Preloading

Kevin McCall Opens Up About the Childhood Beating He Can't Forget

Season 4 Episode 409
Aired on 11/05/2016 | CC tv-14
Singer/songwriter Kevin McCall says he split his childhood between trying to prove his toughness to his father and bearing the emotional brunt of his mother's frustrations in her relationship.

"I was kind of like her therapist," Kevin says. "She would talk about my dad mostly, and I hated that because I loved my dad. I honestly hate that she never left him. If she ever felt like he was all these problems and she stayed in it, I think it made her bitter."

Kevin says his mother's emotional frustrations then turned physical one day when he was about 6 years old. "She was upset at my dad. She had caught me playing in my room, and I liked to climb and stuff, so I was climbing in and out of my window. Problem is, we was in the hood, and people were seeing that and they was robbing us," Kevin says. "She saw me in the window and she snatched me out, and she beat me like I was a man. And I just cried."

Upon hearing this story, Iyanla makes a profound observation about how this childhood experience may have shaped Kevin's anger issues as an adult. "I wonder if that's the attack that you're always defending yourself against," she says.

Taking this in, Kevin nods. "One of them," he says quietly.

Another guest opens up about family:
Former Boyz II Men member Michael McCary: "My kids helped me through my depression."

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