Elle King got candid about her “toxic” relationship with father Rob Schneider, who she said sent her to fat camp two summers in a row.
The artist stopped by Bunnie XO’s podcast Dumb Blonde ahead of beginning her Baby Daddy’s Weekend Tour in September. During the conversation, the “Ex’s & Oh’s” singer not only opened up about having Schneider as a father but also her drunken Dolly Parton tribute at the Grand Ole Opry in January.
She explained that her father wasn’t really involved in her life growing up, and they didn’t connect until she was much older because she felt like he had a hard time relating to her. Even now, as an adult, King shared that her relationship with him is very ebb and flow.
“Right now, we’re not flowing,” she told the podcast host. “I disagree with a lot of the things that he says. And he is just, I don’t know, you can want someone to change so much. And ultimately, you can’t control anyone else’s actions. You can’t control people’s feelings. All you can control is how you react and what you do with your feelings.
While she knows she can’t control his thoughts, she admitted, “Sometimes I fucking boil up, and I boil over, and I fucking bust my lid.”
The “Baby Daddy’s Weekend” singer also noted that he used to give her grief for her weight, so much so that he sent her to “fat camp” the summers she was 11 and 12. At the camps, she said they would give the kids a slice of turkey and steamed vegetables for every meal and make them work out all day.
“Then, I got in trouble one year because I sprained my ankle, and I didn’t lose any weight,” she said of her experience, adding about her and Schneider’s relationship, “So it’s like very toxic and very silly.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, King said she’ll go four or five years without talking to him. When she first got signed to a record label and released an album, people began asking her about the controversial actor, and he did not appreciate it.
“Honestly, when I put out my record and people finally started asking about my dad, my dad called me and was like, ‘Don’t fucking talk about me in the press.’ Like, all right. OK, great,” she shared. “But also it’s like, get fucked. I don’t care. Like, hey, listen, people have asked me about your fucking ass for years. And I’m like, you’re talking out your ass, and you’re talking shit about drag and fucking anti-gay rights. And it’s like, get fucked.”
She made it clear she does not agree with his thoughts on the LGBTQ community and, rather, believes in “all forms of love. I just believe in anyone finding their happiness and their joy in whatever way, whatever capacity that is.”
King explained she never wanted his help in beginning her career in music, partially because he didn’t have a very good reputation. She wanted to pave her own way and not be associated with him. “He’s just not nice,” she added.
While speaking with Bunnie Xo, the artist also touched on her controversial performance in honor of Parton earlier this year. She explained that while it wasn’t ideal, she thinks something positive came out of it by allowing her an “opportunity to grow.”
“Every experience is an opportunity for change, and change is inevitable,” she said. “It’s the blade that carves itself and or sharpens itself, whatever that quote is.”
King noted she had just come out of her postpartum depression and everything had accumulated while she was going through all of that, saying, “I think it was probably just rock bottom.”