All About Kevin Hart’s Parents, Nancy Hart and Henry Witherspoon

Kevin Hart could also be some of the outstanding comedians, however he comes from humble beginnings.

He was the second son born to folks Nancy Hart and Henry Witherspoon and was raised in Philadelphia together with his older brother, Robert. Kevin’s mother, Nancy, labored exhausting to assist the household as a pc analyst on the College of Pennsylvania. His father, Henry, struggled with drug habit and hung out out and in of jail throughout Kevin’s childhood.

As Henry obtained sober, Kevin forgave and reconnected with him, even inviting him to spend extra time with Kevin’s spouse Eniko Hart and their 4 children, Heaven, Hendrix, Kenzo and Kaori, earlier than Henry’s loss of life in 2022. In 2018, the comic opened as much as PEOPLE about his journey to forgiving his father.

“It doesn’t matter what, he’s my father,” Kevin mentioned. “No matter my upbringing and the best way I used to be raised and the way typically he was in my life, he’s my dad … I’ve a constructive outlook on life regardless and I’m going to like you since you’re my father.”

Kevin additionally shared a detailed bond together with his mom, who died from most cancers in 2007. “My mother is … accountable for giving me the power to grasp the advantage of exhausting work, to grasp what saying you’re going to do one thing and really doing it actually means,” Kevin mentioned within the 2023 Netflix documentary Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Solely. “, that work ethic is all hooked up to my mother.”

So, who’re Kevin Hart’s mother and father? Right here’s all the pieces to learn about Nancy Hart and Henry Witherspoon.

Nancy raised Kevin as a single dad or mum in Philadelphia

Nancy primarily raised Kevin and his brother Robert as a single mother and labored as a pc analyst on the College of Pennsylvania.

“Grew up in Philadelphia, P.A. … North Philadelphia, fifteenth and Erie. , crime metropolis,” Kevin mentioned on WTF with Marc Maron in 2015. “It’s not the perfect place on this planet, however I like it. It’s house.”

Kevin elaborated additional on his childhood and all that Nancy did to supply for him and his brother within the 2019 Emmy-nominated Netflix docuseries Don’t F— this Up.

“We had been raised in a one-bedroom condo,” Kevin mentioned. “My mother, she had laid strips of upside-down duct tape subsequent to the sink to catch the roaches … As a single mom, I feel we by no means knew how exhausting she was struggling.”

Henry spent most of Kevin’s childhood out and in of jail

Kevin has been open about his father’s struggles with drug habit and the way it affected his childhood. Whereas chatting with Howard Stern on The Howard Stern Present in 2016, Kevin mentioned Henry’s habit led to time in jail, not being round for him as a toddler and even stealing $20 that was alleged to be a present for Kevin at one in every of his birthdays.

Nonetheless, the comic has managed to show the destructive elements of his upbringing into constructive facets of his life at present.

“I wouldn’t change it one bit … I’m a cheerful man,” Kevin mentioned on The Howard Stern Present in 2016. “You will discover a constructive in each destructive, or you’ll be able to deal with each destructive with a destructive response.”

Kevin continued, “If my dad hadn’t been round and didn’t do medicine, I could also be dealing with my success in another way. I could also be on medicine, I could also be trying to find one thing.”

Nancy taught Kevin robust classes

Kevin is candid about how Nancy influenced his work ethic and the way shut they had been, however he additionally typically jokes about how intimidating she was throughout his comedy units.

“She had extra power and struggle in her than any girl that I’ve ever met,” Kevin mentioned in Don’t F— this Up. “She had this factor the place she would have a look at you and she or he would allow you to see her smile fade. It will put the worry of God into anybody.”

The comic additionally claimed that Nancy gave Kevin a stricter upbringing in comparison with his brother, who obtained into a whole lot of bother as a toddler.

“The way in which that my mother noticed it, she was too lenient on my brother,” Kevin mentioned in Don’t F— this Up. “So, she figured if she may hold me off the streets, that I wouldn’t end up like him. She arrange a routine of structured, systematic and supervised actions that she imposed on my life. Her routine for me went like this: we awoke at 6 within the morning, I left to catch the college bus at 7. After college ended, I needed to go to an extracurricular exercise.”

