James Brown’s daughters Dr. Deanna Brown Thomas and Dr. Yamma Brown opened up about giving their father “grace” after witnessing him abuse their mother, Diedre Jenkins.
“I feel like it’s part of who he is. It’s part of our lives,” Yamma, 55, told Hollywood Life in a Tuesday, February 20, interview. “There’s no sense in trying to pretend like something didn’t exist because there’s more blessings [with] you going through it and coming out a different person. I always say have grace for that person and what they went through in life and understand that we’re all given grace, we all make mistakes, have made mistakes, and will continue to make mistakes.”
Yamma added that why she doesn’t “shy away” from the “hurt” and “pain” that her dad caused, it’s important to take the singer’s entire life “into account” when looking back on his legacy.
“Not all of us will be able to also be so iconic when it comes to music and a genius in that respect and have all these other kinds of pressures on us,” she explained. “Realize that there was hurt and pain in his life from how he grew up, to truly charting his path and overcoming.”
Both daughters candidly address James’ abuse in A&E’s four-part docuseries, James Brown: Say It Loud, which began airing on Monday, February 19, and traces the trajectory of the musician’s life and career. In part one of the series, Yamma reveals that she was six years old the last time she saw her father hit her mom when she jumped up to stop him.
“I talk about it in the sense that it happened. It is an unfortunate time in anybody’s situation, anybody’s life,” she says in the docuseries. “If they’ve ever had to go through domestic violence, they know what that’s like. And it shows that he was human because he was flawed, but it also is a time to show grace.”
Although their father’s romantic romances were undoubtedly tumultuous, the women have clarified that he never turned his anger on them.
“He never had any type of rage towards us because we were his children,” Deanna 55, told People in an interview on Tuesday. “That was a situation between a husband and a wife. There’s different type of love, different type of circumstances.”
She did, however, resent her father at times for what she witnessed him doing to their mother. “I didn’t like him because of this type of behavior,” she continued. “I saw a lot growing up. I heard a lot growing up that could have damaged me for a lifetime.”
Jenkins was James’ second wife after his first marriage to Velma Warren, with whom he shared sons Teddy Brown, Terry Brown and Larry Brown. The pair were married for 11 years before filing for divorce in 1981. James wed third wife Adrienne Rodriguez in 1984 and they remained together until her death in 1996. He moved on with Tomi Rae Hynie in 1997 and the couple welcomed son James Joseph Brown II in 2001. (James is also the father of Daryl Brown and Lisa Brown from other relationships.)
Jenkins was the only woman to face abuse from James. He was arrested multiple times for allegedly assaulting Rodriguez before being arrested in 2004 for alleged domestic violence against Hynie. (James pled no contest in court and was ultimately given a fine of $1,000.)
Despite his turbulent marriage to Jenkins, Yamma told People that her dad was able to make amends with their mother before his death. (James died in 2006 from congestive heart failure at age 76.)
“My dad did apologize to my mom,” she told the outlet. “Not to say that that was something that just erased everything, but also knowing that he had compassion in his heart and my mom was receptive to that.”
Part 2 of James Brown: Say It Loud airs on A&E Tuesday, February 20, at 8 p.m. ET.
