Rob Schneider has a message for his estranged daughter Elle King days after the “Ex’s & Oh’s” singer detailed her strained relationship with the comedian.
“I wanted to tell my daughter Elle, ‘I love you and I wish I was the father in my 20s that you needed,’” Schneider said in a recent interview. “Clearly I wasn’t and I hope you can forgive my shortcomings. I love you completely.”
“The Hot Chick” and former “Saturday Night Live” actor broke his silence on his daughter’s revelations in an interview with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, published Wednesday. Earlier this week, King said in a Monday episode of Bunnie XO’s “Dumb Blonde” podcast that she decided early in her singing career she did not “want to be associated” with her father and said that he was “very toxic” during her childhood.
The 35-year-old singer, whom Schneider shares with ex-wife and actor-model London King, said she was primarily raised by her mother and her stepfather. But when she did spend time with Schneider, King said it was far from fun. “If I would ever spend a summer with my dad, it would be on a movie set.… I’d just get lost in the shuffle,” King said.
The musician said she would be scolded and sidelined on set. She added that her father had a habit of forgetting her birthday and that, when she was a preteen, he “sent me to fat camp.”
“I got in trouble one year because I sprained my ankle and didn’t lose any weight — very toxic and silly,” King said, before adding, “It got to the point where I didn’t want to spend the summer with him.”
Tension between Schneider and King wasn’t limited to the singer’s childhood. When she released her first album, “Love Stuff,” in 2015, King said her upbringing and relationship with Schneider became a topic of interest.
“People started asking about my dad; my dad called me and was like, ‘Don’t f— talk about me in the press,’” King said. She said she didn’t heed that warning.
In Monday’s episode, she slammed Schneider for his conservative views, “talking s— about drag and [being] anti-gay rights.” Schneider proclaimed in September: “I am classical 1970’s Liberal. Which today makes me a true conservative.”
King stressed that she did not agree with her father’s views. She added: “He never helped me. I didn’t want his help.”
Schneider said he felt “terrible” but neither confirmed nor denied his daughter’s claims. “I just want you to know that I don’t take anything you say personally,” he said.
“I love her and all I want for her is to be happy and to heal from this,” Schneider told Carlson.
King is the eldest of Schneider’s three children. After two years of marriage, Schneider and London King divorced in 1990. He was married to Helena Schneider from 2002 to 2005. Schneider married producer Patricia Azarcoya Arce, with whom he shares two daughters, in 2011.