Everybody knows Fat Joe as one of the OG rappers of the 1990s, but he’s also a dedicated family man. He has three beautiful kids- Joey, Ryan and Azariah. But how did Joe get there?
Believe it or not, Joe was just 19 years old when he became a dad for the first time. I think it’s fair to say he wasn’t exactly ready for that kind of responsibility. He had no idea how difficult things were about to get.
His firstborn son, Joey, was born with Down Syndrome, a condition that the doctors warned was not going to get any easier as he got older.
This wasn’t the news that Joe or Joey’s mother wanted to hear. I mean, being teenage parents was difficult enough, but now you’re adding lifelong responsibility on top. It’s a lot.
On top of all of this, Joey’s mom decided that she couldn’t handle the pressure of being a mother to a child who would require this much care. She was already kind of hesitant about the idea of being a teen mom, but this was a whole level of stress.
So she made a decision that Joe never saw coming. She wanted to put Joey up for adoption and move on with their lives.
Joe just couldn’t bring himself to get on board. He turned to his mother for guidance, and she basically set him straight, telling him that the child was his and he should be the one to raise it.
With nobody else willing to look out for his child, Joe decided to step up. He told Joey’s mom that he would be raising Joey, whether she was there or not.
Well, you won’t believe what she did. She decided to walk away, never returning to look after Joey.
And you know what? That’s not an easy decision to make, but she had to do what was right for her and her son.
If she wasn’t in a place to take care of her kids, then I guess she made the right decision. Parenthood is not easy, even with a neurotypical child.
In the long run, Joey’s mother making this choice was difficult for Joe to deal with. Even today, he still discusses it as her decision to ‘abandon’ the family and give up on the son that they brought into the world.
But Joe never even considered giving up on Joey, even when Joey was diagnosed with a second condition. The doctor said Joey had signs of autism, making it even harder for him to cope with the real world.
Lorena Stepped Up as a Parent
The fact that he didn’t have a mother figure in his life was just another problem on top of many others. But Joe eventually would solve that problem.
In the mid-90s, Joe met Lorena Cartagena, who had absolutely no hesitations about the idea of taking care of Joey alongside Joe. She loved him as much as anybody, embracing the same challenges and joys that Joe had been dealing with alone for years.
Even today, Joey requires people to watch over him while he sleeps, which would be a challenge for even the strongest relationship. I mean, how many of us would volunteer for something so intense and complicated?
Lorena didn’t even hesitate. She wanted to be the mom that Joey never had.
Over time, she started to want kids of her own, which was also something that Joe was starting to feel. So Lorena and Joe brought two more kids into their family: Ryan and Azariah.
I think we can all agree this was a massive commitment. I mean, Joey already took up so much of their time that if he didn’t like his siblings, it would have been a nightmare.
They had no idea what was right around the corner. Joe had years where he was struggling financially or was serving time for tax issues. If he didn’t have Lorena, those kids would have suffered without having someone to take care of them.
Honestly, I think this is the reason that Joe and Lorena have had such a strong relationship for so long. The two of them balance each other so perfectly.
If one of them doesn’t have the time or ability to take care of the kids, the other one just swoops in to pick up the slack. It’s like the perfect relationship.
Joey’s Mom Never Visited Him
Honestly, Joe is just the perfect dad. And you know why?
Because he loves his kids. Like really loves his kids.
Every single time he gets asked about his son in an interview, Joe just goes off on long tangents about how proud he is, how much he loves his son, and how glad he is that he never once gave up on the biggest blessing of his life. Joey is treated as a king in his family, Joe even calls him “the Don.”
There’s no question that Joey loves being in this family. He gets to sit at the head of the table, he gets everything that he wants and needs, and he treats his siblings with respect and honor.
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While Joey is fine with it, Joe is still kind of touchy about the whole thing. Whenever he gets asked about Joey’s mom, Joe is always respectful and polite but you can tell that he’s angry about his mom not being around.
Joe has said that he has always kept the door open for her, allowing her to visit Joey whenever she wants to. She just hasn’t.
This is understandably a very frustrating and difficult thing for Joe to deal with. He knows Joey as this happy, lovable kid, someone that his mother wouldn’t even have to take care of. She just hasn’t ever been that interested in coming to see him.
Being a Father Is Joe’s Top Priority
But here’s what I love about Joe and how he talks about this. He never lets this define Joey.
Joey is never defined by his condition or the fact that his mother made this choice, he’s simply Joe’s son. While all of this would easily be some kind of long family tragedy for anybody else, Joe just treats it as ancient history.
Joe’s only priority is being a good father to Joey, Ryan, and Azariah, not raking up old drama just to cause trouble for a woman who’s off living her life somewhere else.
He always said that he never knew how to be a fake father or give up on his kids. He’s shown it over and over again. Even when he’s at his lowest, he’s never once shown any signs of wanting to be away from them.
All things considered, this is just one super strong family. I gotta hand it to them. That’s not an easy thing to do in the celebrity world, let alone with a child who has such specific needs.
Honestly, all of this just makes me have more respect for Joe. It cannot have been easy to go through all of this drama, especially at just 19.
But he’s shown over and over that he’s willing to be the greatest possible father that he could be to his kids. It’s obvious that Joey, Ryan, and Azariah could not have a better dad.
