Kelly Rowland is living her grandmother’s wildest dreams—and she didn’t know it for decades

Kelly Rowland says reconnecting with her estranged father revealed a family legacy in music she never knew existed.

For Kelly Rowland, becoming her ancestors’ wildest dreams wasn’t just a saying—it was a revelation that arrived three decades late, through a conversation with the father she barely knew.

In a recent interview on “Mama, I Made it,” Rowland reflected on building a relationship with her father, Christopher Lovett, after 30 years of estrangement. The “Destiny’s Child” star explained how, for years, she thought she was “good” with not having a relationship with her father, until one day she realized that one day her sons, Titan and Noah, might ask her about their grandpa. 

“What was I going to tell him?” Rowland shared, explaining her motivations. “I could give him everything about his grandmother. But what am I going to tell him about my father?”

“I knew that it was time to meet him. And I put it off for so long. I was like, ‘I just don’t want to open this box. I don’t know what’s going to be behind here. This is enough trauma. Let me just figure it all out now,” she continued. 

And while breaking generational curses by facing her trauma head-on, Rowland learned more about herself and her ancestors’ impact on her life. 

“When I was able to meet him and talk to him and look him in his eye, I realized why I sang,” she explained. “My dad’s mom was a background singer for Lena Horne and Count Basie. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that I got my voice from her. And then it sounds wild, but like one night I literally felt her come to me. This isn’t my dream; I’m living, it’s hers.”

So I realized in that moment that I [had] to step up, you know, because if I’m living her dream, then I got to like really go for it because in the time that she was dreaming about music, I can only imagine what her limits were and how she probably felt, like, a lot of closed doors. So, I was like, I’m going to bust every single one open just for her.”

Understanding that reconnecting with her father is “bigger” than just her own journey, she hopes that his gaining a daughter and grandchildren helps make “his life just a little bit longer so [they] have a little bit more time [together].” 

Watch the full conversation below: