Ice-T has revealed that his 7-year-old daughter, Chanel, still sleeps in the same bed as him and his wife, Coco Austin. In an interview on the “That Moment with Daymond John” podcast, the rapper-turned-actor disclosed that he feels more connected to Chanel than his other kids.
Ice, whose real name is Tracy Morrow, also has a daughter called Latesha, 47, and a son called Tracy Jr., 31, from previous relationships.
He said, “I think the difference with Chanel and my other kids is I’m very conscious of this baby.”
He further explained that he was not present during his daughter’s upbringing as he was “ripping and running” while she was growing up.
“Like, I had my daughter when I was in high school, I was ripping and running, so it was presents over presence. I wasn’t there, you know?”
He added, “My son, Ice, happened right when I was becoming Ice-T. You know, I had never been famous before. This was a whole new thing. So I’m distracted by that.”
In contrast, with “Chanel, I’m comfortable, I’m in a cruise pattern. I was there when Coco was pregnant, I was in the hospital, and Chanel still sleeps in the bed with us. You know, so I’m so much more connected to her than my other kids.”
Ice-T’s comments on his parenting approach come less than two years after Coco faced criticism online for still breastfeeding Chanel, who was five at the time. In response to the backlash, Coco had said that she saw no reason to stop breastfeeding as long as her daughter was comfortable with it.
“Why take that away from her?’ the mother of one argued. ‘If she doesn’t want it, all right, that’s where you stop it. But I’m not just going to say no.”
Ice-T’s revelation about sharing a bed with his daughter has sparked a debate about co-sleeping and the appropriate age for a child to stop sleeping with their parents. While co-sleeping has been a common practice in many cultures, it is not recommended by many health experts. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises against co-sleeping at any time, especially when the child is younger than four months old.
