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Translated by: Vita Abrashi-Kajtazi
- June 25, 2026 2:43 p.m
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Singer and songwriter Alicia Keys has revealed that at the age of 13, she cut off contact with her father, Craig Cook, after years of absence and disappointment.
According to her confessions in the documentary “Alicia Keys: Girl From Hell’s Kitchen”she had written him a harsh letter, where she expressed her anger at his absence in her life, she wrote FemaleFirst.
“I don’t want anything. The only thing I want is that you don’t interfere in my affairs. I don’t want phone calls, I don’t want letters, I don’t want false behavior that tries to make me think that you care. I don’t want anything. That’s the only way I can be happy”, Keys said that she wrote in the letter.
Keys has revealed that her father was not even present when she was born and often left and came back into her life, which caused her great pain during her childhood.
Craig Cook later admitted that he was not ready for the responsibility of being a father at the time and that he was immature.
“When she told me she was pregnant, I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t there emotionally,” he said.
The singer’s mother, Terria Joseph, raised her alone in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York, working hard to provide for her education and piano lessons.
Keys has revealed that one of the most important father figures in her life was her paternal grandfather, a former police officer, who supported her growing up.
For years, the relationship between her and her father remained strained, but she has said that music helped her express her pain and anger.
Later, in her project Hell’s Kitchen, she used her personal story as a form of healing and reflection.
“There were many promises and meetings that never happened… I was very angry and I wanted him to know that,” she said.
According to her, over the years there has been a process of reconciliation and reflection, stressing that even though the relationship has been difficult, she accepts the reality of their family history.
