Who was Gary Owen married to? All about his ex-wife and kids as comedian reveals he has welcomed twins 

Actor and stand-up comedian Gary Owen recently appeared on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast and revealed that he welcomed twins last year. Midway through the May 8 episode, the host asked Gary Owen, “I don’t know if this is true, but there’s a report that you just recently welcomed twins.”

Surprised that the news was already public, the Think Like a Man actor replied, “D*mn, you know everything,” and confirmed the same. Owen also added that, while he didn’t realize that he wanted to be a father again, he was grateful and excited to be part of the twins’ lives.

He also told Shannon Sharpe that his infants were around 9–10 months old, and one of them was white and the other was black. He also mentioned that one of them had blue eyes, while the other had brown.

During this conversation, Gary Owen also got candid about his marriage and divorce from ex-wife Kenya Duke and being a father to three older kids, with whom he revealed he hasn’t spoken since his split.

---

Gary Owen’s former wife hosts the podcast Truly Kenya

Gary Owen met former realtor Kenya Duke in the late 1990s at one of his stand-up shows in Los Angeles, and they began dating soon after. Later, in 2003, the duo tied the knot. They got divorced in March 2021.

The couple shares two children: a son named Austin and a daughter named Kennedy. Gary Owen was also a stepfather to Duke’s first child, Emilio, from a previous marriage. All three of Owen’s older children are now between the ages of 16 and 22, as per Atlanta Blackstar.

Kenya Duke, who is a Cincinnati native just like her ex-husband, is currently a businesswoman and podcaster who hosts the show Truly Kenya (since 2023). The couple earlier appeared together on the BET reality TV program The Gary Owen Show in 2016, where they talked about their family life.

---

Gary Owen wishes to reconcile with his older kids

During his latest appearance on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Gary Owen opened up about the highs and lows of his personal life, including his much-publicized and long-drawn divorce from Kenya Duke three years ago and how he hasn’t been in touch with his older kids since then.

The 49-year-old mentioned having difficult relationships with both his biological father and stepfather and how he often feared being an ideal “male figure” in his home, as he thought he might end up being like his dads.

Gary Owen further claimed that during his split, his estranged biological father fed “dirt” to his ex-wife and allegedly manipulated his older kids, thus worsening the divorce proceedings. He also claimed that he gave a “great childhood” to all his older kids and never treated them badly.

“I don’t know how I became this evil human being that they want nothing to do with. Obviously, I’m not perfect. It’s been so long that I have to sneak around to try and just lay eyes on ’em,” he noted.

The Daddy Day Care actor also stated that he and his ex-wife of 18 years had minimal contact following their divorce, until recently at an airport, which he previously shared during his own YouTube show Get Some.

Reiterating the incident, Gary told Shannon Sharpe during the recent podcast that he tried to convince Kenya Duke to ask their children to reconcile with him.

Besides, the actor-comedian revealed that both Duke and he filed for divorce separately, in California and Ohio, respectively, and she had cited his infidelity as the reason. He even admitted the same and told Sharpe, “I ain’t got nothing to hide now.”

Earlier, in November 2023, when Owen first claimed that he hadn’t been in touch with his kids for over three years and was willing to give them time to “heal,” Duke took to Instagram to respond to him, saying he was telling the world “half the story for sympathy,” which didn’t help his cause.