Fat Joe opens up about raising a son with Down syndrome
Written by ABC AUDIO on October 17, 2024
Fat Joe opened up about son Joey in a new episode of Club Shay Shay, revealing he once raised the now-33-year-old as a single father. He recalled the moment he learned of his son’s Down syndrome diagnosis and the reaction of Joey’s mother.
“So, the doctor tells us, ‘I got bad news to tell you … [your son] has Down syndrome and it’s gonna be a big challenge,’” Joe recalls. “I’m there with my mother, my father, and his mother. And [my son’s] mother said, ‘Yo, I can’t do this, I’m going to have to give him up for adoption.’ My mother was like, ‘You crazy b****, I’m not giving up—.’ And so, we raised him.”
“I never seen his mother again is what I’m trying to tell you,” he continues. “She never visited him again. I’m not here to kick and — you know, she abandoned the kid.”
Joe notes that he didn’t “keep the door closed where she couldn’t see her son,” adding, “It was always available for her to see her son.”
“It’s usually the other way around: the baby comes out with Down syndrome, and the man runs away. Shame on you,” Joe says.
As for him, he says, “I don’t know how to be a fake father. I gotta take care of my kids regardless, and I don’t know how to give up on my kids.”
Though he says Joey has some “challenges” in life, Joe says his son is “always happy. He’s never sad.”
He adds that Joey is the “biggest blessing,” saying God has blessed him and his family for his decision not too give up on his son.
Fat Joe’s episode of Club Shay Shay is now available to watch on YouTube.
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