Formerly one-third of the world’s most successful girl group Destiny’s Child, Kelly Rowland has been in front of the cameras for as long as she can remember.
These days, however, she’s best known in Australia for her solo music and starring as a coach on The Voice. But there’s one job that trumps everything for Kelly, and that’s being a mother.
It’s unsurprising, then, that the international star says her number-one priority is making sure her four-year-old son Titan with husband Tim Weatherspoon grows up in a “normal” environment.
“It’s really important to me,” Kelly, 38, tells TV WEEK. “Kids don’t ask to be born into their parents’ dreams. I remember seeing all these photos of [singing legend] Diana Ross and she looked like the most hands-on mum. When you hear her children talk about her, that’s what they say.
“That’s all I want Titan to say. Of course, you want them to be proud of you, but you want them to know you were there and you were present.”
Kelly hopes to bring up Titan in a ‘normal’ environment (Image: Instagram/@kellyrowland).
A devoted mother, Kelly admits she’d love to have another child – but for now, she’s working as hard as she can so that in the future she can take a break from her busy schedule and devote her time to raising a family.
“I love our family dynamic now,” she says. “But I am itching to have another child. The only thing is I’m a very emotional, ferocious mother bear, and I don’t know what I would have to do in that moment. I’m literally working my butt off right now so I can sit down and be still with my children.
“The world isn’t getting any easier for children to enjoy their innocence, and my job as their protector is to make sure they enjoy it.”
Becoming a mum has made Kelly realise she’s more resilient than she thought. Having grown up in a broken home – at just seven years old, Kelly and her mother left her father and she admits she didn’t see “eye-to-eye” with her mum for a long time afterwards – the singer says motherhood has helped her heal from her past.
“I’ve learnt I’m a good mother, but I’m still learning,” she says. “I’m stronger than I thought. I’ll still second-guess myself on a lot of things and I still try to decipher, ‘Should I do this?’
“But you figure it out, and in the process, you heal from stuff you’ve probably gone through as a child. Learning how to be a mother is the best part about being a mother, if that makes sense.”
Kelly, with Titan, says she hopes to have another child (Image: Instagram/@kellyrowland).
After moving between houses constantly, Kelly found a home with her friend and former bandmate Beyoncé’s family at the age of eight. She’s adamant Titan will grow up in the stable environment she never had – and, for now, that’s in the US rather than Australia.
“Titan loves his school and he loves his friends,” she explains. “I don’t want to uproot him, because that’s something that happened to me and I’ve realised how great a foundation is.”
What’s certain is that Titan is way beyond his young years in understanding the way of the world.
“When we were doing The Voice Knockouts, he called me: ‘How long do you have to be there? Are you tired?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m a little tired, but I’ll be OK, baby.’
“I told him that’s what you have to do – you work hard and that’s why we’re able to live in a beautiful home, travel and have a nice, fulfilled life. He just said, ‘OK, I love you.’ Sometimes it’s scary how mature this kid is.”
Kelly returns to The Voice Australia in 2019 (Image: Nine Network).
The Voice Australia premieres Sunday, 7pm, on Nine Network.
