Kane Brown did not have an easy childhood. Brown, now a father of three, recalls some of the more challenging moments growing up, including one time when he and his cousin were caught smoking, and his stepfather at the time made them eat an entire pack of cigarettes.
“We were smoking behind the trailer, and they caught us,” Brown recalls on the The Great Company podcast. “They made us eat it. But he always – he made me eat bars of soap, shaved my head. And this was different stepdads, by the way. He shaved my head and put aftershave on it. I remember just rubbing my head on the carpet like a dog’s a–. … I was doing the same thing but with my head.”
Brown, who says it was definitely abusive behavior, still harbors no ill will towards those who harmed him while he was still a child.
“It made me who I am today,” the 31-year-old says. “It made me strong.”
Brown’s biological father has been in prison since 1996. Brown reveals that he had four different stepdads throughout his childhood, calling two of them good, only because they didn’t hurt him.
@greatcompanypodcast “It made me who I am today” ? country music star @Kane Brown opens up about his childhood and how his difficult experiences have shaped him. Search ‘Great Company Kane Brown’ on YouTube for the full episode. @jamie #kanebrown #countrymusic #mentalhealth ♬ original sound – Great Company
Brown of course is giving his children a much different upbringing than he had. Brown and his wife Katelyn were already parents to two girls when they welcomed their son Krewe last year.
“It’s been cool,” Brown tells People. “I love my two daughters, and so it’s [an] amazing feeling having daughters, but there’s also a different feeling of having a son, and I’m just very grateful that I get to experience both of those. And he’s just been so awesome and just so smiley, the happiest baby ever because he’s my boy.”
Brown can also afford to buy his children anything they want, thanks to his massive success in country music. But even Brown admits that the fame comes with a price, and sometimes a hefty one.
“People are always asking for things,” Brown reveals elsewhere on the Great Company podcast. “People always want favors. They always want tickets, whatever it is.”
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Brown recalls one person in particular, who reached out to Brown with a request for something big, all because they helped him get into a high school he wanted to attend.
“[He] had the audacity [to ask for] a car because they helped me. So I bought them a car,” Brown recalls. “Another person was like, ‘I need help getting a house.’ I’ve known [this person] for maybe seven years. So I helped them get a house, and then somebody else needed rent paid, so I helped them pay rent, and then they needed rent paid, so I helped them pay rent.
“And then another person hit me up for rent. So I paid their rent, and then they wanted to tell me I haven’t done anything for them, or I don’t care for my family and stuff like that,” he continues. “And I’m like, ‘I’ve known you for this amount of time. You are still a stranger to me. It’s like I’ve known people that work for me longer than I’ve known you.’”
Brown’s The High Road album came out earlier this year. He is already working on a new project. Find all of Brown’s music and upcoming shows at KaneBrownMusic.com.
Photo Credit: Dennis Leupold