J. Cole Isn’t One for Baby Announcements, but He Has at Least Two Kids

Over the years, J. Cole has kept his personal life mostly private. He isn't the type to make wedding announcements or birth announcements on social media. But we do know a bit about his family life.

For example, we know that J. Cole is married, since Black Panther director Ryan Coogler accidentally let that fact slip in a 2016 interview with the rapper, as E! News reported at the time.

We also know that J. Cole and his wife, Melissa Heholt, have (at least) two kids since the “My Life” performer has made mention of two sons over the years.

J. Cole’s fans found out he was a father when he spoke about his son in a 2018 interview with Angie Martinez, according to People.

In that conversation, J. Cole said that the obvious purpose in his life is to be a father and a husband.

He said, “I feel like I’ve created a life where my purpose is too much placed in music … to where I’m home and I come home, outside of playing with my son, if I go three days without doing music, making a beat, writing a song, I start to feel miserable.”

The following year, J. Cole dropped the news that he had a second child on the way in “Sacrifices,” the final track of “Revenge of the Dreamers III,” a compilation album from Dreamville, his record label.

“She gave me the gift of my son / And plus we got one on the way,” he raps on the track, referring to his wife. “She gave me a family to love, for that, I can never repay / I’m crying while writing these words, the tears, they feel good on my face.”

J. Cole opened up about his fatherhood journey in a 2020 essay for The Players’ Tribune, saying that he learned his first kid was on the way in 2016. “It wasn’t a surprise,” he said. “I had been taking steps to change my life for the past couple years, and I felt ready.”

J. Cole soon moved into his former digs in Queens. “For the next three months I would wake up in that old, familiar room, putting myself through morning writing drills before heading off to Electric Lady Studios with a short-term plan to finish the ‘4 Your Eyez Only’ album before the arrival of my first child, and a long-term plan of becoming the best rapper I could possibly be before hanging up my jersey, leaving nothing on the table when all was said and done,” he wrote.

J. Cole wrote the Players’ Tribune essay four years later. “In that time I’ve been blessed with two sons, learned the delicate art of balance between parenthood and career, had the pleasure of working with a ton of talented artists as a featured rapper, spent 10 magical days recording a Dreamville album in Atlanta, and put a lot of time and energy into sharpening my sword and growing as an artist,” he wrote at the time.