For the first 16 years of his life, “Paradise” star Sterling K. Brown went by his middle name — Kelby — instead of his first name.
The three-time Emmy winner spoke recently on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” about why he decided as a teen to go back to using Sterling as his first name.
“I wanted my own name, and it felt like Sterling was like an old man’s name,” Brown said about using Kelby.
He reconsidered that notion after his father died when Brown was a young boy. His father and grandfather were both named Sterling Brown.
“But because (my father) passed away when I was 10, by the time I turned 16, and I hadn’t heard his name for five, 5 ½ years, I was like, ‘I kind of just want to hear that name again,’ so I asked people to call me Sterling,” he told Clarkson.
Brown, 49, also spoke with NPR last year about the decision to go back to Sterling from Kelby.
“I think I really grieved my father about five years after his passing away,” Brown said. “I think for the first five years, I felt like I had to be the man of the house. I had to keep it together for my mom. I also believed — and still believe — that my father ascended to heaven so that he was in a better place.
“But that still didn’t allow me the space to really just be like, ‘I miss you. I miss this man,'” he continued. “And so I think it took about five years for me to fully let that out. And then after I let that out, I was like, ‘OK, I’m ready to hear his name again.'”
Brown’s profound loss at a young age was mirrored in a storyline on “This Is Us” when his character also endured the tragic death of his adoptive father as a teen.
The Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner spoke to Willie Geist on Sunday TODAY in 2019 about the devastating moment when he lost his father, who was 45 when he died. Brown said he found him in his bed and his “body was stiff” before paramedics arrived and took him out on a stretcher.
“He looks at me over the railing and he winks, just winks,” Brown said. “They carry him out the door, last time I saw him.”
Brown, who is now a father of two himself, cherished the short time he had with his dad.
“I will say this about Sterling Brown Jr.: He filled me up with so much love,” he said, adding, “So while the time was short, it was everything that I could’ve hoped for for 10 years.”
