American singer and actress, Alicia Augello-Cook Dean, better known by her stage name, Alicia Keys, recently left social media users emotional after she shared a heartbreaking letter she sent to her absentee father, Craig Cook when she was 14.
Alicia Keys, who is 39 now, took to Instagram to share the letter in a video in which she said his ’empty promises affected her deeply.’
In the video’s voice-over, she explained that the letter did not begin with “dear dad” or even “dear Craig” but simply with the date in the upper left hand corner. She went on to pour out her heart which she admitted was filled with bitterness towards him.
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The letter was dated July 10, 1994, and Alicia opened it by writing: It saddens me that most of my heart is bitter towards you. It’s only that little part that feels sad that’s not bitter. It’s been too long for me to avoid this any longer. For all the years I’ve lived, I’ve watched you take care of everybody, except me. I was your first born (as far as I know) and you treat me as if I was never born. There is nothing you could ever do to heal these wounds. All I want is for you to mind your own business. I don’t want the phone calls. I don’t want the letters. I don’t want the fake acts you pull to try and make me think you care. I don’t want anything. That’s the only way you can make me happy.” She shared the video with the caption: “A Letter To My Father I’ve been waiting for the right moment to share this excerpt with you from #MoreMyself… In the early part of my teens I wrote this letter to my father, Craig. I wanted nothing to do with him. My words came from a place of vulnerability and longing. At the time it hurt so much to experience what felt like empty promises. I swore I didn’t care, but I did and it affected me deeply. I finally had enough and wrote those words. It’s CRAZY that he kept this letter after all these years. I was so shocked when he first showed me. It was tucked away in a shoe box full of memories. I’m glad he and I can look back at it now as a sign of how far we’ve come.