Country Star Reveals Rift With Famous Dad: 'Forgot Every Single Birthday' (2024)

HeavyCountry star Elle King has opened up about her strained relationship with her dad, comedian Rob Schneider

In multiple new interviews, country star Elle King, 35, is opening up about her strained relationship with her famous father, “Saturday Night Live” alum Rob Schneider. The four-time Grammy nominee, who performed on the “American Idol” season 17 finale with winner Laine Hardy, has been brutally honest about “toxic” memories from her childhood, including her dad sending her to “fat camp” and forgotten birthdays, and their differing viewpoints as adults.

“He’s just not nice,” she told Bunnie Xo in a preview video on TikTok of combined clips from the new episode of her “Dumb Blonde” podcast, dropping on August 12, 2024.

Elle King Says She Doesn’t Want to Be ‘Associated’ With Her Dad, Rob Schneider

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GettyElle King and Rob Schneider speak onstage for New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash on December 31, 2023

King and Schneider, who was part of the “SNL” cast from 1990 to 1994, did make a rare appearance together onstage to ring in 2024 when she co-hosted “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville” on CBS. But typically, the singer told Bunnie Xo in her podcast’s preview video, it’s not uncommon for her to “go for like four or five years without talking to my dad.”

Memories of being with Schneider when she was growing up are far from warm and fuzzy. According to People, King was raised in Ohio by her mom, former model London King, but occasionally spent time with Schneider in LA, she told Bunnie Xo, who is married to fellow country star and season 22 “Idol” mentor Jelly Roll.

“If I would ever spend a summer with my dad, it would be on amovie set,” King said. “I would just get lost in the shuffle. If I ever messed up a shot, if I ever was talking, like, I would get in [expletive] trouble.”

Calling her dad’s parenting choices “very toxic and very silly,” King also recalled, “I was, like, a really, really heavy child. My dad sent me to fat camp, and then I got in trouble one year because I sprained my ankle and I didn’t lose any weight.”

“I’m really putting [expletive] out there,” she continued, “but, like, my dad forgot about every single birthday. Like, I spent my 18th birthday in a summer school … and they brought me cupcakes and I came home, my dad forgot my birthday.”

King did appear in one of her dad’s movies, 1999’s “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” per USA Today, but said in a separate interview that Schneider never helped her get into the entertainment business.

On August 6, she told Kaitlyn Bristowe on her “Off the Vine” podcast, “My mom was the one, you know, carrying my guitar and sneaking me into bars, and letting me stay out with my friends and taking the guitar home for me. My mom was always just, like, telling me to take lessons, and she would drive me everywhere. And she took care of me and always made sure that I had some form of a creative outlet.”

King did acknowledge that the time she spent watching her dad and other entertainers likely rubbed off on her, telling Bristowe, “Sure, I grew up watching my dad. My dad can totally command a theater or a small comedy club. And I grew up around really funny, talented, creative people. Of course that’s going to leave an imprint on me.”

But when she released her first album, King told Bunnie Xo, “My dad called me and was like, ‘Don’t [expletive] talk about me in the press!'”

In 2023, King told People, “My father and I have a beautiful and really wonderful, great loving relationship with awesome boundaries. I love my dad so much.”

But their relationship has clearly soured since, given that she told Bunnie Xo, “He never helped me, I never wanted his help. He also didn’t have a very good reputation. I don’t want to be associated with him. He’s just not nice.”

Elle King Wants Fans to Know She & Her Dad Don’t Share the Same World Views

One thing King wanted to make clear during her conversation with Bunnie Xo is that she and her dad have very different political views.

Schneider has endorsed independent presidential nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to Newsweek. He also made headlines in early August when he tweeted that he was boycotting the 2024 Olympics over the Opening Ceremony, which he thought mocked “The Last Supper” by including drag queens at a large table.

“I am sorry to say to ALL the world’s GREATEST ATHLETES, I wish you ALL THE BEST, but I cannot watch an Olympics that disrespects Christianity and openly celebrates Satan,” Schneiderwrote on X(formerly Twitter).

In a separate tweet, Schneider included a photo from the performance and wrote, “Guys with their genitalia hanging out in front of children?! Drag Queens?! I wasn’t sure if I was watching the @Olympics or if I was watching a school board meeting…”

The Opening Ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, has since denied the scene was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of Jesus Christ and his apostles at the Last Supper, according to the Associated Press.

King distanced herself from her dad’s views during her conversation with Bunnie Xo, saying, “I disagree with a lot of the things that he says. You’re talking out your [expletive], and you’re talking [expletive] about drag and, you know, anti-gay rights, and it’s like … get [expletive]. I want to use this opportunity to say I disagree. I do not agree with what he says.”

As for how she deals with their differences, King said, “You can want someone to change so much. You can’t control anyone else’s actions and you can’t control people’s feelings. All you can control is how you react and what you do with your feelings.”

At the time of publication, Schneider has not yet commented on his daughter’s statements about him.