<p id=”par-1_30″>At a recent concert, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/kelly-rowland-just-mastered-winter-chic-ultimate-casual-look.html/”>Kelly Rowland</a> told fans that she was dedicating one of her songs to her father since it marked the first time he ever saw her perform.</p>
<p id=”par-2_20″>Rowland and her dad, Christopher Lovett, had been estranged for several years. So he’d never seen her live onstage. </p>
<p id=”par-3_32″>The two connected privately a few years back. Then, in December 2025, some lucky fans at an Atlanta show enjoyed a special father-daughter, full-circle moment shared by <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/kelly-rowland-believed-grammys-wasnt-award-ceremony-robbed-beyonce.html/”>Beyoncé</a>‘s mother, Tina Knowles. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-why-kelly-rowland-and-her-father-were-estranged-for-so-long”>Why Kelly Rowland and her father were estranged for so long</h2>
<blockquote class=”instagram-media” data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=”https://www.instagram.com/p/CBtx2xDFbWc/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading” data-instgrm-version=”14″ style=”background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;margin: 1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:99.375%;width:-webkit-calc(100% – 2px);width:calc(100% – 2px)”><div style=”padding:16px”> <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/CBtx2xDFbWc/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading” style=”background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”> <div style=”flex-direction: row;align-items: center”> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;flex-grow: 0;height: 40px;margin-right: 14px;width: 40px”></div> <div style=”flex-direction: column;flex-grow: 1;justify-content: center”> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;margin-bottom: 6px;width: 100px”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;width: 60px”></div></div></div><div style=”padding: 19% 0″></div> <div style=”height:50px;margin:0 auto 12px;width:50px”></div><div style=”padding-top: 8px”> <div style=”color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px”>View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style=”padding: 12.5% 0″></div> <div style=”flex-direction: row;margin-bottom: 14px;align-items: center”><div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px;flex-grow: 0;margin-right: 14px;margin-left: 2px”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px”></div></div><div style=”margin-left: 8px”> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;flex-grow: 0;height: 20px;width: 20px”></div> <div style=”width: 0;height: 0;border-top: 2px solid transparent;border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom: 2px solid transparent”></div></div><div style=”margin-left: auto”> <div style=”width: 0px;border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right: 8px solid transparent”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;flex-grow: 0;height: 12px;width: 16px”></div> <div style=”width: 0;height: 0;border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left: 8px solid transparent”></div></div></div> <div style=”flex-direction: column;flex-grow: 1;justify-content: center;margin-bottom: 24px”> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;margin-bottom: 6px;width: 224px”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;width: 144px”></div></div></a><p style=”color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center”><a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/CBtx2xDFbWc/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading” style=”color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>A post shared by Kelly Rowland (@kellyrowland)</a></p></div></blockquote>
<p id=”par-4_13″>Rowland’s mother raised her, and Lovett was not present in her life. </p>
<p id=”par-5_77″>“My understanding of where my dad was as a kid was that he was not really ready as a father,” Rowland previously told <a href=”https://www.today.com/parents/dads/kelly-rowland-dad-estranged-30-years-rcna20066″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>TODAY</a>. “I was angry at him; I was disappointed in him. I had all those feelings of abandonment. I didn’t know why he wasn’t there. I think as a kid you just feel like if they’re not there, they don’t want to be,” she continued. “So that’s what I felt, and that feeling sucked.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_30″>Over the years, when the singer was touring with <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/beyonce-admitted-members-destinys-child-characters.html/”>Destiny’s Child</a>, she made sure that whenever Lovett showed up at the venues, her security team would escort him out. </p>
<p id=”par-7_36″>“I didn’t want to deal with that at the time. And now that I think about it, I’m like, ‘Ugh. That must have felt terrible,’” Rowland said, before adding, “That was me trying to protect myself.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_60″>In 2014, after the birth of her oldest son, Titan, and the death of her mother, Doris, two weeks later, Rowland knew then that she wanted to meet her father one day, recalling, “I think I had these feelings of like, ‘Oh my God, I have no parents. And it was like, no, you do — you have one left.”</p>
<p id=”par-9_15″>The day came in 2018 when the two agreed to meet up in Atlanta. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-the-song-rowland-dedicated-to-her-father”>The song Rowland dedicated to her father</h2>
<blockquote class=”instagram-media” data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=”https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR7U91HER-a/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading” data-instgrm-version=”14″ style=”background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;margin: 1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:99.375%;width:-webkit-calc(100% – 2px);width:calc(100% – 2px)”><div style=”padding:16px”> <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR7U91HER-a/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading” style=”background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”> <div style=”flex-direction: row;align-items: center”> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;flex-grow: 0;height: 40px;margin-right: 14px;width: 40px”></div> <div style=”flex-direction: column;flex-grow: 1;justify-content: center”> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;margin-bottom: 6px;width: 100px”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;width: 60px”></div></div></div><div style=”padding: 19% 0″></div> <div style=”height:50px;margin:0 auto 12px;width:50px”></div><div style=”padding-top: 8px”> <div style=”color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px”>View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style=”padding: 12.5% 0″></div> <div style=”flex-direction: row;margin-bottom: 14px;align-items: center”><div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px;flex-grow: 0;margin-right: 14px;margin-left: 2px”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px”></div></div><div style=”margin-left: 8px”> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;flex-grow: 0;height: 20px;width: 20px”></div> <div style=”width: 0;height: 0;border-top: 2px solid transparent;border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom: 2px solid transparent”></div></div><div style=”margin-left: auto”> <div style=”width: 0px;border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right: 8px solid transparent”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;flex-grow: 0;height: 12px;width: 16px”></div> <div style=”width: 0;height: 0;border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left: 8px solid transparent”></div></div></div> <div style=”flex-direction: column;flex-grow: 1;justify-content: center;margin-bottom: 24px”> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;margin-bottom: 6px;width: 224px”></div> <div style=”background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;width: 144px”></div></div></a><p style=”color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center”><a href=”https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR7U91HER-a/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading” style=”color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>A post shared by Tina Knowles (@mstinaknowles)</a></p></div></blockquote>
<p id=”par-10_13″>The two spent hours that day talking together, beginning to heal their relationship.</p>
<p id=”par-11_48″>“We rekindled our relationship, and it’s never too late,” Rowland said. “I learned that we are not perfect … You have to allow space. You’re not gonna get it right every time, and that’s okay. As parents, we have to give our parents grace. Forgiveness is always right there.”</p>
<p id=”par-12_15″>On Dec. 6, Lovett was finally able to watch his daughter perform in person. </p>
<p id=”par-13_26″>“This is for you, daddy,” Rowland told him. She then belted out a special dedication of “Dilemma,” and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. </p>
<p id=”par-14_38″>Many fans praised the moment, commenting, “And she saaaannng. She was a highlight of the show for me in ATL,” and “Every little girl love, needs, and wants their daddy– no matter how old they get. So beautiful.”</p>