Keyshia Cole has already endured a tough year by losing her mother to drugs on her mom’s July birthday. Now the R&B singer has confirmed that her adoptive father, Leon Cole, has passed away as well.
Cole originally made a post about it on Nov. 14 while responding to a Twitter post on her Keyshiacole_fans page. The fan page tweeted, “@KeyshiaCole I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your father!! A brokenheart emoji followed before the words, “I’m praying for you and your family during this difficult time!!” Cole wrote back with a quote tweet: “Thank you” with a prayer hands emoji.
The “Heaven Sent” singer’s adoptive mother, Yvonne Cole, shared the news on her Facebook account of her husband’s passing earlier that same day that Keyshia made her tweet. An “Official Statement From The Cole Family” says, “With a heart of sadness and sincere condolences we solicit your prayers for Dr. Yvonne Cole and the Cole family in the passing of Mr. Leon Cole Jr.
The statement explained that Cole — whose age at death isn’t clear — passed away “due to COVID-19 complications.” Eight days before his passing, Yvonne revealed on Facebook that Leon was in ICU fighting COVID-19. She asked her followers to send their “support, love, well wishes and prayers of comfort and healing to Mr. Cole and his loved ones at this time.”
Reading Cole’s tweet of a message that only said “father,” many fans thought it was her alleged biological father, reportedly a boxing coach named Virgil Hunter. However, 37-year-old professional boxer Andre S.O.G. Ward cleared up the confusion with his own tweet a few hours after Cole’s. “There’s a rumor out there about something happening to my Coach Virgil Hunter. It’s false ! He’s alive and well. Thank God,” he wrote.
Cole was adopted by Yvonne and Leon, who were family friends, at just two years old. It’s not clear if she’s kept a close relationship with them. Cole did have a relationship with her biological mother, Frankie Lons, though she didn’t grow up with her. Lons struggled with a drug addiction for years, something that was shown on Cole’s past reality shows.
It doesn’t seem that Cole has a close relationship with her alleged biological father.
Yvonne has not revealed when her husband’s homegoing service will be, but the bottom of her official statement indicated that “services are pending.”
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