Kehlani’s ex-partner Javaughn Young-White has filed a petition to gain legal and physical custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Adeya, claiming the singer is in what he describes as a cult. He is also requesting child support.
In the court documents, filed in Los Angeles on July 24 and obtained by Billboard, Young-White claims “everyone else has bigger say-so when it comes to upbringing of our daughter than I do.” He says that because Adeya, who arrived in March 2019, was “born in a home and not in a conventional setting like a hospital,” Young-White’s name is not on the birth certificate as her father. Additionally, he claims he requested a copy of both the child’s birth certificate and social security number, both to “no avail.” (In announcing the birth of Adeya, Kehlani shared via a since-deleted Instagram post that they welcomed their healthy baby girl via “unmedicated homebirth.”)
According to Young-White’s filing, Kehlani — whose full name is Kehlani Parrish — allegedly “has been involved in this cult for the past few years and it appears that this cult controls her actions and her behavior, including when it comes to the upbringing of our daughter.”
Per the documents, Young-White claims he has attempted to retrieve his daughter in the past, but was allegedly “physically restrained and threatened” by members of what he referred to as the cult. “While Respondent is on tour, and our daughter is in the care of her fellow cult members, Adeya sleeps in the bed with, and is given baths by random adult members of the cult and she is often in the bedroom alone with some of these people,” he alleges.
Young-White concluded by requesting that Kehlani takes a psychological exam, that his name be added to Adeya’s birth certificate and that Adeya’s name be changed officially from Adeya Parrish to Adeya Parrish Young-White. “I am also requesting that I have full custody of Adeya due to [Kehlani]’s busy schedule, her relationship with the cult that she is involved in,” the filing reads.
“I am not here to disparage [Kehlani]. However, the environment that she has created for her self is not the type of environment that a child should be living and therefore, I bring myself to the mercy and wisdom of the Court to save my daughter before it is too late,” he concluded in his filing.
Kehlani has not yet publicly responded to the allegations in Young-White’s petition for custody. Billboard has reached out to reps for both the singer and her former partner for comment.
