Shawn Ewing, the mother of Kirk Franklin’s estranged son, Kerrion Franklin, is speaking out for the first time following their son’s public feud with his father and leaked profanity-laced audio.

During an interview on “The Heart Beat” podcast with host Ericka Fusilier English, Ewing spoke on some of the challenges she and the gospel singer faced being teenage parents. Ewing explained that although their son will be 33 years old soon, he remains their child, and they have co-parented as such.

“We’re here because some private information was leaked, and Kirk kind of lost his cool. We talk about cancel culture, and I was thinking, I can’t leave Kirk out here by himself on this one,” She explained. Ewing clarified that her speaking out was not meant for public consumption, but was a message to her son.

Ewing described Kerrion as being in a rebellious state and even briefly spoke on an instance in which her son believed his father was trying to kill him. The mother said she has tried to resolve and understand why he was feeling that way. 

She continued, “I’m not saying that my son is not hurting from us being teenage parents. I’m not saying my son doesn’t have a testimony. What I am saying is that you were not abandoned. No one abdicated their responsibility towards you. You are loved, Kerrion Franklin. I will look at the camera and say it. You are loved. We support you then. We support you now. We support you tomorrow, but there’s a way to deal with it. All we’ve tried to do as parents is work through the issue, get our son to a point of being a productive citizen in society as well as having a good life. But things kind of didn’t go that way, and that’s okay because families go through things. But we don’t get to use a part of an audio and not understand the true history of counseling, therapy, godly counsel, holding Kerrion responsible, holding Kirk responsible, holding myself responsible.”

Ewing maintained that she wanted to come to a resolution secretly. Still, she expressed, because of the methods Kerrion decided to choose, by leaking private family affairs, they now have to deal with these matters in the public eye. Ewing appeared to sympathize with both her son and Kirk and implored the audience to hear both sides of the story before trying to “cancel” the gospel artist.

Earlier this week, Kerrion released video footage that captured a shocking phone call between him and his father. In the clip, a heated Franklin was heard calling his son a “b–ch ass,” threatening to “put my foot up yo’ ass,” and screaming “Don’t ever disrespect me” before hanging up. The singer has since apologized for his behavior, explaining that he and Kerrion’s relationship had been toxic for some time. Franklin also has expressed that they have tried therapy and counseling over the years, but to no avail.

Check out the full video from Ewing’s interview with English down below.