Fat Joe’s oldest son, Joey, is his biggest blessing.
During an appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay, the legendary rapper, opened up about what it was like raising a child with a genetic disorder as a single father.
Joey was diagnosed with both Down Syndrome and Autism at birth.
“When he’s born, the doctor tells us, ‘Hey, I got bad news to tell you.’ Shows us [my son’s] hands, his feet. He say, ‘He got Down Syndrome. He’s gonna be a big challenge,’” Fat Joe shared with Sharpe.
“I’m there with my mother, my father, and [my son’s] mother, and [Joey’s] mother was like, ‘Yo, I can’t do this. I might have to give him up for adoption.’ And my mother was like, ‘You crazy bitch. You ain’t giving up my [grandson],” he added.
“And so we raised him. I never seen his mother again, is what I’m trying to tell you… She never visited him again. I’m not here to kick and — you know, she abandoned the kid.”
But Joe always left the door open in case she decided to come back.
“We raised him by ourselves. He don’t know no other family, and it’s not ’cause we didn’t allow that. It’s cause his mom is crazy. She never saw him again, and it wasn’t like I kept the door closed where she couldn’t see her son. It was always available for her to see her son,” he continued.
“But, we got wicked people out there — whether male or female — and it’s usually the other way around: the baby comes out with Down syndrome, and the man runs away. Shame on you.”
View this post on Instagram
The Terror Squad rapper then put other dads on game, serving up himself as an example of how to not quit their kids. That no matter how your kids look or appear, it is their duty to be present and shower them with the love they deserve.
“But a father has to be a father, [and] I don’t know how to be a fake father,” Fat Joe asserted. “I gotta take care of my kids regardless, and I don’t know how to give up on my kids.”
As the conversation continued, the Bronx native called his son “his biggest blessing” and talked about how Joey is one of the happiest guys he’s ever known.
“And he’s had his challenges, my son—I don’t know if other kids autistic or on the spectrum [are like this], but this guy happy. Swear to God, he’s always happy. He’s never sad. He’s the Don… he looks at his other brothers and sisters from the opposite end of the table, and he knows.”
“You can’t give up on your kids,” he added. “We believe that [my son’s] our biggest blessing. Because we treat him the way we do, because we never gave up on him, this is why we get blessed.”
View this post on Instagram
