Brian McKnight Claims Ex-Wife Forced Him to Stop Helping Estranged Son Niko with Cancer Battle

Brian McKnight is denying widespread speculation that he’s a deadbeat father, and faults his ex-wife, Julie, for intervening when it came to their son, Niko’s health issues.

via: Page Six

During the “Back At One” singer’s weekly Q&A on Instagram, he replied to a fan who suggested that he wrote a song about his son, who is “dying in the hospital with Stage 4 cancer.”

“Six months ago, we found out about this [Niko’s cancer diagnosis],” he said. “We called him. We talked to him, we talked to his wife. She told us that she was all alone and handling everything all by herself and it became quickly evident to us that since they didn’t have insurance and they didn’t have access to the proper doctors, naturally, we jumped into action.”

Brian, 54, said that he and his wife, Leilani Mendoza, asked for Niko’s medical reports and “hand-delivered them to the best specialist in the country” who outlined a plan of action to give his son the “best fighting chance.”

“We miraculously found a treatment facility near our home that put him at the top of the list and then we put down a deposit to secure that place,” the musician claimed.

While the 17-time Grammy nominee said he and Mendoza were arranging for Niko and his wife to fly to their home, Brian claimed his ex-wife, Julie, 52, made a “hostile” phone call to him, demanding him to stop helping their son.

“I can only imagine that if that help came from me, that it would go against the strong narrative that’s being pushed out there about me,” Brian continued, referring to claims that he’s a deadbeat father. “So what are we doing? We’re adhering to her wishes because that’s what she wanted and we’re staying out of it.”

Brian concluded his response by saying he and his wife are “praying” for Niko.

Following Brian’s Q&A, Julie provided the following statement to Page Six: “This is, once again, a response to bait myself & my family into his false narrative. He is a liar.”

Page Six has reached out to Niko for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Last week, Niko and Julie blasted the “Anytime” singer after he called his four eldest biological children — — Brian Jr., Niko, Briana and Clyde — “pure evil” and “product of sin.”

“I’m evil. That’s wild: The guy who used to make me clean his used condoms out his bathroom at 15 before Lisa got home is calling me evil Fashoooooo,” he wrote in the comments section of an Instagram post from the Shaderoom.

In a separate comment, he added, “The guy who forged [signatures] on our names is evil fashoooooooo.”

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