Rickey Smiley Discovered He Has Twin Daughters

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Just a few weeks before the second anniversary of his son Brandon’s death, Rickey Smiley is revealing two new blessings he recently received in his life.

In a recent interview with the Smitty and Dee podcast, the comedian, actor, and Radio One radio host discussed how he found out his ex-girlfriend’s twin daughters were actually his. He says the journey to welcoming his newfound kids into his life began in 2024 when his ex-girlfriend realized the ex she thought was the father wasn’t.

“Right before the one-year anniversary of my son’s death. I found out I have 5-year-old identical twin beautiful daughters,” he said. “I got a phone call from my ex-girlfriend. She went to court and found out that those identical twin daughters were not her ex-boyfriends the whole time.”

He explains that the twins weren’t strangers to him because they came over for playdates and his kids’ birthday parties. And despite the surprising nature of finding out he has more children, he found solace in it because it pulled him out of the depression of mourning his son for the past year.

“Been knowing them their whole life. They been coming over to Grayson’s birthday parties and playdates. Playing on the swing set, all that stuff,” he recalls. “When I tell you that’s the first time I saw the sun again…During that dark hour, the sun comes back out.”

Smiley says he learned the news when they were 4 years old and formally met them as their father on their 5th birthday.

Smiley’s son Brandon passed away in January 2023 from an accidental opioid overdose after battling a years-long addiction to painkillers. He spoke about the grief of losing a child in his 2024 memoir Sideshow: Living with Loss and Moving Forward with Faith, telling AL.com that losing his son like that was “sad” and “traumatizing.”