Key Takeaways
- Former Color Me Badd singer Kevin Thornton, who left the group in 1998 to become a Christian minister, is accused by his adult daughter Mikayla of running a violently strict, cult-like religious household marked by beatings with a custom “rod of correction” and bruising “deliverances” using a Bible.
- Mikayla alleges that fear and idolization of Thornton kept the family silent, that Child Protective Services was contacted multiple times over visible injuries, and that her parents failed to protect her from sexual abuse by other children and allowed her to date a 20-year-old when she was 15 because she was deemed “mature for your age.”
- Now estranged from both parents despite having appeared on Thornton’s Christian album as a child, Mikayla claims they even prayed for her to be catastrophically injured after she rejected their authority, while Thornton has not publicly responded and has deactivated his Instagram amid renewed scrutiny of his post–Color Me Badd religious image.
Former Color Me Badd singer Kevin Thornton is facing disturbing allegations from his adult daughter, Mikayla Thornton, who says the religious household he led after leaving the chart-topping R&B group was marked by physical abuse, fear, secrecy and extreme spiritual control. Mikayla made the accusations during a lengthy Soft White Underbelly interview, describing a childhood she now characterizes as anything but normal.
Mikayla, Thornton's youngest daughter, alleged that her father created a "rod of correction" bearing Bible verses and his children's names that was used to beat them. She also claimed Thornton subjected the children to religious "deliverances" in which they were struck with a Bible hard enough to leave bruises.
"We grew up in a very religious household," she recalled, explaining that she once assumed other families experienced similar treatment. She further alleged that the abuse could continue until the children cried and begged for it to stop.
The allegations present a stark contrast to Thornton's public reinvention following his years with Color Me Badd. The group became one of the biggest R&B-pop acts of the early 1990s behind songs including "I Wanna Sex You Up," "I Adore Mi Amor" and "All 4 Love." Thornton left the group in 1998 and pursued Christian ministry, eventually becoming a licensed minister.
In a 2009 interview with Cross Rhythms, Thornton said he had walked away from secular music because he believed God was calling him elsewhere. "I'm looking to make a career of spreading the Gospel of Jesus with the gifts that he has given me," he said.
Mikayla now alleges that religion inside the Thornton home was instead used as a mechanism for control. "It was a cult. My dad was the head. We were his disciples," she told Soft White Underbelly.
She claimed the children were taught to idolize Thornton and that fear helped maintain silence around what happened at home. "My dad operated on fear to keep us silent because his name, who he is, his appearance, everything is optics," she said.
Some of Mikayla's most serious allegations concern what she says happened when the children sought protection. She said Child Protective Services was called multiple times after her sister appeared at school with bruises. Mikayla also alleged that she was sexually abused by other children on her school bus beginning in elementary school and that her parents failed to intervene after being informed.
She also alleged that her parents allowed her to date a 20-year-old when she was 15 after Thornton told her she was "mature for your age."
The interview also touches on Thornton's former music career in an unexpectedly personal way. Mikayla appeared as a young child on her father's Christian album Conversion, singing on the track "Oh Mammy."
Decades later, she says she wants no relationship with either parent and alleges they prayed that she would suffer a catastrophic car accident that left her paralyzed or disfigured as punishment for rejecting their authority.
"I'm not afraid of my father," she said.
Thornton has not publicly responded to his daughter's allegations, and his Instagram account has since been deactivated.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, help is available through the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Call 800-799-SAFE (7233), text START to 88788, or use the Hotline's online chat.
