Kevin Hart Opens Up About His Brother's Emancipation in New Netflix Documentary
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Updated Dec. 26 2019, 5:24 p.m. ET
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Comedian Kevin Hart is known for his stand-up, his lucrative movie career, and his back-and-forths on Instagram with Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. But, Kevin is showing off a different side by revealing more about his personal life and his various controversies in his Netflix docuseries, Don't F--- This Up.
Kevin Hart's six part series is making its debut on Dec. 27 and he's truly baring it all for viewers. The comedian is addressing everything from his Oscar's controversy, to cheating on his wife, to his September car accident.
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He's also opening up about his mom, Nancy Hart, who passed away in 2007. In the series, Kevin discusses how his mom became strict once his brother, Robert, was legally emancipated from their family following behavioral issues. Where is Kevin Hart's brother now? Read on to find out what Kevin said about his brother's tough upbringing, how his mom forced him to get emancipated, and where he is today.
Why was Robert Hart emancipated?
Though Kevin has discussed the fallout from his past scandals, and his scary car accident, he hasn't discussed his family much publicly. In the second trailer for Don't F--- This Up, Kevin opened up about how his mom handled his brother, Robert Hart, and his dangerous behavior growing up.
Nancy Hart raised Kevin and Robert on her own, as their father, Henry Witherspoon, was a cocaine addict. Henry spent time on and off in jail while Kevin was a kid, and Robert also caused some issues in the family.
In the trailer, Kevin said that his mom changed her parenting when she realized how much having a lot of free time affected her older son.
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"My mom gave my brother a fair amount of freedom. Any mistakes you could make as a teenager, he made," Kevin said. "My brother was in a gang, he dealt drugs. One afternoon my brother actually tried to snatch a purse from an old lady. That there was the last straw for my mom. She took my brother to court, and got him emancipated."
After the legal emancipation (which meant that Robert did not have to live with his mom and had to be self-supportive), Nancy made sure that Kevin would never have the same amount of liberties.
"And there was two. It was just me and my mom. The way that my mom saw it, she was too lenient on my brother," Kevin said. "So, she figured if she could keep me off the streets, that I wouldn't turn out like him. She set up a routine of structured, systematic and supervised movements that she imposed on my life. Her routine for me went like this: we woke up at 6 in the morning, I left to catch the school bus at 7. After school ended, I had to go to an extracurricular activity."
Kevin then explained that his mom wanted him to be on the swim team because she "just couldn't think of a criminal who ever swam."
"The schedule she designed didn't leave room for anything except [to] hustle," Kevin said.
And that hustle clearly paid off, as Kevin became the successful actor and comedian he is today. But, what ended up happening to Kevin's brother?
Where is Kevin Hart's brother now?
Though Kevin noted that Robert struggled with drugs and gang violence in his youth, the brothers have remained close in the years since Robert's emancipation. Robert frequently posts pictures with Kevin and Kevin's three kids, Kenzo, Heaven, and Hendrix. He's also the father of an adult daughter, who he proudly posts about on his page as well.
According to his Instagram bio, Robert plays pool professionally. He has played in multiple pool tournaments.
Robert and Nancy also seemed to have reconciled before her 2007 passing. Robert posted a picture of her gravestone after visiting it in 2016, and he joked that he was going to complain to the cemetery about the letters on her stone fading. In other posts, he's mentioned his mom positively too.
When Variety did a feature on Kevin in 2017, Robert told the outlet that their family struggled, especially with the absence of their father.
"We come from a f--ked up situation," Robert said. "We come from the worst living conditions."
Robert often boasts about his brother's career and talent on his Instagram page, proving that he's an incredibly proud older brother.
You can watch the second trailer for Don't F--- This Up above, which Kevin posted on his Instagram page.