Jamal Roberts may have captured America’s heart with his powerhouse voice and soulful delivery on American Idol Season 23, but it’s only now—weeks after winning the competition—that fans are beginning to understand the full weight behind his words.
The 27-year-old singer from Meridian, Mississippi, has always let his voice speak volumes. Judges and mentors, including the legendary Fantasia, often remarked on the deep pain woven into his performances, even though Roberts rarely shared the details behind it. But in a raw and emotional interview on The Love You Moore Show with host Willie Moore Jr., Roberts finally let the world in.
“I’m not trying to hurt nobody’s feelings,” he began, “but when it’s your story, it’s your story.” With that, Roberts opened up about the heartbreak of being abandoned by his biological mother as a toddler and being raised by his stepmother and grandmother after his father gained custody. “He was four, I was two,” Roberts recalled. “My stepmom raised me.”
The woman he called “Mama Tab” became his rock, offering unwavering support through a childhood marked by emotional gaps and hard questions. “My dad’s not emotional,” Roberts said. “No hugs, no praise. But my stepmom? She always said, ‘Baby, you can do anything.’”
Roberts honored Tabitha on the Mother’s Day episode of American Idol, revealing she passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her encouragement stayed with him through years of self-doubt and silence—until his music gave him the strength to speak.
The pain of his mother’s absence remains raw. “What was going through my mind is, ‘Why my mom not here?’” he admitted. “I got kids. And I’m not going to let my kids go nowhere. How did you get comfortable enough to let us just slip through the cracks?”
Roberts also opened up about the confusion and hurt that followed when his mother went on to have more children but still kept her distance from him and his brother. “We still over here with my dad,” he said. “Was we not good enough? What did we do so bad to make you abandon us and then go have more kids?”
He acknowledged that those feelings of abandonment shaped him deeply—and are the very source of the emotional grit fans hear in every note he sings. “That was that—I was abandoned,” he said. “I pulled from that. That’s where the pain comes from.”
Despite the past, Roberts now finds peace in the present. His mother, Kim, is back in his life and actively involved in the lives of his three daughters—Harmoni, 7; Lyrik, 4; and new baby Melodi. She even stood by him at his Idol audition and cheered him on from the audience throughout the season.
Though they’ve never had the conversation about why she gave up custody, Roberts said he’s made peace with not knowing. “I never longed for what happened. If she wanted me to know, she would’ve told me. I don’t care to find out anymore. My life now is my life.”
As he reflected, there was no bitterness in his voice—only grace, maturity, and a quiet power that mirrors his performances. “All those mistakes paved the road and made me who I am today. I don’t want to put no more pavement on the road. I’m fine. Yeah… I’m fine.”
And that’s the beauty of Jamal Roberts. His voice may have won Idol, but it’s his story—tender, unflinching, and unapologetically human—that will stay with us long after the spotlight fades.
