Gladys Knight is slamming elder abuse claims made by her son, Shanga Hankerson.
“I’m sorry that my health and performances have been misrepresented,” she said. “I want my fans and those concerned to rest assured I am doing very well for someone who has been on stage for three quarters of a century, hard to believe, right? I’m healthy and happy and visiting friends and family these last few months. I’m excited to get back on the road with my sisters and on stage with The Queens Tour. See you soon.”
The “Midnight Train to Georgia” singer, alongside Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle and Stephanie Mills, was on The Queens! 4 Legends. 1 Stage Tour. It took place from May to June and will pick back up in September and last until the beginning of October.
Hankerson accuses the Motown legend’s husband, William McDowell, of mental and financial abuse, according to the outlet. He told the magazine that her tour schedule is “detrimental” to her health.
“I don’t want my mom out on tour on a tour bus, wondering where she’s at,” Hankerson told The Shade Room. “I don’t want that for her. That’s my mom, I truly love her and don’t care about her ever working a second longer while she’s alive. The direction that she’s going in is pushing her to her departure, and I don’t want to see that.”
Hankerson claimed he filed a complaint with the Department of Human Services in Buncombe County, North Carolina, and caretakers went to Knight’s home for “an assessment.” He also said the case is ongoing.
KTLA 5 has reached out to the agency to confirm this and is awaiting a response.
He also noted on the site that while watching his mom zone out onstage, when “the band played about two or three extra bars.”
“The background singer started singing… and that brought her back. They’re having to rewind the teleprompters because my mom is forgetting to even look at them,” he claimed.
McDowell and Knight have been married since 2001.
Hankerson is Knight’s son with ex-husband, Blackground Records founder Barry Hankerson.
In 2021, her son was sentenced to two years in prison for failing to withhold payroll taxes for the restaurants that bore his mother’s name, federal prosecutors in Atlanta told the Associated Press. In 2017, Hankerson was ordered to stop using his mom’s “name, likeness and memorabilia.”
The post Gladys Knight slams elder abuse claims made by son appeared first on KTLA.
