Kehlani’s ex-boyfriend Javaughn Young-White has filed for full custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Adeya Nomi, and claims in court papers obtained Monday by multiple media outlets that the singer is in a “cult” that “performs ‘religious ceremonies’” on their child.
“Adeya was born through a home birth orchestrated by what I would describe as a cult that she belongs in,” the filing states, per People. “Due to the fact that Adeya was born in a home and not in a conventional setting like a hospital, my name is not on Adeya’s birth certificate.”
Young-White also claims that the leader of the alleged cult has been accused multiple times of “committing sexual assault against women and young girls.”
In other passages obtained by Entertainment Weekly, the plaintiff claimed he doesn’t even know if his daughter has a Social Security number. He requested that “the Court establishes paternity with me being her father in order for me to be able to exercise all my rights that come with being her father.”
“The main reason that I am filing this petition is that [Kehlani] has been involved in this cult for the past few years and it appears that this cult controls her actions and her behavior, including when it comes to the upbringing of our daughter,” he claimed in the filing, per Entertainment Weekly.
“For example, the cult leader, who goes by the name of Neto, convinced Respondent that he had a vision that I was a danger to our daughter and would kill her,” Young-White continued, “and thereafter banned Respondent from allowing me to see Adeya.”
HuffPost has reached out to representatives for Kehlani for comment.
Young-White reportedly said in his filing that he’s been asking since 2019 for his name to be added to Adeya’s birth certificate, and that Kehlani, whose full name is Kehlani Ashley Parrish, prevented him from seeing their daughter for months after Neto’s “vision.”
The father further claimed that Neto not only “performs ‘religious ceremonies’” on the girl, but that “no one is allowed to be in the room” when he does.
Young-White, who dated Kehlani from 2018 to 2019, reportedly also alleged that a female cult member named “Messiah” is permitted to bathe with Adeya while “under the influence of psychedelic drugs.”
The plaintiff claimed that he’d hoped to handle the custody matter privately, but that Kehlani “resorts to disparaging me online to her millions of social media followers” instead of “addressing [his] feelings.”
Young-White is reportedly requesting that his daughter’s name be legally changed to Adeya Parrish Young-White. In addition to full custody, he is reportedly demanding a copy of Adeya’s birth certificate and Social Security card.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
