Katt Williams is opening up about his experiences as a father of 10 in his new memoir, Nine Lives, No Wives and 69 Concubines, which was released on Tuesday, October 20.
In the book, the comedian, 55, reveals that his first child, a daughter, was born before he turned 21, but he didn’t find out about her until she was 10 months old.
“It f–ked me up too. Messed me up inside so bad I felt my chest cave in,” he wrote.
His former girlfriend, Angela, raised their daughter while Williams pursued his comedy career. Looking back, he admits he wasn’t as involved in her life as he should have been.
“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,” he explained.
Two years later, Williams learned that another former girlfriend, Justine, had given birth to their son, Micah, four months earlier. When Justine could no longer care for the little boy, the comedian stepped in to raise him full-time.
“Suddenly, I was a full-time dad with a daughter in South Carolina and a son on my hip,” Williams wrote, 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.”
His family grew even larger when he adopted Micah’s six half-siblings after their mother was unable to care for them.
“Taking in those kids changed my life in ways I never saw coming,” the Friday After Next actor recalled. “One kid to seven kids overnight? That was a head-on collision in a minivan full of responsibility.”
Determined to give his children a normal upbringing, Williams purchased a large home in Woodland Hills, California. His household eventually expanded to include his longtime assistant, Lena, and her three children, as well as his estate manager and her six children.
According to Williams, all the children call him “Dad.”
“My big-ass family became my whole damn universe,” Williams wrote. “Would I change a thing? Hell no.”
Although he admits he didn’t always get everything right as a parent, Williams takes pride in the family he built and the 10 children he helped raise.
Nine Lives, No Wives and 69 Concubines is available now.