Nancy helped Kevin pay his lease, however he didn’t know till listening to her recommendation

Throughout a 2014 episode of Oprah Prime, Kevin shared a touching story with Oprah Winfrey about one in every of Nancy’s classes she taught him throughout his first yr of pursuing a profession in comedy. On the time, he was near getting evicted, and each time he requested Nancy for assist, she informed him he ought to learn the Bible, after which they’d discuss lease.

“A month goes by. I get an eviction discover on my door and so they’re about to kick me out. She mentioned ‘Discuss to me while you learn your bible,’ ” Kevin mentioned. “I’m going house and say ‘Man let me open this Bible up.’ [I] open the Bible up … six lease checks fall out. She put all my lease checks within the Bible … from that six months all through the remainder of the yr they had been all there.”

Kevin mentioned he learn two chapters of the Bible after this and referred to as his mother to apologize. His mother informed him she wished him to learn it so he stays devoted alongside his journey.

Nancy was Kevin’s greatest supporter

Kevin has been vocal about how a lot Nancy supported him, together with in his guide I Can’t Make This Up: Life Classes, the place he mentioned that she saved each article about his success. Kevin and Robert even shared how Nancy made Robert hold her ovarian most cancers analysis — which she died from in 2007 — secret from Kevin as a result of she wished him to stay targeted on his profession.

“[Kevin] was about to go to Australia to movie Idiot’s Gold and so issues was simply beginning to bubble [in his career] and so my mother was like ‘Pay attention. Promise me. Don’t inform him … When it’s near the tip, that is while you let him know that I’m really dying,’ ” Robert mentioned in Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Solely.

“I, after all, was extraordinarily shut with my mother. So, I feel that there was info that they had been making an attempt to steer clear of me, however some issues had been apparent … it was turning into apparent that my mother’s situation was a lot worse than what was being offered,” Kevin added.

Robert proceeded to share that Idiot’s Gold led to many massive breaks in Kevin’s profession. He mentioned Nancy felt it was essential for Kevin to be in Australia filming as his profession was choosing up steam as an alternative of worrying about her.

Kevin forgave Henry and had him spend time together with his grandkids

Henry’s absence from Kevin’s life made for a tough childhood and put the burden on Nancy to assist the household by herself. Nonetheless, as time handed Kevin forgave his father, which he spoke about with PEOPLE in 2018.

“I perceive that no person’s excellent, individuals are flawed, folks make errors,” Kevin mentioned. “I shouldn’t maintain a excessive stage of judgment over your head about issues I can’t change … You’ll be able to’t return prior to now and repair this or repair that. I can solely transfer ahead, and I can solely love you at present.”

Henry ultimately dealt together with his habit points and obtained sober. This led to Kevin feeling extra snug having Henry in his life and spending time together with his grandchildren.

“I’m able the place I’m blessed and I can present,” Kevin mentioned to PEOPLE. “I can say, ‘Right here, dad, right here’s a house, right here’s a automotive, right here’s some cash. Go spend time together with your grandkids. Be the perfect grandpop … the times that you just missed with me are the times that we missed, it’s positive. I’m okay with that.’ ”

Nancy died in 2007 and Henry died in 2022

In 2007, Kevin’s mother Nancy died from most cancers. When his father Henry died 15 years later, he paid tribute to each his mother and father on social media.

“RIP to one of many realest & rawest to ever do it… Love you dad,” Kevin wrote on Instagram on Oct. 12, 2022. “Gone however by no means forgotten… Give mother a hug for me… y’all did good man.”

The put up was stuffed with photographs of Henry with Kevin, Robert and Kevin’s spouse and children.

Kevin mentioned Henry made him a greater father in an sudden method

Regardless of the ups and downs of their relationship, the actor has mentioned he discovered about fatherhood from Henry.

“I took the errors that I really feel that my dad might have made and as an alternative of complaining about them, I take advantage of them to my benefit,” Kevin informed PEOPLE in 2018. “I do know what I ought to do, and the issues that I don’t need my children to ever really feel … And an important factor which you can give your children is time.”