This Is Us star Sterling K Brown left Kelly Clarkson in tears when he revealed the heartfelt reason why he changed his name aged 16.
The actor, 49, best known for playing Randall Pearson in the NBC drama, revealed that he went by his middle name, Kelby, until he was 16 – but switched back to his original name to pay tribute to his late father.
Speaking on The Kelly Clarkson Show, he told the host: “I went by my middle name, I went by 'Kelby' until I was 16 years old.”
He said that at the time, he wanted his own name to differentiate from his father’s name, Sterling Brown Jr, and his grandfather’s name Sterling Brown Sr.
“I’m Sterling Kelby Brown but I wanted my own name, and it felt like Sterling was like an old man's name," the Paradise star told Clarkson.
But when his father died aged 45, Brown realised he wanted to wear his dad’s name with pride.
“Because he passed away when I was 10, by the time I turned 16 and I hadn't heard his name for five-and-a-half years, I was like, I kind of just want to hear that name again, so I asked people to call me Sterling.”
Both Brown and Clarkson grew emotional, with the host saying, “That was so sweet and beautiful.”
Brown’s This is Us character Randall Pearson is someone who lost his father when he was a teenager, which has parallels with his own life.
In 2019, he told TODAY’s Willie Geist that the dynamic of "fathers and sons is resonating really strong right now”.
He explained: “My dad was 45 when he passed away, and I was 10,” going on to recall his last memory with his father.
“I remember, like, really specific things,” he said. “Waking up that morning and going into the kitchen, and my mom being on the phone, calling the paramedics and asking me to put clothes on my dad, because he was naked in the bed and his body was stiff,” he said.
Holding back tears, he recalled looking on as paramedics carried his father 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.”
“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.”
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