Healing from traumatic events such as growing up in a household where domestic violence was the norm is not a linear process. James Brown’s daughters Deanna Brown Thomas and Yamma Brown have chosen to forgive their singer father for beating their mother Deidre Jenkins while they were growing up. It was not an easy decision to make and one they have to affirm often.
Deanna and Yamma opened up about it to People magazine. The topic is also covered in I Got You (Feel Good), a four-part docuseries airing on A&E. It was directed by Deborah Riley Draper.
Yamma is open about her family’s struggles because she wants to give a full picture of her father, warts and all. Her honesty has helped her heal. "I talk about it in the sense that it happened. It is an unfortunate time in anybody's situation, anybody's life. If they've ever had to go through domestic violence, they know what that's like. And it shows that he was human because he was flawed, but it also is a time to show grace," she explained. "That's how I think about it, in order to move on from that space, you do have to talk about it, you do have to acknowledge that it happened."
James Brown died in 2006 at the age of 73 from congestive heart failure caused by pneumonia. Deanna clarified that although he hit their mom, James never abused his children.
"He never had any type of rage towards us because we were his children. That was a situation between a husband and a wife. There's different type of love, different type of circumstances." she explained.
James did try to make things right with their mother. "My dad did apologize to my mom. Not to say that that was something that just erased everything, but also knowing that he had compassion in his heart and my mom was receptive to that," Yamma stated.
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James was married three times during his lifetime and fathered nine known children. Some believe he had more. Deidre was his second wife, who would go on to forgive him as well. It is also believed that James abused his third wife Adrienne Rodriguez. He was arrested several times for alleged assault. James was abused by his own father growing up and watched his mother also be subjected to his father’s malice.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women's shelter (domesticshelters.org).
