Rob Schneider Apologizes to Daughter Elle King Following Her Criticism: “I Love You Completely”
Rob Schneider apologized to his daughter Elle King following her criticism of him, telling Tucker Carlson he hopes she will forgive him.
King opened up about her relationship with her father earlier this week, when she said on Bunnie XO’s podcast Dumb Blonde that Schneider wasn’t involved in her life growing up.
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“Right now, we’re not flowing,” she said and added that she will go years without seeing him. “I disagree with a lot of the things that he says. And he is just, I don’t know, you can want someone to change so much. And, ultimately, you can’t control anyone else’s actions. You can’t control people’s feelings. All you can control is how you react and what you do with your feelings.”
Schneider, a comedian and former Saturday Night Live actor, has repeatedly been criticized for his jokes about women and transgender people, as well as his stance against vaccinations. Last month, he posted on social media that he planned to boycott the Paris Olympics for the opening ceremony’s drag queen performance that, according to him, featured a depiction of Satan.
Though King said her father wasn’t part of much of her childhood, she shared that he sent her to “fat camp” when she was 11 and 12, where she was fed limited food and forced to work out all day.
“It’s like very toxic and very silly,” the singer said of her relationship to Schneider.
“It’s fun being a parent isn’t it?” Schneider quipped to Carlson during an appearance on the conservative pundit’s show on Thursday.
“I just want to tell my daughter: I love you, and I wish I was the father in my 20s that you needed. I clearly wasn’t, and I hope you can forgive me for my shortcomings.”
Schneider shares King with his ex-wife London King, to whom he was married for two years in the 1980s. The couple divorced about a year after their daughter’s birth. Schneider now shares two more kids, born in 2012 and 2016, with his wife, Patricia Azarcoya.
“I love you completely, I love you entirely, and I just want you to be well and happy with your beautiful baby Lucky,” he continued in his address to Elle. In the video release of the podcast, Schneider addressed the camera directly as he spoke. “I wish you the best. I feel terrible, and I just want you to know that I don’t take anything you say personally. I love you, and I feel that God has gifted this moment and gifted me to be able to tell you, I love you and I accept you and I apologize for any of my shortcomings.”
He continued, “My heart is your home, and a home is a place [that] when you go there, they have to let you in. I love you, and I’m sorry that you’re having to deal with this, but this is a great opportunity because we could talk about families — I mean, show me a perfect family out there and I’ll be shocked.”
Schneider went on to speak at length about the struggles posed by addiction and financial stress among families, as well as his now-devout Catholicism.
“All I want for her is to be happy and to heal from this,” he continued. “I apologize completely for and accept responsibility for not being the parent that I am now with my new kids. She didn’t get that, and I missed a lot.”
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