Benzino is going to be a grandfather now that Coi Leray is expecting a child with Trippie Redd – but his estranged relationship with his daughter has people wondering if he will be in his grandchild’s life.
Appearing on the We In Miami podcast recently, the former Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star revealed his reaction to the news of Coi’s pregnancy and discussed what his involvement will be.
“I’ma be a grandfather! Wow,” he said. “I just found out when everyday else found out. It’s gonna grow her up. I hope it does. Because she’ll finally get to know what it is to be a parent. She’ll get to see firsthand what I was going through.”
As for his involvement, he added: “Our story since it’s been on the internet has always been kind of a little bit awkward to say the least. Nobody really understood my relationship with my daughter before she was a rap star. Nobody was there regardless of when me and her mother split apart, regardless of her living with me. Believe me, that baby gonna know its granddaddy.
AD LOADING...
“It’s important for me to get my message to that baby. Regardless of whatever we going through, that ain’t got nothing to do with the grandbaby. And like I said, she’s gonna want him to have those morals, values and principles. And that’s gon’ be his granddad and you know, Trippie’s pops and his moms.”
Coi Leray made her pregnancy announcement on New Year’s Day (January 1) by posting a number of photos of herself on Instagram, including one with a prominent baby bump and another with Trippie where he is hugging her pregnant belly.
The “Players” hitmaker captioned the post: “I’m a rock star mommy, we ready for 2025.”
AD LOADING...
The 27-year-old also posted a more in-depth update on her Instagram Stories, which included a close-up of her stomach along with the caption: “I’m over 4 months. I’m just small as hell of course.”
As for her relationship with her father, Benzino confirmed in a May 2024 episode of the same podcast that the two no longer speak to one another.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “But, you know, we don’t communicate too much. The whole thing is surreal to me… I’m a smart guy but I can’t figure this one out.”
He continued: “Coi is a young lady, she independent. This young generation, they don’t want their parents interfering with their lives, man. I have to learn to adapt to that and respect that. It just ain’t Coi, it’s a lot of my daughters. It’s hard for guys like me to have daughters and try to figure it out. Not the easiest thing.”
AD LOADING...
For her part, Coi has said that she no longer speaks to her father in the aftermath of comments he made about R. Kelly.
“Everybody deserves a second chance,” he said when asked about the disgraced singer. “The legal age is 16 years old, so does that make it right if a n-gga does it — yes or no?
“Why the fuck is R. Kelly doing all this time? Because they’re 14 and 13 — two years younger — but you don’t think that the people who cleared it for 16 years old didn’t know that they’re fucking with 13s and 14s, too?
“Even to make [an] age that young to be the law, you already know they’re going under that. I’m not condoning n-ggas fucking with little girls — it’s sick, alright, it’s sick, it’s sick — but I don’t think R. Kelly should rot in jail for 30 years either.”
AD LOADING...
While far from the first time the father and daughter have fallen out publicly, following those comments, Leray made it clear that she no longer wants anything to with Zino.
She wrote on X on May 1: “I want everybody to know I want nothing to do with anything my father has going on. I haven’t spoken to him in over a year and I don’t condone or respect any of them interviews he got going on.
“I don’t respect his decisions and I really want nothing to do with him please dont even think of me when you see him. Sharing the same DNA and blood DOESN’T make us FAMILY. Loyalty, boundaries, respect, teaching, guidance, love, patience, encouragement MAKES US FAMILY.
“Keep me away from people who try to ‘get their lick back’ please. And thank you.”
AD LOADING...
She concluded: “I can’t wait to have a kid one day. I can’t wait to look her/him in the eye and tell them how much I love them.”
Looks like that time has now come!
