takes a million dollars to raise a child. And I was eager to say, ‘Wait a minute, Lord, are you saying I’m gonna have $10 million to raise 10 kids?’ Fine, let’s do it. Let’s go.”
At the time, fame and fortune weren’t part of his reality. He was making “less than $25,000 a year.”
Katt stated that the responsibility forced him to grow quickly. “The kids happening instantly like that meant, ‘Nah, I gotta grow up; I gotta do stuff a different way. Like I gotta do a different trajectory, like, I’m gonna be a family man now, you know? So I couldn’t be the bachelor superstar that I had envisioned at that point that I was getting ready to go into. So, yeah, it saved me for sure.”
Photo Credit: Katt Williams Instagram
