Actor Rob Schneider broke his silence days after his daughter, singer Elle King, slammed him for his "toxic" parenting.
"It's fun being a parent, isn't it?" Schneider told Tucker Carlson in an interview, according to Variety. "Well, I just want to tell my daughter, Elle, I love you, and I wish I was the father in my 20s that you needed. Clearly, I wasn't. I hope you can forgive me for my shortcomings. I love you completely, and I love you entirely."
Last week King talked about her past in a teaser for a new episode of Bunnie XO's "Dumb Blonde" podcast.
"I got four or five years without talking to my dad," the 35-year-old Grammy Award nominee said in a clip shared Saturday, according to the New York Post. "I put out my record and people finally started asking me about my dad. My dad called me and was like, 'Don't [expletive] talk about me in the press.'"
During the podcast, Elle noted she wasn't able to connect with her father until she "was much, much older."
"I was, like, a really, really heavy child. My dad sent me to fat camp," she said. "And then I got in trouble one year because I sprained my ankle, and I didn't lose any weight."
The clip then cuts to King adding, "Very toxic and very silly."
"He also didn't have a very good reputation," she said during the podcast, referring to Schneider. "I don't want to be associated with him. He's just not nice.
"You can want someone to change so much. You can't control anyone else's actions. You can't control anyone else's feelings. All you can control is how you react and what you do with your feelings."
Prompted by Carlson to comment, Schneider said he just wanted his "beautiful baby" to be "well and happy."
"I wish you the best. I feel terrible. I just want you to know I don't take anything you say personally," he continued.
Asked how he remained subdued and did not fire back at his daughter, Schneider added, "If you love someone completely. … I love her, all I want for her is to be happy and to heal from this."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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