Kid Rock has never really held back when it comes to discussing his wild lifestyle.
The rapper/rocker/country singer, whose real name is Bob Ritchie, has built quite the reputation for always speaking his mind, even when it gets him in trouble. And during a recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, he touched on everything from his days using cocaine (he said he “had a good run” with it) to delivering weed to Tom Petty.
But Kid Rock is also a parent to his son Robert James Ritchie Jr., who was born in 1993 to Kid Rock and his then-girlfriend, Kelley South Russell. And after the two separated shortly after their son was born, the “American Badass” became a single father and raised his son while balancing his career as a rock star.
Now, when you think of Kid Rock the first thing you think of probably isn’t “model parent.” And the rocker admitted that he made plenty of mistakes raising his son. During an interview with Esquire years ago, he recalled one time when his young son found him passed out in the bathroom after a night of hard partying:
“When Junior was young, it was Christmastime, I had a gig the night before, and I was sh*t-faced, just beyond. Drugs and alcohol. I passed out in my bathroom, dead weight. My son comes in, he’s like, “Grandma, something’s wrong with Dad!”
So my mom tries to get me to make this big excuse up: “Tell him you came home and you were tired and this that and the other.”
I’m sitting there at breakfast and I say, “Your dad got trashed last night.” I’m going to sit here and lie to this kid? He’s like seven. I’m like, “Big concert, party afterward, I drank too much and passed out. I’m not proud of it, but that’s what happens when you do that.”
I guess that just comes with the territory when you’re a dad and a rock star…
But Rock also discussed trying to make sure he was always there for his son when he needed him:
“Kenny Chesney called me. We were talking about a tour or something. He texted me real early in the morning. It must have been six in the morning. And I texted him back. And he asked me, “Were you up all night?” I said, “No, no, I’m getting up for my son.”
He said, “Holy sh*t, don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anybody you were up this early, because it’ll ruin your image.” I go, “You can’t ruin my image.””
And he also separated his onstage life from his personal life as a father:
“Make no mistake: Bob Ritchie’s up early in the morning taking pictures of his son on the first day of his senior year. Kid Rock is passed out in a hotel room somewhere with four scantily clad women.”
What a guy.
Of course he may have been a massive star (he may be more known for his political opinions these days, but people seem to forget just how big Kid Rock was back in the late ’90s/early 2000s), but Rock said that off stage he was the dad taking his kids on field trips for school:
“I’d be driving the field trip Monday after I banged, like, four hookers. Well, not hookers, but, you know, four nice girls on Saturday night in Cincinnati.”
Imagine that field trip, just Kid Rock taking a group of 4th graders to the zoo…
And he also admitted a few years ago that his son probably saw quite a bit that he shouldn’t have:
“He knew I was wild. I didn’t hide any of that. But it was kind of our dirty little secret together.
He saw girls come in and out, which probably wasn’t the healthiest thing. I tried not to do it too much, but f*ck, I had a d*ck and I was famous at that time, you know? I can only talk about this now, since he’s 21.
I wish I could’ve talked about it, said, ‘Hey, I was wild. But I showed up to work on Monday to be a father.’”
Just all part of the complex character that is Kid Rock.
