[VIDEO] TD Jakes Daughter, Sarah, Reveals How She Told Her Father She Was Pregnant At 13
Not many people know that the daughter of Bishop TD Jakes was a teenage mother. At the age of 13, Sarah Jakes, had the hard task of telling her parents that she was pregnant. After giving birth to her son at age 14,the now 25-year-old mother of two has found redemption. Recently, on ‘Good Morning Texas’, Jakes shared her story and discussed her biography, ‘Lost and Found: Finding Hope in the Detours of Life’. Read the interview below.
[Good Day Texas] Did you think it was hard being a preachers kid?
[Sarah Jakes] You know, I did think it was pretty difficult but it was always our norm. So it wasn’t until we were school age that we realized our lives were much different than our classmates.
How so? Did you feel more pressure than you think your friends felt?
There was pressure in our congregation, pressure within ourselves to kind of live up to what it means to be T.D. Jakes’ children, but it was a process that we are still kind of maneuvering through.
What was the first thing that went through your mind [when you found out you were pregnant]?
When you get pregnant at that age the only thing you have to compare it is like failing a test or not turning in your homework. So you have this concept of I’m gonna get in trouble..you don’t realize that your bringing a life into the world or what that means to yourself and to your family. So I did not have the courage to tell my father. My sister actually wrote a letter and told them. She was the only one wise enough to let them in on the whole process.
How did that go, what was his reaction?
Obviously, devastated. No one dreams that there child is gonna have a child before they’re even out of high school and so we grieved what we very much so thought my life would be and then made a decision to kind of pick up the pieces and where do we go from here.
So maybe his background and being a leader of this church helped raise you up and get through this difficult time for yourself?
Certainly. I think that he felt that it would be a disservice to help millions of [people] around the world and then have his own daughter in need and then abandon her. To both of my parents credit they were very supportive.
Let’s talk about your new book, ‘Lost and Found’, how do you think you were found?
I always say I considered finding the pieces that you gave away of yourself along the way and I think that when I had my son at such an early age, that I dealt with a lot of shame and pressure, I found myself in bad relationships just constantly giving myself away. As I really desired to live my life for God, I found those pieces that I gave away and I learned to love myself again.
Watch the entire clip.
[Good Morning Texas, Instagram]
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