Wayne Brady Reveals He Quietly Welcomed a Son With Ex-Girlfriend Tina: ‘I Was Shocked’

Wayne Brady admitted he was a bit surprised when he found out he was expecting a baby boy with his ex-girlfriend.

“I was shocked,” he told People in an interview published on Thursday, July 25. “I asked the silly question that I think many men since the beginning of time have asked. ‘How?’ You know how! So get past it.”

The Masked Singer winner had an on-and-off relationship with his ex Tina amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She learned she was pregnant in 2022.

It wasn’t his first brush with fatherhood though, as Wayne, 52, is also a dad to daughter Maile Brady, whom he welcomed during his marriage to Mandie Taketa, which lasted from 1999 to 2008. He and Mandie still remain best friends despite their divorce.

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Maile, 21, admitted that she had “mixed feelings” about her dad welcoming another child.

“I learned this phrase: ‘Not my circus, not my monkeys,’ and I was like, ‘All right, cool. Have fun with that. I am 21 now. It’s not my baby,’” she told the outlet. “This is kind of an opportunity for all of us to grow up and see how that dynamic works as individuals.”

Wayne shared that he named his son Val Henry after his late grandmother Valerie. The Whose Line Is It Anyway? star knows his family dynamic is rather unconventional, but his hope is to raise his son in a loving and warm environment.

“I never want Val to grow up thinking that he should be ashamed or look back and go, ‘Oh, my dad didn’t want me,’ or he was ashamed of me. Because I want him, in his own way, to know that I love him as much as I love Maile, who is of me and that I had a part in creating,” Wayne explained. “So I had to do that work.”

Wayne dished on his coparenting arrangement with Tina, and how he FaceTimes with his son regularly because the exes do not live close to each other. He called the experience “super sweet.”

Last summer, Wayne opened up about his sexuality, revealing that he is pansexual, being attracted to people of all genders.

“Let’s be really honest: I’ve also been attracted to certain men in my life, but I’ve always pushed that aside because of how I was raised, and because I live in today’s world, and it’s scary as s–t,” he told People in August 2023. “What’s the fastest way to hurt another man? I’m gonna call you out of your name. I’m gonna call you gay. I’m gonna emasculate you. I’m gonna use the F-word. I learned that very early from the people around me, they’re like, “Oh, so those are bad things? Yeah. You, you don’t wanna be that.”

The How I Met Your Mother alum shared details about his path to self discovery.

“I’m still coming together. But If I’m healthy, then I can go onstage at Let’s Make A Deal and be the best Wayne Brady that everybody wants and expects,” he explained. “I can be the best dad that Maile needs. I can be the best friend to Mandie, the best son to my mother, and one day, the best partner to someone, because I’m doing this for me. Not dating yet though! [Laughs] I am single, but it’s not about being with someone right now. I’ve got some work to do still. Then, Wayne as a single, open-minded pansexual can make a decision and be free and open to other people.”